After being fired by the star-studded mega church Hillson, celebrity Pastor Carl Lentz has been exposed by his mistress, NYC-based fashion designer Ranin. She opened up about their relationship and expressed hope that others also would join her in speaking up against Lentz.
Ranin, 34, hailing from Palestine, spoke to The Post and said: "I'm here to tell the truth." She decided to speak out after 42-year-old Lentz was fired after a recent revelation of moral failures. It was revealed that he had cheated on his wife of 17 years, Laura Lentz, who was also a fellow minister.
Five-Month Pandemic Affair
Ranin spoke about her relationship with Lent and called it a five-month pandemic romance and also called out Lentz as a hypocrite who did not practice what he preached. Ranin met Lentz for the first time in May at Williamsburg's Domino Park. She was walking her dog and was searching for a place to sit, when Lentz offered her his seat.
They started speaking and thinking he was single, she opened up to him about her personal matters. As they parted for the day, Lentz took her number and saved it on his Notes application on his iPhone. She said that this was the first indication that he was not being true, but she did not take a note of it then.
Next day, he contacted her and asked her to save a seat in the park. The second meeting ended in Lentz boasting about his celebrity connections, but did not reveal who he was. As she was interested in him, she bought an app service to do background check on Lentz, based on his phone number. "It hit me so hard as everything came out," she said The Post.
Both Addicted to Each Other
But by then she was attracted to him and said: "He was like a drug to me. I was a drug to him." Later, she also realized that she had met him seven years ago when following her divorce, a friend of hers had taken her to the Hillsong Church in Manhattan. "I was like damn, this is the guy from the church I saw seven years ago," she said.
The same weekend they met, Lentz came to visit Ranin in her house. They drank tequila and he started making moves. "We were sitting and he asked if he could put his hand on my thigh. It was awkward as he didn't know how to act at first. He was timid, acting like he was a virgin," she said.
They started developing feelings as they began texting and FaceTiming regularly. They were mostly seeing each other at Ranin's home. She said Lentz would talk about how amazing his wife was and the guilt he felt about what he was doing to his family.
She also told that he would call her "Middle Eastern unicorn woman." But she got angry when he compared her to Kardashians. Ranin said she did not like being branded. They often had argument and quarreled with each other. Though Ranin tried to end things, Lentz did not know how to say good bye.
He tried to convince her by saying: "We didn't plan this, and that this is life and we fell into it. Ranin called Lentz a professional narcissist who lied too much. But in September, they began seeing each other more at least twice a week. "We were obsessed with each other," she said.
In September, his wife and a person from Hillsong song saw the messages exchanged between Ranin and Lentz on the computer. Even after he was fired he continued speaking to Ranin. They relationship ended when Lentz posted on Instagram seeking forgiveness for cheating on his wife. "I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions," he said.
"I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura and my children and taking real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need" he wrote on his IG post.
Meanwhile, Ranin said that Lentz had alleged that he usually helped the couples who were cheating and now he was in their shoes. She also acknowledged that they both had made mistakes. But also said, "People like him shouldn't preach. There's no deepness there."
