The Scandalous Downfall of Justin Bieber's Pastor & Hillsong Church | Carl Lentz Documentary

[Music] carl lentz was known as the rock star pastor of the global mega church hillsong he was cool hip and in with celebrities and hollywood elite he even became best friends with justin bieber and had the young pop star living with him carl lentz built a congregation of 10 000 a week that drew celebrities like kevin durant chris pratt selena gomez kendall and kylie jenner and more every sunday there was a line that went around the block as if people were waiting for access to a nightclub carl lentz was one of the most prominent pastors

in the united states until he wasn't when he told you he was married for 17 years and had three kids did you think i can't be with him i can't date him or did you think i'm okay with that i was like it's all good i was married before but this story goes much deeper than just a mistress and has enough scandal and drama to rival a righteous gemstone this is a story about pastors wives throw in punches literally and it's a story about tithe money loaded onto debit cards and spent on luxurious lifestyles it's

a story about how a global religious institution and a celebrity pastor fooled everyone they claimed to serve [Music] [Music] [Music] this is the story of a mega church's fall from grace and how an ordinary guy with the right connections used justin bieber and his congregation to rise to the top [Music] this video is sponsored by adam and eve check out adamandeve.com and use code josie for 50 off one item and free shipping in the u.s and canada some exclusions apply so real and i am so all-consuming that i am so unbelievable that if you will

give away everything you have and take all of me you will never thirst and you will never be hungry and you will never need another thing in your life but you can't have half of this you need to have all of this carl lentz was raised in virginia by baptist parents the family was very involved with their church and carl was the youngest child and only boy carl's father worked as a tv executive and an attorney and carl has always said he had a good upbringing after high school while studying criminal justice at north carolina

state university and playing on their basketball team carl said he partied a little bit too much and that he was off track and being his own god but he professed to never having a rock bottom moment carl said before he left for university his parents warned he would see many broken people who weren't saved at his secular school something he claimed to have witnessed carl left ncsu his sophomore year moved to la and attended king's college and seminary while working as a door greeter at gucci on rodeo drive carl then transferred to hillsong international leadership

college of hillsong church in sydney australia this is where carl would make one of the most valuable connections of his life when he befriended a classmate named joel houston joel is the son of the now infamous hillsong founder and global pastor aka ceo brian houston but more on that later joe and carl were inseparable and while in australia carl not only met his wife laura but thanks to his close friendship with joel houston carl got a behind the scenes look at what was quickly becoming what we now call a mega church hillsong is a pentecostal

church that was started in the 1980s by brian and bobby houston in sydney australia in the early days hillsong met in a public school hall with only 150 attendees but by the year 2000 hillsong had multiple churches around the globe and still had more growing to do here's brian in 1990 leading a praise and worship service [Music] somehow people were attracted to this and by february of 2022 hillsong reported 150 000 attendees globally in over 30 locations this isn't just church mega churches are an industry and hillsong is worth hundreds of millions of tax-free dollars

in 2014 hillsong reported it brought in a hundred million dollars alone brian and bobby houston were christian royalty who knew how to market to the spiritual and carl got to learn from the ceo himself as carl began working for brian while attending hillsong college carl assisted brian in whatever he needed this included chauffeuring him around to meetings and to church after graduating from hillsong sydney carl and laura got married in 2003 and settled down in carl's home state of virginia they had three children and carl became ordained and worked as the youth pastor for wave

church in virginia beach where he preached to teens about purity waiting till marriage and keeping their faith strong it's been reported that carl was very involved in the teen's dating lives he wanted to know who they were dating and when one day a call came from joel houston with an offer carl couldn't pass up joel's dad brian wanted to launch a hillsong church in new york city and joel asked his best friend from college if he wanted to co-pastor with him joel would lead the worship team and carl would do what he did best recruit

and preach carl said goodbye to his youth group and wave church in 2010 carl and laura lentz officially became head pastors in the place where carl would have his most successful rise and most scandalous downfall hillsong east coast aka hillsong nyc through hillsong carl began making other important connections one in particular known as judah smith judah is the pastor of a mega church called church home in seattle washington and los angeles california judah is well known in the christian world and has a following of over 700 000 on instagram the god squad all have a

few things in common they all evangelize the prosperity gospel they only wear luxury designer clothes like gucci prada east st laurent and more most of which cost thousands of dollars per item the god squad utilizes private planes and their churches have vip sections where the front rows are reserved for celebrities only inside their churches they have roped off backstage areas that lead to their green rooms where they relax in between sermons watch their favorite sports players on giant tvs have tables of delicious food and celebrity stylists waiting to make them look good only the inner

