Justin Bieber's Pastor on How the Famous Deal With Faith
Justin Bieber, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving all turn to Hillsong’s Carl Lentz for spiritual guidance. The pastor, who has more than 500,000 followers across all of his social media accounts, joined Cheddar to discuss his new book “Own The Moment," attracting millennials to the faith, and his star-studded church.
“Celebrities are really not that much different than the regular among us,” the pastor said Monday.
Hillsong’s churchgoers are not what you might think of as typical Sunday parishioners -- Lentz caters to hip and fashion-forward millennials. The service itself is more like a party than a sermon: lines outside are more reminiscent of what you’d see during a new product release at Supreme or the Apple Store. And all four of the Sunday services usually pack their portion of the 12,000-square-foot space in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. There are lights everywhere and the music is booming.
But how is Hillsong’s fandom possible during a time that millennials are, overall, less faith-oriented?
Pew Research has reported that, compared with their elders, young people are much less likely to affiliate with any religious tradition or to identify themselves as part of a Christian denomination. Fully one in four adults under the age of 30 describe themselves as “atheist,” “agnostic,” or “nothing in particular.” Pew says Americans aged 18 to 29 are considerably less religious than older Americans.
Lentz says that millennials who gravitate towards him are seeking relatability in a world that’s becoming more and more cynical. He says that he wrote his book to give clarity to those who don’t know whether they should believe in God.
“People want genuine, authentic people,” he said, calling surveys like Pew’s “weird.” “I’ve never been interviewed by one,” he points out.
Hillsong is a Pentecostal “megachurch” affiliated with the Australian Christian Churches group. There are almost 1,100 institutions within the organization and more than 250,000 members.
Lentz, who’s the lead pastor at the NYC location, credits the city with drawing in celebrities to his church.
“If I was in Montana, we would have cattle ranchers in our church,” he said. “We live right here in the
Mecca of the entertainment industry.”
Lentz says that the concept of faith to those like Bieber and Durant is no different than it is for the average American.
Guerdy Abraira, Global Event Planner and 'The Real Housewives of Miami' cast member joins Cheddar News to discuss the latest season as well as making the most out of your NYE celebrations.
David Ewalt, Editor-in-Chief at Gizmodo joins Cheddar News to discuss a TikTok moderator suing the platform over mental trauma caused by graphic videos
The pandemic has supercharged the creator economy, and there are no signs of it slowing down no matter when the pandemic officially ends. Creators prove to be a key factor in driving purchasing decisions and retail sales, and an increasing amount of platforms are taking advantage of the social influence. Karissa Bell, senior editor at Engadget, joins cheddar news to discuss the creator economy boom.
The E-V maker Tesla has had a wild year. The company managed to continue to dominate the U.S. electric vehicle space despite growing competition and production delays. As the end comes to an end, Tesla finds itself growing richer and richer. Author of Risk Ritual Newsletter Richard Smith, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Venture capitalists and CEOs are clashing over the future of the internet. Web3 is the tech world's name for a decentralized, blockchain-based internet that runs on cryptocurrency. It was recently the topic of a tweet from Block CEO and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey who wrote that Web3 will not actually be owned by users, and instead be controlled by rich venture capitalists. Dorsey later shared that he was blocked on Twitter by Marc Andreesen, co-founder of VC firm Andreesen Horowitz, which has invested billions of dollars into Web3 and crypto projects. Correspondent for DealBook from the New York Times, Ephrat Livni, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the future of Web3.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
