A New York-based pastor and good friend of Justin Bieber is speaking out about what it’s really like to be a minister to a star.
It isn’t rare to find Pastor Carl Lentz of HillsongNYC hanging around some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including Justin Bieber.
The pair are so close, Bieber even moved into Lentz’s New York home a few years ago to get away from all of the demands of being a pop star.
«Yeah, there was a period where he just needed to get out of dodge, his regular life, and lived with us,» Lentz told the Associated Press. «He’s got an amazing mom and dad but in this regard we thought maybe it would be cool for a little bit just to check out of the grind that you’re in as one of the biggest stars in the world and just be normal.»
Lentz calls the private time with Bieber «special.»
«We pulled it off for like two days and then the word got out and it was kind of annoying, but overall it was like a pretty special time,» Lentz recalled. «Yeah. Uno, card games, Bible studies and just sneaking into coffee shops in Jersey, just hanging out.»
Lentz helps Bieber cope with the constant criticism and gossip published in tabloid magazines.
«It’s the same way I would try to handle criticism in my own life. You never want to get to the point where you’re so callous that it doesn’t register but you do want to get to a place where you can control what it does to your spirit,» Lentz said.
«For him, he’s so used to that kind of thing that we try to change what kind of reaction he had. On his own accord, he just said, ‘Look, I don’t like stuff like this but there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. It’s not going to rule me so I’m not going to think about it.'»
Lentz has done more than just hide Bieber from relentless paparazzi, he also baptized him alongside pastor Judah Smith.
Lentz told ABC»s Good Morning America that «like many people who want to renew their faith,» Bieber wanted to be baptized.
«But it’s harder if you’re really famous and you get followed around everywhere,» Lentz explained. «We ended up just finding an apartment in New York City, a friend of mine who has a giant bathtub … we had the coolest/weirdest baptism ever.»
Even though Lentz hangs around a lot of celebrities, he doesn’t like to be called «pastor to the stars.»
«I think everybody’s a star in their own right, and I think that’s immediately where I differ, because I think God has created everybody with really special unique things about their life and about who they are, but I know why our world says that because they don’t expect people that are famous to be in church at all,» Lentz said.
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