circle of the god squad is allowed in these private backstage rooms the god squad members have personal chauffeurs assistants shoppers house cleaners babysitters and dog walkers oh and most of this work is done by volunteers from the god squad's congregations in 1999 while working as a pastor in seattle judah got lucky and made one of the most important connections in his life when a woman named patty drove 90 miles from her hometown of toronto to attend a christian conference where judo was preaching patti liked what she heard and she left the conference with a few

of judah's tapes 11 years later and still a fan patty reached out to judah and said i don't know if you've heard of my son but he needs some good influences in his life would you come to one of his concerts and meet him paddy's son was 16 year old justin bieber [Music] never is [Music] oh [Music] whether one is a fan of justin bieber or not it's hard to ignore his super stardom justin is one of the best-selling music artists of all time having sold 150 million records worldwide and earning eight guinness world records

including the title of first ever solo artist to have three number one us and uk albums before the age of 18. the person who held that title before justin earned it in the 1970s and it was a young donny osmond in 2010 justin became the youngest person to ever win an american music award he was 16 years old but the american music award goes to justin bieber um i want to thank everybody my mom for giving up so much for me my family my dad um but you know i really got this opportunity uh really

about a year and a half ago and really was embraced by a man named usher raymond um and i don't know but i feel like he's had such an amazing career and it would be only right if i invited him up here to share it with me success came at justin fast and only two years later when he turned 18 justin was given full license to a bank account with a hundred million dollars waiting for him and then justin began making headlines for other reasons only one year later and one week after being charged with

driving under the influence in miami pop star justin bieber is charged with assault this morning in canada he surrendered to toronto police wednesday night bieber is accused of beating a limo driver in the head last month his lawyer says he's not guilty in both cases more than a hundred thousand people have signed a petition on the white house website calling for bieber to be deported to canada by his own hand 2014 was a rocky year for justin he was sued by his neighbor for egging his mansion and causing twenty thousand dollars worth of damage and

later had to pay his neighbor eighty thousand dollars then justin was later arrested for a dui and charged with resisting arrest that grinning mug shot in stark contrast to a nervous looking bieber biting his lip during his bond hearing the first case this afternoon is justin bieber according to people magazine bieber was seen in tears after he appeared before the judge following the hearing a source tells people that justin was bawling his eyes out when he got back to the detention center bail was set at 2 500 dollars the standard for the three charges bieber

faces this is the same year that justin would get closer to carl lentz and become a regular member of hillsong nyc justin was introduced to his east coast pastor via his west coast pastor judah and both pastors have pet names for their pal justin carl calls him buckaroo and judah calls him jb justin was now having scandal after scandal and there was a media frenzy justin bieber was born to an 18 year old single mother in canada named patty patty and justin were close and patty nurtured justin's musical talents but justin would later admit that

his relationship with his mother deteriorated significantly around 2014 when he was harassing his neighbors and getting arrested but while one relationship deteriorated another was blossoming pastor carl swooped in and offered to be a shoulder for justin to lean on and justin took him up on that offer justin ended up moving into carl and laura's home for about six weeks where he hung out with the family played video games and basketball with carl attended hillsong nyc and tried to lay low from paparazzi but not too low as they were photographed during that time at a knicks

game together with usher carl claimed that while justin stayed in his home tabloids made up stories about justin things carl said he knew justin wasn't doing because he was staying with his family carl however was not laying low as he did an interview with the new york post that same year and he told them he was now justin's spiritual advisor carl also told gq quote this boy is 21 he's in a horribly toxic world he is trying to do his best to figure this out he has never been anybody but who he professed to be

which is a work in progress end quote it had been four years since carl became head pastor at hillsong nyc and things had changed carl now sported 10 tattoos a slicked back mohawk and was bringing in over 5 000 attendees to hillsong nyc every week including celebrities like chris pratt selena gomez kylie and kendall jenner and vanessa hudgins carl baptized nba star kevin durant and hung out with jay-z and nfl player russell wilson carl was also beginning to make public appearances in mainstream media with one of the first being on katie couric show in 2014

during an interview with the new york post that same year carl was asked if justin's friends are a bad influence on the canadian star carl scrunched his face and replied quote i think relationships in your life come and go and i think what defines you is how you gauge who needs to stay and who needs to go end quote later on that year carl received a midnight phone call from his buckaroo justin justin wanted to be baptized and made anew carl told him no problem and they would soon schedule a time but justin said no

it couldn't wait he needed to become that new person right away knowing the hotel where carl normally did baptisms wouldn't have their pool open at that time and wanting a large enough tub carl called up the former new york knicks center tyson chandler who stood at seven feet tall and asked if they could use his bathtub for justin's baptism tyson agreed and at 2 am one night in 2014 justin bieber was baptized justin's 2 am baptism became a marketing highlight for carl who not only spoke of it in almost all his interviews from 2015 to

