Unpacking Truths

Celebrities and Faith

• LOC Church • Season 1 • Episode 112

Share episode

Submit a Question!

✝️ Unpacking Truths: Episode 112: Celebrities and Faith

Join Pastor Kendall and Pastor Mo in this captivating episode of Unpacking Truths, where they dive deep into the impact of celebrities on our culture, particularly in their newfound journeys with Christianity and following Jesus. 🌟🙏

In this thought-provoking discussion, Pastor Kendall and Pastor Mo explore their own initial skepticism regarding celebrities proclaiming their faith publicly. They share personal insights and reflections on how their perspectives have evolved over time, especially as they've witnessed the challenges of openly discussing faith in today's cultural landscape. 🤔💬

Through engaging anecdotes and clips from various celebrities, including Savannah Guthrie, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, and Mark Wahlberg, they unpack the authenticity and struggles behind these public declarations of faith. From the normalization of faith journeys to the rawness of personal struggles and transformations, this episode offers a compelling look into the complexities of navigating faith in the public eye. 🎤✨

Tune in as Pastor Kendall and Pastor Mo provide insights, encouragement, and a fresh perspective on the intersection of faith, celebrity culture, and personal authenticity. Whether you're a believer seeking inspiration or simply curious about the role of faith in the lives of public figures, this episode is sure to leave you with plenty to ponder. 📻🤝

🔗 Links mentioned in the episode:

#UnpackingTruths #CelebritiesAndFaith #FaithJourneys #Christianity #PodcastDiscussion #PersonalAuthenticity #CulturalImpact #Inspiration #Transformation #Rawness #PublicEye #SpiritualJourney #ChristianPodcast

Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more Unpacking Truths!

🎙️ Listen to Unpacking Truths on your favorite platforms:

✝️ Connect with Unpacking Truths:

😃 Connect with Unpacking Truths on Social Media:

