Carl and Laura Lentz tease ‘new chapter’ in video trailer
Come June 4, former Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz and his wife, Laura, will reveal what they have teased as a “new chapter,” according to a video posted on their social media Tuesday night.
The couple jointly teased this “new chapter” on their Instagram accounts along with a video montage featuring scenes from the New York City subway, shadowy images of Carl Lentz, ominous clouds, a burning tree and a car in motion, among other things.
Along with the video was a terse message, “JUNE 4… new chapter.”
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Lentz was fired from his post at Hillsong NYC in November 2020 over “leadership issues” and moral failures, including being unfaithful to his wife with multiple women, including a staff member at Hillsong NYC. Details from an internal investigation shared with The Christian Post in 2022 that was conducted on behalf of Hillsong Church by the New York City law firm Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman, LLP, alleged, among other things, that he manipulated some former staff and volunteers so badly it caused them to suffer mental illness.
A year ago, however, Lentz re-emerged in ministry as a “strategist” at Transformation Church led by Pastor Michael Todd in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"After two years of Carl being in his own discovery and healing process, he has shown readiness to use his God-given gifts towards the local church again. We believe in Carl, his marriage, his skill set, and his restoration,” Transformation Church’s Executive Pastor Tammy McQuarters said in a statement reported by CP at the time.
“We pray that Carl, Laura, and their family experience not only their own restoration, but help others experience restoration by using their triumphs and failures to create resources for the body of Christ at large. We believe that this is part of what it looks like for the church to be the church,” she added.
In May 2023, Carl Lentz insisted in a public letter that he was “no longer in ministry” and admitted that his sins led him to some “dark places.”
“I’m not preaching, not overseeing people, my role is to help give perspective and insight where I can,” he said.
While Carl Lentz hasn’t been sharing much about his life on social media, his wife, Laura, has shared bits of their journey away from the limelight, including the recent graduation of their daughter, Charlie, from high school. The graduation was attended by Transformation Church staff, including Todd, who Laura described as Charlie’s “biggest cheerleader.”
Laura also shared a video of her and her husband celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary in New York City earlier this month.
In addition to joining Transformation Church last year, Carl and Laura also participated in a FX’s 4-part docuseries called “The Secrets of Hillsong.”
Lentz claimed in his letter that he and his wife chose to do the docuseries to help them heal from heartache from their failures in ministry.
“Part of the healing from that heartache led us to the decision to be part of a documentary that we do not control, that we don’t have any say in and that we haven’t even seen yet. We’ll see it when the world does. We were not interested in blame shifting or responsibility deflection, we focus on my mistakes and the context for what transpired,” Lentz said.
“I can honestly tell you that when you get to a place of honesty and freedom in your life, when you’ve gone through hell, and you realize God is still with you ... It is so freeing. It’s the freedom I wish for all of the many people that I know that are called by God and wrestle with secrets and the feeling of not being worthy. Trust me it led me to some dark places.”
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