2019 but he also signed with united talent agency around the time he baptized justin united talent agency is based out of la and states they help the world's most inspiring people make the world a more inspiring place in carl's agency booking profile it makes sure to mention the celebrities he's baptized as well as his booking prices carl is willing to speak at another church or event for a price of 25 to 40 000 dollars per event thanks to his closeness with the young superstar the media couldn't get enough of the celebrity pastor [Music] carl was

interviewed on the view good morning america and oprah super soul sunday where he talked some more about justin and promoted his new book own the moment so wait do you like being called the rock star preacher no i don't so did i just defend you i'm sorry i'm not offended at all i i mean it's just an honor to have anybody even care about what we're doing so you can call me whatever you want all right well you actually have a disclaimer at the top of your book addressing the church's celebrity factor why did you

need to address that well i think the word celebrity means one that is celebrated so when people say do you have celebrities and we always say well we think everybody deserves to be celebrated so but in the in the context of new york city yeah there are some people that are well known but i think 99.9 of our church is made up of really faithful amazing people that might not be well known yeah how many people flock to your church did you say nineteen thousand to me in the brain but i like that number okay

all right i don't know anywhere between eight ten thousand okay well that's still pretty significant carl also made the rounds on youtube so our thing is when you start defining your life that's because you know jesus and you start to understand what the bible is really about and we win sometimes because people have had so many bad experiences with church and religion so they step into our church like oh this is the greatest thing ever and we're like sorry you feel like that because it's not but it's like if you got food poisoning at five

restaurants you'd be real hesitant to go to the sixth but if you just survived that sixth outing you'd be like that's the greatest restaurant in the world that's kind of what we're dealing with so you're the cracker barrel of the if that we're the applebee's like maybe we are the 7-eleven delhi wait why do you say that though what what why do i say what why why is it why uh why lower the esteem of your church well it's not that i'm lowering i think i'm just trying to put it i love our church it's

it's just sometimes we want to make things spectacular that aren't and if you came to our church you guys would be like this is cool but it's not like this thing that's spectacular because god uses regular people but is this you being incredibly humble no no i think this is just me being real i mean we work hard and we have a good you know thing that we produced when it comes to a service but um the real story of a church are the people that make it up from monday to saturday that's the stuff

that like our church gets media coverage because there's famous people yeah that's it it's just because in some media circles they just cannot believe that people who are famous also want to make sure their soul is intact so we have like 99 of our church are not what you know these wildly famous people but because we have some they're just like this is a celebrity church this is so and it's like you know it is what it is whatever you want to you know talk about to get us in the room we'll do it uh

are there any religions that you that you think are just straight up silly you know get me in trouble uh no i i think like scientology you're not like hey the moment someone a christian says scientology is crazy i always say do you know what you believe okay you believe in a virgin birth you believe a guy walked on water you believe that this guy healed lepers you believe he raised the dead so before you judge a scientologist make sure you check your own crazy beliefs so no because the same measure of judgment i use

for them i got two pointing back at me so i don't think anybody's religion's silly i might not get it but i'd like to hear why you you worship you know dogs and have crystals in your house i want to know would you be willing to say hey after they told you if they had a silly answer yo that your dog worshipping and crystal worshiping is silly or would you if i knew them well enough if i knew them well enough like you'll just let them go do their thing most of the time i'm ready

to learn okay um but it there are times where i will say hey man you're you're crazy this makes no sense logically as long as you know that it was during this time that carl and laura moved into a million dollar home in new jersey carl was experiencing more success than ever before and it appeared that he loved it it seemed as if hillsong loved it too as shown by this strange interview from the hillsong conference of 2017. hey guys welcome back we're here at hillsong conference 2017 having the best time and got some good

friends of mine that have stopped by on the couch we've got chad justin and carl love you hello thank you so much guys so how you guys doing are you guys enjoying conference carl uh you're wearing a whole song called jacket you see these boots those are very it wasn't your turn these are off white it wasn't your turn these are off-white so these are off checks good to see you shout out virgil shout out to you shout out virgil virgil do you watch tv she is talking we watched his talk together it was very

good talk very good so guys really quick you guys have been all over the place carl how you doing how are you enjoying confidence you know what we had the best day today yeah i just enjoy seeing people worship praising god i think it's always really kind of wild and amazing to watch such young kids passionately than praying just real authentic you know absolutely and so so theme closer what does that mean to you guys i want to live a life that's closer to god than ever before absolutely justin samzies i want to get close

like that wisp is the justice i i want to get better that's why we all love people more i just want to love carl moore you're doing a good job with that so man justin this is your second time at del sun conference and what's different this time about being here um i just think my faith grows every day um so my faith is stronger than two years ago better stronger wiser kinder i think anything that you invest in and there's a return yeah so there's a lot of people investing in different things we all

chose to let's go invest in this and our return has been supernatural stuff you can't necessarily quantify but my gosh it changes your soul so anybody who's thinking about it i would just say look at what you invest in now yeah and what the return is if you don't like that i would say maybe have a look at investing it doesn't have to be this per se right but something that builds your soul for us it happens to be this and we got room for anybody we have to go but we're all going to shout

