Carl Lentz, in his first staff position since Hillsong, joins Transformation Church in Tulsa

One pastor of the predominantly Black megachurch stated, "We gladly welcome Carl Lentz to our Transformation Church staff, helping TC with strategy as we continue to move forward in our vast vision."

 Carl Lentz, the pastor who was fired from Hillsong New York City, has joined the staff of Transformation Church, a predominantly Black, nondenominational megachurch in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that is led by pastor, author, and well-known YouTuber Michael Todd. Transformation Church is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Lentz, who was fired from Hillsong in 2020 after an extramarital affair came to light, has joined the staff of Transformation, a juggernaut in a town full of megachurches.

"We happily welcome Carl Lentz to our Change Church staff, assisting TC with the procedure as we keep on pushing ahead in our tremendous vision," Tammy McQuarters, the congregation's leader minister of activities, told Religion News Administration in an email Monday (Walk 27).

RNS also received confirmation from a Lentz-related source that Lentz and his family had relocated to Tulsa and were attending Transformation Church. However, the source did not confirm that Lentz was employed by the church. According to the source, Lentz has established a consulting and coaching business, and churches are among his clients.

According to the source, Lentz's family should "continue to heal and move forward" in Tulsa.

Even though rumors and ongoing accusations have plagued him and his former church, Lentz, 44, who was once dubbed a "hype-priest" by GQ Magazine for his ministry to NBA players and celebrities like Justin Bieber and his fashionable attire, has remained mostly silent since his firing.

(That quiet will end May 19, with the arrival of an FX docuseries covering the Hillsong embarrassments and, it was declared Tuesday, highlighting the primary meetings from Carl Lentz and his better half, Laura, since his termination.)

“Carl has demonstrated his readiness to utilize his God-given gifts once more for the local church after two years of being in his process of discovery and healing. McQuarters stated, "We believe in Carl, his marriage, his skill set, and his restoration."

According to McQuarters, restoration is a part of the church's mission to "re-present God to the lost and found for transformation in Christ." She said that the two go "hand-in-hand," pointing to the Galatians passage in the Bible that says to "restore one another" after sin, mistakes, and repentance.

She went on to say, "We are called to be a safe environment for people to evolve and transform."

The 4,500-seat SpiritBank Event Center, which the church owns, is where Transformation Church now meets, having been established in 1999 in the historically Black Greenwood District of Tulsa, the site of the city's race massacre in 1921. Transformation bought the arena in 2019 for $10.5 million. Over the previous four years, the church has bought nearly $67 million worth of real estate in the area.

In Tulsa, Todd and Transformation Church have gained a reputation for their community contributions, which include giving $200,000 to each of the three surviving race massacre survivors as part of a $1 million donation made by the church to mark the centennial of the incident.

Lentz, a local of North Carolina, was prepared at Hillsong School in Sydney, Australia, before being shipped off by the Pentecostal force to be reckoned with to establish a Hillsong station in Manhattan in 2010. Named Hillsong New York City, the congregation drew upwards of 10,000 for the most part youthful New Yorkers to its administrations at its level. However, the NYC branch and Hillsong Global have been involved in parallel scandals ever since Lentz was fired in November 2020. Last year, Hillsong's founding pastor, Brian Houston, resigned due to revelations of indiscretions with women, and there are ongoing allegations of financial misconduct against the church.

On "Good Morning America," Brooklyn jewelry designer Ranin Karim talked about her relationship with Lentz shortly after he was fired. Leona Kimes, Lentz's former nanny, made the allegations of "bullying, abuse of power, and sexual abuse" against Lentz a few months later, which a legal representative for Lentz at the time denied. Church leadership that was plagued by abuse, sexual misconduct, and secrecy was depicted in a leaked report that was commissioned by Hillsong Global to investigate the leadership of Hillsong East Coast.

McQuarters stated that Transformation Church is praying for Lentz and his family to be restored and to assist others in doing the same, "by using their triumphs and failures to create resources for the body of Christ at large."

McQuarters stated, "We believe that this is part of what it looks like for the church to be the church."