What’s up guys, it’s Sussan Mourad with Clevver News, and Justin Bieber’s former
adviser and church pastor has been fired from his position due to past “moral failures,”
effective immediately.
In case you’re not familiar, Carl Lentz is a well-known megachurch pastor.
He is also known as a friend and pastor to many high profile celebrities, including Justin
and Hailey Bieber, Selena Gomez, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Kevin Durant and Bono.
Justin and Hailey were undoubtedly among the most popular to attend the famous Manhattan
worship center, to which Carl even baptized the couple at the home of NBA star Tyson Chandler
back in August.
Carl acted as Justin’s confidant for years and would occasionally even join the couple
and their friends on vacations, and even allowed Justin to live with him during a difficult
time in his life back in 2014, telling Vogue that after living with Carl, he was no longer
abusing prescription drugs.
Carl even confirmed during an interview with GQ that it was Justin who reached out to him
asking to be baptized just a few months ago.
But in a shocking turn of events, Brian Houston, the founding pastor of the church, emailed
staff and members of the church Wednesday to inform them that Carl, who happens to be
the East Coast branch’s lead pastor, was terminated, effective immediately.
Religion News Service broke the news after the email was sent, and went into a little
more detail regarding the cause of Carl’s firing, citing “leadership issues and breaches
of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.”
In a statement, Houston wrote that the “decision was made in order to honor God,” adding
QUOTE, “I know this will come as a shock to you, but please know that this action was
not taken lightly and was done in the best interests of everyone, including Pastor Carl.”
He also thanked Carl and his wife Laura, who was also a pastor at the church, for their
service and stated that the church is “confident that after a time of rest and restoration,
God will use Carl in another way outside of Hillsong church.”
One reason why Carl was so relatable among the younger crowd of Christians was his hip,
contemporary style and tattoos, which served as a catalyst for his more progressive views.
Earlier this year, Carl contracted COVID-19, and openly spoke about the need for a vaccine.
He even appeared on an episode of YouTube show “Uncomfortable Conversations With a
Black Man” back in July, to which he described to the show’s host Emmanuel Acho, how churches
can often be viewed as the underlying factor in spreading hate.
“I think, in fact, it could be said that churches might be one of the biggest propagators
of racist ideology in our country.”
Although it’s unclear as to whether this interview was part of the “moral failures”
to the church, revealed in the termination letter, it is very likely we may not ever
know, as Houston also explained that QUOTE “it would not be appropriate for us to go
into detail about the events that led to this decision.”
TMZ reported that back in 2018, Justin and Carl had a falling out just a year after People
revealed that Carl was Justin’s confidant in giving him relationship advice during his
time with Selena Gomez.
It’s likely neither Justin nor Hailey will speak out about Carl’s firing, however,
Hillsong churchgoers are outraged by the news and have been voicing their thoughts on the
matter.
One user wrote, “Streets are saying Carl Lentz got fired from Hillsong for his speeches
in support of BLM and LGBTQ+ community?”
Another fan tweeted, “Hillsong fired Carl Lentz?
The only pastor out of all 80 of their churches that said Black Lives Matter from the pulpit?”
And this person wrote, “The church/movement Carl Lentz bout to start is gon be bananas...y’all
fired that man when the country is this divided and he got a diverse backing of celebs?!
Brian gon cut off everybody who told him this was a good idea by Thanksgiving because Carl
finna eat!
LOLOL.”
Carl has yet to issue his own statement on the matter, but it seems fans and Hillsong
members aren’t as willing to let this one go easily.
To see what people had to say about Justin and Hailey attending Kendall Jenner’s Halloween
party, click right over here to watch another Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know all your thoughts on Carl’s firing down here in the comments,
and if you have any thoughts about what might’ve led to his termination.
I’m your host Sussan Mourad, bye guys.