out our moms okay okay let's start we'll i'll go first i'm down here kathy lentz um i love you i miss you thanks for being my mom i think you're the greatest a tied for probably top three four on this couch but kathy i love you we love you she's a great love you kathy patty my mom love you so much miss you um i hope you're doing awesome closer hands not tour available and justin visited a new zealand bar and were photographed doing tequila shots where justin then removed his shirt this was only one

week after justin performed in melbourne australia and the press he received there wasn't good it was said justin gave a lackluster performance didn't seem to enjoy the concert and it was also in melbourne when he refused to take a picture with a fan and told her quote look at you you make me sick end quote on that same melbourne trip justin was photographed partying with models on a yacht it was reported that justin had three rules for the invited women on board number one sign a non-disclosure agreement number two surrender your phone and number three

be a model some were beginning to speculate that carl and justin were a little too close and that carl was negatively influencing justin or vice versa whether justin was going through a rough time or not this speculation was brought to light when only four months after carl and justin were seen in a bar together justin abruptly cancelled the rest of his world tour to get closer to god through his spiritual advisor pastor carl letts [Music] any message for the fans uh i love you guys i think you guys are awesome sorry for anybody who feels

like um disappointed or betrayed it's not my heart or anything and uh have a blessed day huge rift in justin bieber's world where people he works with and also among his fans because he uh decided to not complete the tour which only had 14 dates left it would be a great measure of good faith to find some way to compensate the crew and the people who are relying on him for the rest of it that would be something that jesus actually would do my thing is he's very wealthy he's been with carl lentz for the

past month he has what a couple a little more shows and why not take carl with you on the road or why not take a pastor and do all these things that he's done in the past and facebook one of the most well-known celebrity names attached to you in your church is justin bieber and in fact just yeah his name is justin bieber have you heard of him he said he just wanted to love you more after he announced that he was canceling his tour a lot of people have asked how much are you guiding

justin and his decisions did you have anything to do with that well he actually he wasn't talking about me he was talking about god he just wants to love god more i don't think he even likes me sometimes justin uh i think that we don't have a hand in decisions like that justin's um a grown man and he made a decision based on the well-being of his soul which i think is awesome and my role in his life is just to give him help and guidance when he needs it but he doesn't need you know

somebody making decisions for him he made his own as carl and justin became closer many speculated about his influence over the young pop star this was also the same year that the first accusations against pastor carl were made accusations that carl had cheated on his wife laura with two different women this was reported to hillsong by a former hillsong nyc group leader before november of 2020 the global religious institution that is hillsong didn't have a human resources department or a code of ethics in place and this hillsong nyc group leader who anonymously spoke to the

press said quote women came to us and said carl was sleeping around with people who were members of the church end quote this leader then reported carl's affairs to other hillsong pastors only to be dismissed and told she was spreading gossip the source said they were later kicked out of hillsong nyc after coming forward in every interview carl promoted that his church was open and accepting of all but behind the scenes at hillsong nyc a different story was playing out a man named josh canfield was forced to step down as hillsong nyc's choir director after

he and his partner appeared on the reality show survivor as the broadway boys i'm josh and this is my boyfriend reed we're performers by trade broadway shows we're musical theater that's what we do uh but we're survivor fans at heart they're an interesting couple they're a gay couple christians saving themselves adored by their church not all of these elements typically go together but they make them go together and you like them because of it i come from a a fairly conservative family who um my dad's a pastor um i grew up traveling all over the

country all my brothers are currently pastors except one but i had a different idea for what i felt that the lord was saying for me to do survivors played a huge role in the relationship of these broadway boys i wasn't a fan to start with he was because i'd never seen survivor we were dating and i said one night i was like why don't you come over we'll watch survivor and like he straight up looked at me was like is that show still on and i was like yes the show is still out i was

like you need to come over immediately we're gonna watch this and so it's kind of something that's been a part of our relationship as our relationship has developed i think both of those guys share the same problem how do i convince these guys to keep me around when they know i could beat them in the end so many castaways have come back and said my i can't really explain this experience to my spouse or my sister or whoever and it's like it's something that we may not be having the exact same experience but it's a

communal experience that we can talk about and share and move forward with yeah great stories for the grandkids that's right exactly josh began attending hillsong london in 2008 then moved to new york where he made carl's church his home church and became their front lead vocalist in an interview with churchclarity.org josh said quote around 2011 i told one of the head music pastors i was gay with tears in my eyes and i thought they wouldn't let me sing again he was actually extremely compassionate and i was still allowed to lead as one of the front