alright so today on Unpacking Truths we are going to be talking about celebrities and their impact on our current culture of their new found Christianity and following Jesus hi I'm Pastor Kendall and I'm Pastor Moe and we are unpacking truths where we unpack God's Word and God's truth for life everyone is seeking and we are here to help you find hope and power in God's work so what do you think about this you know well this has been an interesting one for me because through the years I've been kind of skeptical yeah um you know when a football player gets interviewed after the game and the first thing he says I give all the glory to Jesus I I'm like I'm just wanting him to talk about the one play that he made and it feels like it can't stop talking about Jesus yeah I know well but seriously my reaction was a little bit like it felt out of context or felt showy in a way that I was a little bit put off by but I gotta tell you I've really had kind of a change of heart around this as cause I recognize how challenging it is um in a cultural setting to be able to speak freely about your faith and so I've been actually more inspired lately as I've listened to some celebrities talk about that so we found a few clips we're gonna share and we're gonna talk about something so have you been inspired when you're jamming out to like Kanye West in your car they see you pull up so is it yeah yeah that's of course it was king album that's what you're jamming out that's what it is but we're not starting with Kanye so we'll hold that right all right so the first one I want to look at is uh Savannah Guthrie on the today show just wrote a book about serve her faith journey and I saw a clip of the sort of a number of the today show host talking about it and then she did a separate one the the clip I Wanna show is from Craig Melvin one of the um one of the other parts of the today show host talking about his journey so let's just watch that quickly okay let's take a look my mother made sure that no matter what we were in church every Sunday for at least two and a/2 3 hours wow and so yeah so when you spend that much time you bring your Game Boy before Game Boy but when you spend that much time in church at a young age I think you pick it up by osmosis plenty of people have that experience and that makes them not want to have right long relations right god let's be honest sometimes that can be something that repels you I agree but fortunately for me it never did but what it did do as I get older my relationship with God changed my faith evolved when I was younger I I I treated God Jesus I treated them like they were genies and at night I would I would pray for the things that I wanted to happen pray for the things I didn't want to happen and then as you get older you know wait is that wrong you get older you realize that's that's not what the relationship is supposed supposed to be about and so for me as I've gotten older and I've gone on my faith journey I have um Learned to walk with God in a different way so part of what I loved about Craig's um testimonies it was so normal I mean it was he said I just grew up in church and he goes and I sort of took it in by osmosis yeah but then he talked about it needing to become his own and I think maybe this is what I've really been inspired by is when it's not just a one sentence statement but you're giving someone a chance to talk about it and he talked about needing to come to faith where it wasn't just god is a genie yeah but which I could resonate with well exactly I think a lot of people grew up that way and so I loved how he just talked so naturally about that's what it was yeah and now I understand god walking with me and I just I love that sort of transition that he had talked about yeah I think it's I think that's powerful because you're right you know there are so many people that are like I didn't have this big you know road to Damascus moment in my life where I'm journeying in life and I meet Jesus in this crazy profound way burning bush type crazy thing yeah and it's just here's how you you know slowly stumble upon you know the presence of Christ throughout your life in a really normal way and so why did that resonate with you you know I well that's part of my journey yeah there wasn't sort of the domestically so wholesome and normal just like me well I think there and that is the thing I've Learned as a pastor Mo is there are these sort of you know there's a whole myriad of stories but there are classic sort of two stories one is sort of you grown up with it at some point you question and then it come then you own it right or you really didn't have it or you rejected it and then Jesus knocks you off your high horse sometime later and then you come to really trust in him and both are legitimate experiences and so here was a celebrity celebrity I mean a newscaster broadcaster just sort of saying I had that sort of normal journey but I still had to make it my own I don't know how normal three hours of church is I mean if that's normal for y'all comment below but uh well maybe we need to lengthen our services maybe the more I want no more complaining when we're at 65 minutes do you hear me haha talking about my sermon going too long yeah well three hours I'll give you three hours you keep complaining so so that was just one that struck me I mean I think watching that I mean folks could go to YouTube and grab more of that clip and see more and see some of the others talk but I just love that panel discussion in that it came more than just a sound clip it was a little bit of their story yeah and I really appreciate how it was spoken into though that those moments of maybe the 3 hour church every week um did the actual the opposite right some people were like yeah this is yeah this is too and it's not that the timing right there were other things within their experience of church that maybe didn't resonate with them or what was in their heart right or what they who they knew god to be yeah whatever that message was or what they experienced from the other people that church right right because some of its it's not just the words that are spoken it's the context you step out of church and you're ugly you're not a nice person so I'm a little confused right right yeah and there isn't that alignment between what happens in and outside like when I'm driving my kids to church and I'm literally screaming at them as I'm driving and then I'm like no behave we're about to walk into church yeah like yeah that's not as helpful is it yeah I've come the wrong way you just hear I used to though you oh I thought you were just gonna say you've heard other people did that oh yeah yeah yeah I'm gonna own it it was me so mom let's let's jump to the other clip one of the ones you had um from Justin Bieber yeah why don't we watch that clip awesome let's take a look cause it is it is good it speaks into that same kind of upbringing to that he had okay so I'm very very grateful to have influences in my