Former Hillsong New York Pastor Carl Lentz joined Ruslan for a two-hour plus conversation about pastoral qualifications, spiritual restoration, and whether the Bible permits fallen leaders to ever return to ministry.
In the fall of 2020, Lentz was fired from the church he founded after being exposed for having an extramarital affair. Lentz has since re-emerged publicly after accepting a staff position at Mike Todd’s Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in March 2023.
The former pastor later launched a podcast, titled “Lights on With Carl Lentz,” in the summer of 2024.
Ruslan commended Lentz for not running back to the pulpit and commented on Lentz “seeming to be very sober.”
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“How do you process that specific aspect of disqualification? And what does it mean to be disqualified?” Ruslan asked. The influential podcaster then followed up his question by telling Lentz, “I’ve made some pretty bold statements,” one of which was, “I could probably never attend the church of a pastor that was in ministry, got divorced, and kept preaching.”
“Why?” Lentz asked.
Ruslan answered, “Because I think if you can’t lead your household well, I don’t know if you can lead the church well.”
Lentz questioned what Ruslan meant by “leading your household well.”
“Thriving marriage, thriving family, so on and so forth,” Ruslan explained.
Digging further into Ruslan’s statement, Lentz asked Ruslan to define “thriving.” The former pastor said, “So how much stuff can go on in a pastor’s life where his family isn’t thriving? Let’s just say his teenager goes through something. What do we do?”
Ruslan replied, “I think we pray for that pastor, and we hope that they grow and restore and all that sort of things.”
“Even though his family is not thriving,” Lentz further questioned.
