Carl Lentz - known as a 'celebrity pastor' - has released the first episode of his podcast 'Lights On With Carl Lentz'.
In it, he and his wife Laura talk about his dismissal as pastor of Hillsong New York 2020 after he engaged in an extra-marital affair.
Lentz hit the headlines 4 years ago when Brian Houston, founder and then-global leader of Hillsong, announced that Lentz had been fired due to “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures”.
In a meeting with staff and volunteers at the church, Houston added that there had been “more than one affair”, as well as “general narcissistic behaviour, manipulating, mistreating people".
Lentz later confirmed the infidelity to his 700,000 Instagram followers: “I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life. This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions.”
The 45-year-old is most famous for bringing Justin Bieber to faith back in 2014, with the singer describing him as a "second father".
In 2017, a picture of the pair together surfaced online. Bieber wrote: "THIS IS MY DOG TIL THE DAY I DIE .. he's the biggest Brodog, ride or die til the wheels fall off!!"
In the podcast episode the charismatic pastor talks about his suicidal thoughts and a period of homelessness after the scandal, as well as their daughter Charlie who was hospitalised for mental health issues.
Laura says that a turning point for her choosing to stay with Lentz was seeing him break down when talking about his troubled upbringing.
"I saw you break down like I'd never seen you break down, or anyone for that matter," she said.
The couple have been together for 21 years.
Referring to the media reports that were written about him Lentz said: "Every headline typically would say, 'disgraced, disgraced pastor' or 'pastor falls from grace...what's funny about that is, God bless those people, they don't understand grace."
“Did I fall from grace? Absolutely not. I fell into it.”
So far there has been no mention of the other allegations made against him.
According to The Christian Post an internal investigation by Hillsong Church by the New York City law firm Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman, LLP, alleged that Lentz manipulated former staff and volunteers to the extend it they suffered with their mental health.
Lentz says he has no plans to return to the pulpit.
The podcast can be found on faith-based platform The B-Side.