Embattled former minister to the stars Carl Lentz goes from Hillsong to Tulsa megachurch

Embattled former New York pastor Carl Lentz joined has joined a Midwest mega church as a strategist, according to the church's executive pastor.

Lentz, who once ministered to Justin Bieber and other stars, was a pastor at Hillsong, until he was fired in 2020 after having an extramarital affair.

"After two years of Carl being in his own discovery and healing process, he has shown readiness to use his God-given gifts towards the local church again," Tulsa's Transformation Church Executive Pastor Tammy McQuarters released in a statement to USA TODAY Thursday afternoon.

"We believe in Carl, his marriage, his skill set, and his restoration," she said. "We pray that Carl, Laura, and their family experience not only their own restoration, but help others experience restoration by using their triumphs and failures to create resources for the body of Christ at large. We believe that this is part of what it looks like for the church to be the church."

The move will mark Lentz's first staff position at a church since being fired from Hillsong.

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'Full responsibility'

Lentz was fired from Hillsong’s New-York based campus of the megachurch in 2020 after a "revelation of moral failures.”

The day after the announcement of his firing, Lentz went to Instagram, sharing that he “was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. This failure is on me, and me alone and now I take full responsibility for my actions.”

Months after Lentz's dismissal, Hillsong's founder, Brian Houston, reported Lentz had leadership issues and had exhibited narcissistic behavior – actions that caused Houston concern as he began to witness them.

"I think there's a lot of things I should've known earlier, and hopefully, moving forward, we'll make sure we have far better systems in place and better accountability," Houston said.

Houston would later also resign after allegations over conduct with women.

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Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fired Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz now with Tulsa's megachurch