lead vocalists end quote josh claims that the restrictions hillsong forced upon him didn't begin until after cbs's survivor aired then an article came out about hillsong having a gay christian worship leader to which the leader of the god squad brian houston wrote a response saying that wasn't true unless that man didn't tell hillsong leadership he was gay josh's response to this was quote unfortunately brian houston forgot to check with the leadership of the nyc branch who knew i was gay and in a committed relationship brian made me out to be a liar when in fact

he had no idea of my situation it was then that i was pulled from platform ministry and i was told that i could be an off-stage vocal coach for the team no one ever explained why they were doing anything things just happened end quote before josh left hillsong nyc he said the lead pastor told him homosexuality is a sin josh has now found a church without bigoted views and leadership one where he says the church and its leaders actively talk about their support of the lgbtq community and is lgbtq affirming josh said quote i'm grateful

for a safe haven inside a church that is clear about where they stand on important issues end quote not one to let his star be diminished carl carried on with his media tour even selling his merch in the church how many single people do we have here tonight all right how many married people all right wow all the single people i like to do this at our church i'll just throw this out there real quick once a week we give a church pick-up line so if you're here if you're watching online just try this maybe

grab your bible at some point and try to sit next to somebody you've been church talking for a while church stalking is where you just show up next to that person randomly at every service like oh here we are again hey and uh this is my classic one maybe next time i'll come i'll bring something new but i don't have to when this one's this good you want to look at somebody you like in church you want to say hey my bible's incomplete because i'm in the book of numbers and yours isn't in there in

interviews carl came up with a tagline that his church would reach everyone from the faceless to the famous we're gonna reach everybody here we say from the faceless to the famous but as carl called it it was the faceless who were being exploited behind the scenes with something hillsong referred to as their honoring system honoring is hillsong's word for volunteering honoring could consist of volunteers arriving at church at 5 a.m before the pastors to help set up for sunday services with volunteer cleanups sometimes ending around midnight that's because carl didn't just preach one sunday service

hillsong nyc could hold up to six services on any given sunday and there was always a line around the block where people stood waiting to enter hillsong nyc for hours volunteers also chauffeured pastors and leaders to church appointments salon visits clean their homes brought them snacks and even met their honoring duties by being designated drivers another time it was reported that in the lenses households house cleaners and dog walkers were not supposed to look at nor speak to carl or any of the church leaders while in his home ex-hillsong nyc members recall carl being a

very exclusive pastor one who is hard to get to unless you are a celebrity or influencer in vip seating you weren't getting backstage you didn't get a space up front reserved for you and you didn't get any private meetings with the pastor as a member of the stage managing team at hillsong nyc janus legata told business insider that carl was spoiled pampered and coddled and that he had to have his coffee hot at all times janice said quote people would be running errands all day back and forth to starbucks to make sure that carl had

his fresh coffee hillsong pastors also received debit cards that were loaded directly with tithe money to purchase designer bags four-wheel atvs brand new iphones and fancy dinners while carl wouldn't often make time for the faceless members of his church he wrote on his instagram in february of 2020 how his marriage goal for that year was to see each other more carl wrote quote might sound simplistic but after 16 years on this journey together you realize it takes more intention than you realize so we are off to a good start from practical 10-minute walks together on

a routine day to special getaways when possible like this weekend end quote but later that same month a well-known contagion began spreading throughout the us something that would affect the entire world by march of 2020 the united states went into lockdown hillsong nyc went to online services only and although he was safe at home with his family carl was lonely in quarantine carl no longer had assistance at his beck and call no chauffeur no hot starbucks in his cold little hands and no stage to preach from while an audience of thousands cheered only three months

after writing that instagram caption about getting closer to laura and taking daily walks together carl would take a walk alone where he would introduce himself to another woman and it would be the beginning of the end [Music] that is insane i'm sorry [Music] carl was feeling lonely and while sitting in brooklyn's domino park without his wedding ring on carl saw a woman he wouldn't look away from she was tall and beautiful with wavy hair and tan skin covered in tattoos and she was looking for a place to sit her name was ronin at this time

domino park had painted circles on the grass for people to sit in to maintain social distancing orders carl invited ranine to sit in his circle where they fell into deep conversation carl asked if she was from the middle east and then told her that's where the most beautiful women come from carl learned ranine worked in new york as a jewelry designer when ranine asked what carl did for work he refused to say ranin pressed a little further and carl told her something along the lines of i work for celebrities i manage them renin asked him

what exactly he did for celebrities to which carl replied he traveled with these celebrities and helped them out like a sports agent but carl said he didn't want to say any more when ranine asked carl his last name he wouldn't even tell her that instead asking her one question will you please not google me renin agreed not to seek out carl's identity but once she was home alone in her new york apartment she googled carl and saw he was a married pastor ronin would later ask carl if he was married to which he admitted he

