Leaked audio reportedly shows Carl Lentz, the disgraced former pastor of Hillsong East Coast fired in November following revelations of an extramarital relationship, is guilty of “more than one affair.”
A new report published Friday by Daily Mail suggests Lentz is a serial cheater. The article purportedly centers on leaked audio from Hillsong’s founding pastor Brian Houston, who could be heard accusing Lentz of exhibiting “general narcissistic behavior, manipulating, and mistreating people.”
Lentz was accused of “constantly lying” and engaging in “more than one affair,” Houston continued, adding, “They were significant. And at least some bad moral behavior had gone back historically.”
The Daily Mail report further cited Hillsong members who asked to remain anonymous. Those unnamed sources reportedly told the outlet Lentz “used women he met backstage at church for affairs.”
In the leaked audio, Houston said:
I can honestly say before God the first time I heard any moral complaint against Carl was when [Hillsong East Coast Chief Operating Officer Tolu Badders] contacted me. Tolu had a conversation with one of the staff members, and that staff member had found a very compromising chain of text messages on Carl’s laptop or computer. And so that person went straight to Tolu. And Tolu, to her credit, the first thing she did was call me.
The Australian-based preacher went to call Lentz a “difficult man to have any kind of direct conversation with, because it was always defensive.”
“It would always be put back on the other person,” he said, “as though they’re the ones with the problem.”
What else?
At the beginning of November, Lentz broke his silence about the extramarital affair that ended his run as pastor of Hillsong East Coast.
“This failure is on me and me alone, and I full responsibility for my actions,” he wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura, and my children and taking real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need.”
Houston first announced Lentz’s dismissal, saying at the time the ex-pastor is guilty of “moral failures.”