It happened again. A talented pastor of a mega-church has stumbled and
fallen from grace. For those that might not have heard of him, Carl Lentz was
the lead pastor of Hillsong Church East Coast in New York City. Lentz came to
be known as a celebrity pastor because he used to be close to singer Justin
Bieber, having reportedly baptized Bieber in the tub of former New York Knick
Tyson Chandler. Lentz was recently
fired from the position he’d held since 2010 for, among other things, “a recent revelation of moral failures.” Many wondered what Lentz had done until last week when he publicly confessed to his 692k
Instagram followers: “I was unfaithful in my marriage…”
Although I knew a few people that attended his church, I didn’t know much about Carl Lentz. I remember that Joe Rogan had once mocked Lentz because of a picture of Lentz walking with Justin Bieber, where Lentz was rocking super low-rise shorts with no shirt. Although, it seemed a little suspect, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Now it seems like another case of the saying: where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Being a pastor is an awesome responsibility that should be taken very seriously. When a pastor has a moral failure, it not only impacts the pastor and his family, it also impacts the congregation and the surrounding community. If the pastor is famous, it’s even more damaging. In addition to the pain that his family, congregation and followers must be feeling right now, Lentz’s failure casts a shadow on Christianity. Many people won’t see this as a mistake by one person, they’ll view it as evidence against the truth of the Gospel; because if it couldn’t keep this pastor from cheating on his wife, why should they believe it can save anyone?
As I processed my thoughts on this, I realized that those who follow that line of thinking are starting off with a false assumption. A pastor is supposed to be a mature, godly leader that “shepherds” people in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. However, pastors are no more perfect or blameless than anyone else. People outside Christianity sometimes project the falsehood that pastors should be perfect, so that they can celebrate when a pastor is caught sinning. However, many Christians make a similar mistake and think that a pastor has a special ability that shields them from falling into sin. That is also false. While it’s true that the power of the Holy Spirit can deliver us from temptation, Lentz himself admitted that he had failed at “protecting his own spirit” and that he had been leading from an “empty place.” Meaning, Lentz, like any other Christian, including pastors, need to lean on God to walk the right path. Having a title or tons of followers does not automatically equip you to fight temptation.
Carl Lentz is the most recent public example, but he won’t be the last. Rather than be discouraged by this scandal and allow it to affect our faith, we should learn from it:
Pastors need our prayers. One’s spiritual walk doesn’t get easier when they become a pastor. Just like a video game, once you make it to a higher level, the battles get harder. We forget that pastors need our support and encouragement to lead like they’re supposed to.
Anyone can fall. Instead of placing pastors or other spiritual leaders on a pedestal, we should always remember that they’re human. It’s natural to look up to pastors or other people that are strong in the faith, and it’s understandable to be disappointed when they sin, but if it affects our faith, then we have made false gods out of them. Our faith is not in pastors, preachers or gospel singers; our faith is in Jesus Christ. The failing of a leader does not change the truth of the Gospel. Moments like these can reveal where we really are in our relationship with God.
Guard your heart. Lentz admitted that he failed to take advantage of the help around him that might have saved him from his mistake. Let no one think they are above this or that sin. If you fail to guard your heart and regularly renew your spirit through prayer and Godly fellowship, all it takes is time and opportunity for you to give in to temptation. If a pastor can fall, so can you.
Is Carl Lentz a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Only time will tell. What I do know is that my wife and I once attended a marriage seminar that was led by a pastor who had committed adultery. When the pastor revealed it, I remember being shocked. I thought to myself, why would he say that openly, with his wife sitting right next to him no less? It turned out that God had saved their marriage and that part of how the pastor redeemed himself was by turning his fall from grace into a lesson that could bless other marriages. By openly and explicitly sharing what led to the adultery and how their marriage recovered, they could better equip other marriages to avoid the same mistakes. I don’t know what will happen with Lentz, but I believe he’s taking the right step in publicly confessing his sin. My prayer is that it leads to genuine repentance for him, and healing for his wife and family.
I definitely agree with the church needing to support their pastors with prayers. We unfortunately live in a world where people even in churches may await ones downfall, to quickly say “ Look even our pastor can’t abstain from sex outside the marriage “. These examples of head leadership falling is just fuel to non-believers and critics of religion falsehoods and standards not being applicable in the 21st century. My response to these critics would be that pastors and sheep alike are vessels of sending the word from the Bible, the tainting of sin as mentioned above has nothing to do with the truth of God’s word. We live in a world that suffers from dying morals and it seems as if the moral candle is being burned from both ends, which could be the death of morality that non-believers have been awaiting. Remember GODS word is the only thing that never changes, it’s people that change.