was rene wanted to know if there was something wrong with carl's marriage for him to be with her but carl allegedly said no nothing's wrong it's you i know when i see someone and you have everything i want in a woman renin and carl met on friday saw each other again the next day and kissed by sunday renin didn't have a problem with carl being married as she would later claim in a good morning america interview that quote i thought it's all good i was married before i didn't want to judge him because i like

to meet people and feel like they're a blank canvas you get to know them and let them paint their own colors on it you don't go and just put stickers on people and think they're going to be that and then they're this and i didn't want to do that to him because i didn't want to judge him end quote ah but a married man with three children is not a blank canvas and over the next five months carl would go to great lengths to hide all communication with renin including saving her number in the notes

app of his phone so his wife laura would be none the wiser carl would tell his family he was going on a walk or to check in with a friend or church member and then he would sneak out with a backpack make a stop at a liquor store purchase a bottle of tequila hide it in his backpack and secretly head over to ronin's apartment their drunken affair continued for five months with ranine later telling the daily telegraph that the pair spent their relationship drinking top shelf tequila and that she believed carl was trying to escape

his quote boring life ranine would later say in an interview with discovery plus that she believes in signs and that it wasn't a coincidence her and carl's relationship happened i feel it's important to tell you that from my research either renin karim has changed her story several times or the journalists she told her story to had errors in their reporting for the sake of this video i decided to mainly go with the story from the interviews ranine gave immediately following her and carl's breakup that would be the exclusive interviews she gave to vanity fair good

morning america and the new york post to name a few carl had a life many could only dream of and whether he found it boring or not he wasn't able to escape it for very long because one fall day in october of 2020 everything would change when carl wasn't paying attention and left his laptop which was connected to the cloud open by accident at the church carl's wife laura and other co-workers were in the same room when they happened to see texts and photos pop up on carl's computer photos of ranin kareem photos that a

married pastor shouldn't have they began to investigate and discovered more messages photos and videos between carl and renin it was at this moment carl's life would forever change abc news exclusive the woman allegedly behind the affair that brought down hillsong church celebrity pastor carl lintz speaking out amy is here with more good morning amy that's right michael good morning it was a huge fall from grace carl lentz's global following included justin bieber and a long list of celebrities and pro athletes well now without a job and trying to repair his marriage his former mistress tells

us her side of what happened did he tell you he loved you yes he did did you love him he was like you know i work for with celebrities and i said what exactly you do and he keeps saying um i manage celebrities and i travel with them he didn't want to say what he does did you think that was a red flag he won't give you his last name yeah it was because i don't know it was really strange kareem says she searched online and found out more about him i realized that he's the

pastor from hillsong and i was like oh i was at this church like six years ago you had been to hillsong one time only one time she says she confronted him i told him i know who you are and i'm not here to judge you but i have a question i was like like there's something wrong with your marriage that you're sitting here with me he said no it's like it's you kareem says she tried to break the relationship off several times but that lentz kept coming back to her until late october when she says

his wife laura found out about their alleged affair did he call you to tell you is that what he did it was a phone call yeah he called me a midnight and he said my wife he was in the hallway you can hear he was in hole he's like my wife found out and i gotta go i gotta go and i was like i was devastated the next month hillsong firing him citing several reasons including quote moral failures lentz later admitting online that he had been unfaithful in my marriage without saying who he had been

with hillsong has now begun an investigation into the culture of the church but kareem says lentz's rising celebrity may have contributed to his behavior when you give somebody so much power they become god to people and i think people forgot the the concept of religion and beliefs and i think that people look at carl like he's got to them i know that you've said that you have already gotten hate and people who are upset with your choices even for having the affair with carl in the beginning knowing that he was married is there anything that

you would like her to know anything you would like to say to her if she were to listen i feel bad for her you know woman to a woman i don't think she she deserved to to be hurt the way that she did and i never meant to hurt her now we tried to reach out to carl lentz to respond he had no comment as for renin karim she says she just wants to move on with her life and she says she hopes that carl can find his true self guys leaders of the church immediately

reported what they saw to hillsong executives in sydney australia and on wednesday november 5th brian houston made a public statement he said quote today hillsong church east coast advised our congregation that we have terminated the employment of pastor carl lentz this action was not taken lightly and was done in the best interest of everyone including pastor carl the reason brian gave was quote ongoing discussions in relation to leadership issues and breaches of trust plus a recent revelation of moral failures end quote laura who had no involvement in the affair was also terminated as a co-pastor

with her husband ah brian and bobby a very interesting couple themselves while brian told the world of carl's moral failures it seems he forgot to talk about his own brian and bobby houston are no strangers to controversy in 2008 bobby was blasted by the christian community after she taught and sold a series of teachings titled kingdom women love and value their sexuality where she encouraged women to get plastic surgery no matter the cost as they age and do whatever they had to do to keep their christian husband happy she encouraged christian women to stay fit

