Carl and Laura Lentz Break Their Silence on the Hillsong Scandal, Public Judgment, and What Really Caused the Fallout

Five years after his affair ended his run at Hillsong’s Manhattan campus, Carl Lentz and his wife Laura are telling their story their way. The couple’s new book,Overcoming Infidelity: 10 Conversations To Help Heal the Hurt, covers the scandal from the inside, and Laura is candid about the toll of public judgment. She says outside opinions gave her significant anxiety and that only she and Carl know what their marriage actually needed to survive.

Carl’s explanation of how the deception began is catching people’s attention:“You don’t start keeping secrets about cheating. You start keeping secrets about fear.”It’s a small sentence with big implications about how hidden things pile up in relationships. Laura also puts words to the impossible choice at the center of it all:“It’s so hard to stay, it’s so hard to go.”

The couple describes healing as a day-by-day project, a“one-day contract,”and Carl says a ministry comeback is not in the plans. What do you think: can trust really be rebuilt after a public betrayal, or are some things too big to come back from? Sound off in the comments.