So What Are All of Justin and Hailey Bieber’s Hip Pastors Up To?
Checking in on Hollywood’s favorite Evangelical preachers.
Last week, Justin and Hailey Bieber announced that, after almost seven years of marriage (wow!), they are expecting their first child. To share the happy news, they posted photos from a vow renewal they did in Hawaii this month. If you look closely at their respective photo carousels, you can see that Judah Smith, an Evangelical pastor based in Seattle, traveled to Kauai to officiate the ceremony. The Biebers have had their ups and downs over the years, but they remain as committed to the Lord as ever.
What happened to all the other pastors Justin used to pal around with, though? Some have faded into the background, some have gotten closer to Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, at least one has been fully disgraced. Let’s take a look at the state of Hollywood’s favorite Evangelical preachers below.
Carl Lentz, former pastor at Hillsong in New York City
Lentz, 45, was Justin’s most significant spiritual guide before his literal fall from grace in 2020. The pastor famously baptized Justin in NBA star Tyler Chandler’s bathtub in 2014 and quickly became a regular presence in Justin’s life, following him on tour and even hosting him in his New Jersey home when he was struggling with various demons. TMZ claimed Lentz was like a “second father” to Justin and often published photos of the two of them walking around wearing tank tops together. But their relationship became strained in 2018 when Justin reignited his relationship with Hailey. Earlier that year, Justin was dating Selena Gomez for the umpteenth time, and Lentz was reportedly offering the pair “Christian couples’ counseling.” When that didn’t work out, the tabloids reported that Lentz and Justin were not as close. Still Lentz and his wife, Laura Lentz, were invited to the Biebers’ wedding celebration in South Carolina in 2019.
But then Lentz was fired from Hillsong the following year for cheating on his wife — with multiple other people, it turned out. Justin and Hailey both unfollowed Lentz on Instagram and have not been seen with him since.
Rich Wilkerson Jr., pastor at VOUS Church in Miami
Wilkerson Jr., 40, is perhaps best known as the cool-guy Evangelical pastor who officiated the wedding of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West in Italy. But he also played a significant role in getting Justin and Hailey down the aisle: His church was the reason the couple reunited in 2018. Both Justin and Hailey attended the VOUS Conference in Miami that June and “bumped into” each other in between worship sessions. They were engaged the next month and attended the conference again together the following year. Wilkerson Jr. was also in attendance at their wedding in South Carolina, but the couple has not been seen with him in recent years. The VOUS Conference goes on though: Wilkerson Jr. is currently advertising this year’s conference on Instagram (tickets cost $200 per person).
What is a church conference, exactly? That is still something of a mystery to me, but here’s a video from Hillsong’s conference in 2017 featuring Wilkerson Jr., Lentz, Chad Veach (we’ll get to him next), and Bieber, who is preoccupied by his Off-White boots and a disposable toothbrush. Looks like a fun time.
Chad Veach, pastor at Zoe Church in Los Angeles
Veach, 44, has basically replaced Lentz as the hip pastor with the most celebrity friends. His star has been rising for awhile: He founded Zoe in 2015, joined Justin on his Purpose World Tour in 2017, and even engendered a new celebrity marriage in 2018 (Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger met at his church). But he is perhaps best known for making funny faces at the paparazzi with Justin. Of course he was also present at the Biebers’ wedding in 2019. But lately, he has seemed closer to some other high-profile stars: He officiated Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s wedding in Italy in 2022 (despite the fact that the ceremony space was decorated like the Vatican, it was not, in fact, a Catholic wedding).
Perhaps it is unsurprising that Veach has remained famous even as his relationship with the Biebers has flagged: In 2018, he told the New York Times in an interview, “Instagram built our church. Isn’t that fascinating?” Sure!
Judah Smith, “Lead communicator” at Churchome in Los Angeles
Smith, 45, was Justin’s first hip Evangelical pastor, and it looks like he’ll be his last. He was the one to introduce Justin to Lentz in the first place (oops) and has been there for Justin and Hailey during their separation from Hillsong. He is now the only pastor who is still regularly photographed with the Biebers: He and his wife, Chelsea Smith, just went on a triple date with the Biebers and Jason and Lauren Kennedy in Malibu in December. And when Hailey’s dad, Stephen Baldwin, made headlines for asking the world to pray for the Biebers in February, Justin and Hailey immediately visited Churchome’s L.A. location with the paparazzi in tow to signal that everything was actually fine.
As previously mentioned, Smith officiated Justin and Hailey’s religious wedding ceremony in 2019 (they got legally married at New York City Hall in 2018) and their recent vow renewal. Justin also has a link to the Churchome app in his Instagram bio — I’m sure Smith appreciates the free advertising to his 293 million followers.
Why has Smith been able to maintain a relationship with Justin while other pastors have fallen by the wayside? Perhaps it is because he is steadfastly supportive of Justin, even when he gets in trouble. In 2015 — sort of the peak of Justin’s “bad boy” era — Smith sat down with People and said, unironically, that he was proud of him. “It’s astounding to consider that at such a young age he’s experienced extraordinary fame, and yet here he is at 21 years old making some amazing decisions and really developing,” he said. “I’m proud of who Justin is and the incredible journey he’s on.”
I think I know who’s going to baptize the Bieber baby.
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