and then used a slur when she stated that if she gains weight she feels like a quote bobby then went on an ableist rant saying quote how are you going to do anything to surprise your man when you need a hydraulic crane just to turn over in bed end quote bobby would later apologize and change the title but in 2008 bobby wrote in the brilliantly titled ebook i'll have what she's having that women need to submit to men and quote be gorgeously available for jesus's army end quote and brian there's so much to say about

brian but let's keep it brief as to not go into the dirty details when brian was young his daddy frank had a church once brian was an adult and became a pastor himself talk about religious stuffy people sometimes god called us to be full of life and full of power and full of the holy ghost it came out that well brian's dad frank was a perv who liked kids and had done a lot of horrible things throughout the years to minors in his church instead of reporting this to australian police and helping the victims brian

covered up his father's crimes tried to pay off one of the victims and brian's father stepped down from the pulpit then he gave his congregation to his son who merged it with what we now know today as hillsong but brian and his father's crimes couldn't hide forever because only less than one year after terminating carl brian stepped down from hellsong as he was charged by australian police in august of 2021 with one count of concealing a serious indictable offense by his father frank houston obviously i felt you know terribly sad for the victim because there's

no doubt about it my father's father's done irreparable damage to his life what we didn't do is report it to the police i didn't see the police as an option we didn't cover it up we did tell people straight away we did make take his credential off him he never did preach again what we didn't do is report it to the police and we haven't even covered the wildest part of the story which includes laura punching another woman in the face and more deranged information that was leaked to the press regarding carl and brian in

march and april of 2022 this is all covered in our last and final chapter but first let's get back to justin carl and tyler perry yes even mr medea himself plays a role in this story [Music] after carl's termination he packed a bag and stayed at justin's apartment for a while laura came to visit and the two were seen looking tense outside justin's apartment but justin and hayley bieber would soon cut all ties with carl and laura lentz unfollowing them on instagram and no longer attending hillsong carl never reached out to any members of his

congregation or co-workers after his termination instead he changed his phone number packed up the family and moved to los angeles california where they signed a lease for a sixteen thousand dollar a month luxury manhattan beach property tyler perry who was a fan of carl agreed to pay 96 000 to cover six months of rent for carl and his family the beachside rental home is five thousand square feet with 5 bedrooms in the same month that news of the affair broke carl got in action and hired the same pr firm used by the duke and duchess

of sussex harry and megan a firm called sunshine sex sunshine sax claims to specialize in corporate image programs crisis communication reputation management and more it was reported that carl wanted to fix his public image and that he allegedly wanted to star in his own faith-based reality show in la but hollywood didn't seem interested in the scandalous pastor and less than one month after carl's termination three more women claimed to have had affairs with carl and came forward to share their stories anonymously with the press it was reported by an anonymous source that carl's pr firm

was allegedly having a tough time improving his image because carl continuously lied to them about what he had done and less than two months after carl's termination sunshine sex confirmed to vanity fair that they and carl had parted ways in march and april of 2022 damning details emerged about brian houston and carl lentz let's start with carl after carl's affairs came to light hillsong church hired a new york law firm to conduct an investigation into hillsong nyc this was meant to stay private but the report titled internal investigation report regarding carl lentz and other matters

was leaked to the christian post the report alleged that carl and laura in order to receive their severance package were to comply with the investigators and be truthful in a statement to the christian post on april 1 a hillsong church spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the report which was based on interviews with former and current staff members as well as former and current volunteers and carl and laura lentz former staffers and volunteers of the church had a lot to say including carl's driver who said carl would allegedly belittle him bully him and complain about the

driving or the route he was taking investigators noted that the driver stated carl once yelled at him for breathing too loud while he was driving the driver stated that he was expected to be at carl's beck and call 24 7 and never miss a call or text the driver stated that he would have to sit outside a nightclub and wait for carl sometimes for three to five hours and further stated that he was removed from his position after he asked to pray for carl during a car ride carl denies this and further denied being driven

out to clubs late at night but went on to say that sometimes he would take bibles to his friend who was a dj and distribute them staff also complained that carl required he be picked up from the airport by two people in two separate cars one person to pick carl up and drive him where he needed to go and another to wait around at baggage claim to pick up carl's luggage and deliver it to his home when asked about this by investigators carl said yeah that happened and stated that this was quote completely hillsong standard

when interviewed in december 2020 about his misconduct which allegedly involved special massages three affairs and exposing himself to his housekeeper investigators said carl quote appeared to be generally forthcoming and candid about most of it the report went on to say that laura stated she had hunches and vibes that the massages carl was receiving were quote a bit strange review of carl's text messages by the investigators showed massage therapists quoting carl for the cost of massages and other inappropriate acts but it was unclear from the text messages if carl received only massages from these women or

