Hillsong Founder Speaks Out on Celeb Church’s Controversies and ‘Narcissistic’ Ex-Pastor Carl Lentz

Brian Houston, the founder of Hillsong Church, sat down with Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday — breaking his silence on their many controversies, including ex-pastor Carl Lentz. 

Lentz, who had close ties with several celebrity members of the church, was fired in November for “moral failures” and “breaches of trust,” later revealing that he cheated on his wife of 17 years.

After Lentz was fired, Houston announced in a tweet that the church was launching a probe into its New York City and East Coast locations.

Guthrie noted that Lentz has been described as “aloof,” adding that he was distant from the actual ministry. “Does that bother you?” she asked.

“It does to a degree, for sure,” Houston replied. “Carl was Carl. He’s a unique character. There’s a lot of things I miss about Carl. But having said that, there were leadership issues that I believe included lying, included what I would call narcissistic behavior.”

Houston pledged to hold members of the church accountable in the future, admitting that there are many things about Lentz that he “should’ve known earlier.”

“I do think that we did allow a culture to develop where it was one rule for celebrities and a different rule for other people,” Houston admitted to Guthrie on Wednesday’s Today Show.

The church has been known for its celebrity following — attracting stars such as Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger, Hailey and Justin Bieber, Vanessa Hudgens, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Durant, Bono, and several members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan.

“One person who’s obviously been well reported is Justin Bieber,” Houston said. “If you think back several years now, when he was wrecking hotel rooms and basically on the edge of getting deported to Canada. And look at Justin Bieber today. Anyone who’s being fair could see a radical change, and so not everything about it is bad.”

Bieber had a particularly close relationship with Lentz, as the ex-pastor was once his spiritual adviser, yet Houston denied giving Lentz special treatment due to his ability to attract celebrities to the church.

Despite its popularity among some of the most rich and famous, Elliot Page called Pratt out following an interview with Stephen Colbert, exposing his strong ties to the church, which holds anti-LGBTQ+ views.

“Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?” Page wrote on Twitter, highlighting her issues with the Hillsong congregation.

Houston addressed the church’s alleged discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, saying, “I don’t have any personal bias at all against gay or lesbian people. But unfortunately, as a pastor, you don’t represent what you think. You represent what the Bible says. And so at this point, we’re still a conservative one on the subject of active gay relationship, et cetera.”

“But it’s a journey,” he said. “Everyone’s welcome. Many, many people who are gay come to Hillsong Church.”

The founder concluded by telling Guthrie that despite all the controversies, he sees the good in Hillsong.

“I look you in the eye and tell you I genuinely believe in my heart Hillsong is a good church,” he said.

Watch above, via NBC.