Hillsong and Mr. Lentz did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

“This action was not taken lightly and was done in the best interests of everyone, including Pastor Carl,” Mr. Houston said in the statement, adding that Mr. Lentz’s dismissal was “no doubt” the “right course of action.”

Mr. Lentz has been a rising star on the evangelical stage for years thanks in part to his numerous celebrity connections, which placed him in the spotlight as the church itself grew in size and popularity among young people.

One of those connections was the singer Justin Bieber, who according to a 2015 GQ profile, briefly moved in with Mr. Lentz in 2014 and was baptized by the pastor in the bathtub of an N.B.A. star’s Manhattan home.

Mr. Lentz’s Instagram account is sprinkled with pictures with celebrities and messages supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. In a post from September, he defended his use of the phrase Black Lives Matter as “perfectly reasonable and logical to say, no matter how many people try to convince you that somehow saying this sentence makes you a marxist endorsing, anti police, left leaning liberal loving, demonically powered and politically motivated activist pseudo warrior.”

Hillsong has stayed largely on the periphery of social battles, but in June, amid the nationwide protests against racism and police violence, Mr. Houston said in an open letter on the church’s website that it was doing its part to see racism “eradicated.” The statement, and another on Mr. Houston’s Instagram, followed comments from a pastor with Hillsong’s British chapter that were dismissive of the protests.

Source: New York Times

Powered by NewsAPI.org