something more it's kind of obvious this story won't have a happy ending but carl sure did the report went on to say that carl proudly told investigators he is a very good liar who deliberately took steps to cover up his indiscretions this included boldly lying to his wife laura when she caught carl and their children's nanny on a couch one night the report describes how one night in 2016 while at the home of former nba player tyson chandler laura told investigators she didn't know their nanny was there and happened to walk in and find her

and carl together but the two didn't notice her laura said she stood silently watching them for two minutes then she stormed into the room shoved carl out of the way clenched her fists and then the pastor's wife punched the nanny three times in the face it was the fight of her life until carl grabbed laura and she turned around and did the five-point palm exploding heart technique on carl and as he fell to the ground okay no it wasn't a scene from kill bill however the report does state that laura punched their nanny three times

in the face until carl grabbed her investigators said that laura was later gaslit by her husband and the nanny into thinking she had not witnessed what she saw with her own two eyes investigators said quote laura said she started to feel crazy and thought to herself did i see something i don't know end quote justin and hayley bieber have nothing to do with carl or laura lentz these days and a source told vanity fair that justin felt used and like carl was hijacking his entire lifestyle and based on his instagram and uploaded videos it appears

judah smith is justin's main spiritual advisor in 2018 judah became the chaplain for the seattle seahawks nfl team justin has even brought judah on stage with him to preach at some of his concerts joel houston brian's son and carl's former best friend who he started a church with continues to make music for hillsong and lives in california now although carl never seemed to get that reality show he wanted his ex did as ranine posted on her instagram in march of 2022 that she was cast in mtv's reality show x on the beach in which she

divulges about her affair with the married pastor renin stated on the show that quote i don't like to be referred to as a mistress i'm more like a mystery woman end quote in march of 2022 the hillsong global board made a public statement on hillsong's website where they accused brian of two moral failures the hillsong board stated brian houston was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a hillsong staffer in which he told her he wanted to kiss and cuddle her this led the staffer to resign and ask for her tithe money back from the

church the second incident happened in 2019 one year before carl was terminated when brian wandered into another woman's hotel room in which he spent 40 minutes in after a hillsong conference hillsong blamed this on brian's anxiety medication mixing with alcohol causing him to become confused which is how he landed in this woman's hotel room i gotta get through this the hillsong board went on to state that pastor brian had violated the hillsong pastor's code of conduct after this was released brian houston officially resigned from the mega church he started his wife bobby houston was let

go from hillsong only two weeks later this angered brian houston who took to facebook to air his grievances with the hillsong board and ended his tirade with quote our beautiful church is losing its soul end quote carl has not spoken publicly since the instagram post he made after his termination however in march of 2022 he was spotted for the first time in over a year at the airport carl and laura left the 4 million california rental and move their family to florida laura has stuck by her man and started her own business as an interior

designer at the time of this recording hillsong has lost 9 of its 16 churches in the united states as many pastors quit or pulled their churches from the hillsong franchise or were forced to step down after mishandling church funds or sending lewd photos and sometimes even worse a gallup poll reported that thousands of churches are closing every year as church attendance in the u.s continues to decline and the numbers of americans with no religious affiliation has risen and it's not just millennials and genzirs walking away gallup's data show declines among all major subgroups of the

u.s population beyond age people sometimes choose to leave their church for many different reasons dr marlene winnell is a psychologist who offers insight on the specific occurrence dr winnell educates on the dangers of fundamentalism as she believes therapists don't often understand that religion isn't always benign or good for someone dr winnell claims that raising questions about toxic beliefs and harmful practices in religion seems to be violating a taboo but states that is the problem as she says it quotes sanitizes religion and makes it all the more insidious when it's toxic dr winnell has defined a

disorder she calls religious trauma syndrome or rts as religion that causes trauma when it is highly controlling and prevents people from thinking for themselves and trusting their own feelings groups that demand obedience and conformity produce fear not love and growth dr winnell says religious trauma syndrome can be compared to a combination of ptsd and complex ptsd more information on dr winnell and rts can be found at journeyfree.org carl was about two months into his affair with ramin when he appeared on logan paul's podcast and near the end of that episode while discussing quarantine and how

it could affect people long term carl said quote quarantine is a great revealer it reveals what you need and don't need end quote while carl searches for what he needs many ex-members of hillsong are searching too as they were left hurt and betrayed by hillsong pastors and leaders this has been a cautionary tale on what happens when the wrong people are put in positions of power with hardly any oversight for a deeper dive into brian houston the hillsong empire and its undoing including how hillsong college students are made to sign non-disclosure agreements and more shocking

testimonies from hillsong victims i highly recommend the documentary hillsong a mega church exposed on discovery plus if you are a fan of learning about scams cults and cautionary tales be sure to like subscribe and select that bell icon for future content like this to be recommended to you thank you for watching my name is josie and i hope to catch you again in the next episode so [Music] [Music] you