Former Hillsong NYC Pastor Carl Lentz recently took to social media to express gratitude for his wife’s decision to stay with him despite his adultery, honoring her during her birthday week. Lentz took to Instagram to wish his wife, Laura, a happy “birthday week” and thank her for sticking by him. The post, captioned with a heart, included a black and white photo of Laura and a lengthy statement across four different photos.
He wrote, “Happy 45th birthday WEEK Laura Lentz. To watch my wife weather these storms of life in the past few years has been inspiring. It would have been so easy and understandable for her to have walked out and ended our marriage. Yet she chose the harder road. The one that has included so much pain as she has had to endure the consequences of my decisions.”
Lentz didn’t explicitly identify the “decisions” mentioned, but he repeatedly referenced “addictive patterns and sin” in the post. Three years ago, Lentz announced after being fired from Hillsong that he was unfaithful in his marriage. After his announcement, a Muslim New York City designer named Ranin Karim publicly stated that she had an affair with the megachurch pastor. A former nanny also accused Lentz of sexual misconduct. Lentz defended his wife’s character in his birthday week post, pushing back on allegations that she was “complicit” in his behavior and lamenting that “some even fabricated lies about her.”
Responding to those assertations, Lentz said, “That answer is emphatically no.” He praised Laura’s decision to “hold on to her faith,” saying that “even in the aftermath of so much disaster, her strength has not wavered.” Noting that the couple has lost friends over the years, he said that his wife has “courageously endured a lot of this road on her own.” He added, “Somehow, she still loves people. I’ve watched her make new friendships.”
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Lentz continued, “I’ve watched her fight for her trademark smile and kindness. I’ve watched her start multiple businesses. I’ve watched her still choose to believe the best in people, and despite what’s happened to her, still sticks with people when they go through hard times. People have asked Laura why she stayed with me. Including me! And I’ll let her tell her own story and give her own reasons, and all of it is gonna help a lot [of] people. But she told me one dark day that she loves me and has empathy for the true roots of my dysfunction.”
Lentz’s digital tribute to his wife comes several months after he wrote an Instagram post indicating that he was “no longer in ministry” despite taking on a new role at Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He identified his job as “to help give perspective and insight where I can” as opposed to “preaching” or “overseeing people.”
At the same time, Lentz discussed how “freeing” it felt to realize that God was still with him after struggling with “secrets and the feeling of not being worthy.” The previous Instagram post was published in May, shortly after Carl and Laura Lentz’s 20th wedding anniversary.
For her part, Laura Lentz reported to her followers on Instagram last year that her husband had “humbled himself & didn’t try to defend himself.” She praised him for focusing “on the one thing that matters most — our family!”