life that have played a huge part in me seeing their relationship with Jesus and their relationship with their wives and their relationship with their kids and saying that's what I want and um striving after that so Jesus wasn't this religious elite guy that you know came to um but he was he was in the dirt and he found me in my dirt and pulled me out like I said before I'm I'm a Jesus follower and I just wanna be LED by when you accept Jesus he says that now you walk with the Holy Spirit so I think I just wanna be LED by by the Holy Spirit we're not really good at the end of the day at the core I don't believe I don't believe humans are good and people might you know twist this and make me seem like I'm saying humanity is not good I don't know the truth I just feel like at the core I fight everyday temptation and things that you know are instinctive to do whether it's you know whatever it is lie be greedy all these things that just naturally come those naturally come I got a fight to not be that so what I appreciate about this is that like I know Bieber and I saw a bunch of other clips right where he has since he was young really spoke into like oh I follow Jesus you know I like Jesus but he didn't understand or equate that like following Jesus meant living a certain way yeah like it's a way of life uh huh and so he thought it just meant believe in your saved and it didn't mean like no you're reordering your whole life to look like the very presence of God in the world yeah and so I love this clip because this is a moment where he gets that right and he says it's a game changer for him and I think it's been profound it's you know um it's been profound for him he said and it really clicked with him when he saw other people have what he wanted he saw men have the type of marriage he wanted people have the type of families he wanted people spend their money the way that really impacted the world and you know left a legacy wood is going to leave a legacy and so that was really interesting to me because here's someone who could who has it all can do it seemingly yeah right yes has what we as Americans you know claim as everything right money power fame um and yet he's he was so empty yeah and yeah well that's what I loved in and it was part of the clip we saw but there's part of the expanded clip he just talks about those dark places he was in yeah and he goes I needed someone to rescue and and that's when faith in Jesus became real for him when it wasn't just sort of happy believe in Jesus but when he was in his depth and he realizes something has to change or I'm gonna implode or I'm gonna lose it all or I'm gonna go off the deep end it was the Jesus somehow met him in there and pulled him out of the depths and um and in seeing what others he goes I want that don't you think we have to go there though like think about it like he he has all this money all this power you almost have to try it all like King Solomon like it's all like chasing after the wind it really you know I've had it all I've tasted this experience that and at the end of the day it's like it's like why do I feel so empty still and that's why they turned to drugs and they turned all these other things addictions and it's still like there's gotta be more to this life like what is happening I mean once you chase all of those experiences and they're cool and they're great but it's some level oh tell us about some of your experiences that'll be another great be another part I guess but I think at the end you're right it's like that was great but it's at all and and there is something about the depth of a connection with god a relationship with Jesus that is just deeper and more lashing and more profound more real than anything that seems so real right in that the world tells us well it's all like you know it's the father of lies right that's what who were told Satan is it's always a truth with a lie on top of it yeah like once you have this then you're going to uh you know gain self worth or you're going to feel important or you're going to feel loved and that's the line on top of it is those things are maybe good in and of themselves but once you obtain them they're not gonna give you anything that's going to create real transformation in your heart and soul yeah and contentment yeah contentment you know or peace you know what I I don't have a clip of this one but I just wanna share a quote because it reminds me is one of the things that just showed up in my newsfeed a month or two ago was about a woman who I didn't know before this came up but Kat Von d who was this famous tattoo artist oh yeah who just came to faith in Jesus why she coming why she coming through your feed I don't know maybe she's coming through his feed that means he was looking for something you getting a tattoo you getting a tattoo you never know the arms are all covered at this point Sonny your face is getting put on his neck but the I just loved how she said some of this let me just read yeah um I think this was in her Instagram post I know that everybody's on their own journey and it's not for everybody but this is where I'm at she said in her video and to me my baptism was a public demonstration of where I stand with my faith and basically letting people know that I'm not ashamed and it was I love Chichiwa and then she goes on and this other one says in no way is this post designed to put anyone down if you're not into this stuff yeah um because I think we are all on our own journey and I love everyone regardless of where they might be at but right now I've never been more clear it's never been more clear to me that there is a spiritual battle taking place and I wanna surround myself and my family with love and light and I loved sort of the non judgmental aspect I'm not telling all of you but I'm also wanting to state clearly to the world this is where I'm at yeah and and and I'm not ashamed and that's the part that I've come to recognizes that keeping faith in the closet sometimes we're doing it because we're ashamed we want people to come out of the faith closet come out of the closet come out of the closet everyone it's time the um proclaim your faith and and she just didn't uh in in so she wanted to boldly go there and yet without sort of she like into witchcraft oh yeah she was into witchcraft and she sort of said that was another part of the world yeah I that's behind me I don't wanna be a part of that yeah I wanna be a part of who Jesus is no I don't know her trans transformation story her big aha moment do you know I don't know I have I've tried to read a little bit if you know comment below so we know what's going on yeah put a link to a YouTube video where we can watch that together um so yeah but but here again in in so now she's also um just working through that journey of what is that mean to live like that yeah and it's and I love the rawness the realness of it the the the boldness but also the non judgmental way that she's putting it out I just I respect that when you say that rawness and realness I think that's what we're looking for in this culture right like yeah I want genuine I don't care if you're messy I don't care what it I want you to be authentically real yeah and so and live into who you truly are and don't put on some fake mask like I think that our culture especially millennials and younger like are really good at you know peeping that out like this person's fake right my kids will say it they'll be like no I don't like that person they're fake and I'm like come on they're great they're so nice and they're like no there's something about them and they can they can kind of see through certain things when people aren't being genuine when I think maybe the older generations like we like a lot I'm on that older end of millennials but we were taught I remember my mom and aunts like you behave there's a certain way of being and even if it means you know it's pleasant trees and being polite you know but it's not the truth with certain things like you look amazing in that dress you know it's it's because it's the right thing to do and I think that there's some kind of authenticity really wanted now and I that's why I love Kanye West right okay not only is he a great rapper but he is just truly living this life of trying to follow Christ just like Bieber is right any anybody's in the limelight and life is messy and then he's also dealing with mental illness and so it's all these and mourning the death of his mom all these things and so I just want us to take a look let's look at this clip really quick and then we can talk speak some more into it okay God knock me off my horse God like literally called me and said okay now I need you I need you right now I need I mean not that God needs needs me we need God but he called me to serve him and I was tired of serving the music industry start tired of serving you know uh filling up stadiums uh yeah so I couldn't imagine what it was like to not only try to figure out and wrestle what it looks like to look like Christ in the context of relationships parenting how I spend my money but then do it publicly yeah in the light of for everyone to see and you can all judge me and you know comment and put out videos and throw all over social media how you think I'm you know missing the Mark or I'm fake or whatever it is or or messy or you know all these judgments it's just I think it takes so much courage to do something like that it it is I mean and that's that whole part of why often times people keep this to themselves because that fear of if I put out and say I am a Christian then there is this tendency for people to go well does mo life line up there does Kendall's life line up there does Kanye's life line up there and as we are works in progress all of us are that challenge of when you are a public figure how do you become a work in progress you know I've heard people often say it's better to talk about your scars than your wounds that your wounds are still raw it's stuff you're working through it's better to talk about I really struggled with this I found healing and now here's where I'm at the wounds are messy see I kind of like that they talk about their wounds because so many people are wounded like they don't have scars yet like they're sitting in their icky wound and it's oozing out and it is powerful to hear someone else say yeah me too it stinks it hurts I don't know how to close this up I you know I'm trying my hardest I'm giving it to God and you know it starts to heal over and then I pick my own scab off sometimes and you know it's but I do appreciate Kanye because he speaks you know into the truth and he says like I miss I miss the Mark I try to live in a certain way and I see that he does because he had the yeesus tour where he literally went out in 2,019 and through free you know church services with um all these I mean with his whole crew like all the money on him everything was free um now his clothing attire he didn't he didn't think it was um economically fairer responsible for to have as much power and money as he has and then to make his clothing so unattainable to everyday kids and people and so he changed everything to $20 on his website everything $20 guys go get it now blow and so like it's I mean to I love that he's like he's not just saying it he's like living it he's like yeah I'm taking a big hit on money but I'm following Jesus and this is what like Jesus cares about those kids who otherwise couldn't afford this stuff like Jesus cares about you know other people you know worshipping in these incredible ways and having this encounter with Christ through something like rap or music um itch I don't know I just think it's really powerful and I think he's living into that with his life with his money he's okay talking about how you know he had a porn addiction and um he had a sex addiction and how that really just ruined his marriage and ruined who you know who he felt he was supposed to be cause it LED to emptiness all the time and how that's really transformed his walk with Jesus has transformed his marriage and his family and how he views he said even his wife right like what he puts first is how is he thinks how is this going to hurt her hmm like that's Christ in and through him it's not like what do I want in this moment what are my impulses the first thing that comes into his mind is how is what I'm going to do hurt this other person or hurt the world or hurt the economy or hurt the you know the music industry I just yeah I think it's powerful you know and you're better connected with Kanye than I am let's just put it like that how's lies he comes up he comes up jamming out don't let him play you so you know some of that stuff I just don't know I mean I haven't haven't been as tuned in I I mean there been I probably have more fallen into in that case a little bit of the judging side because there have been a couple of comments or things that he's done that I kind of gone huh and and so that's get probably created a little skepticism in me but in some ways you're calling that out and going and this is the problem of doing this in any public forum yeah whenever you name it it is so easy for everyone to be critical everyone to be judgy about what you're doing even if you're trying to find your way and maybe you know you're gonna stumble we all stumble especially as we're maturing in faith it's not like we're gonna get it right on and he's openly been diagnosed with bipolar and he's admitted that you know when when things aren't right or he's not taking his medication you know his mind goes kind of all over the place right and so he'll say and do things that maybe aren't you know don't seem quite yeah you know an alignment to what you know what he should be doing or saying or and and he admits that and he's like and and Jesus is still with me walking in the end it's because of the love of Christ that I could pick myself up after I do something like that that's incredibly embarrassing and I don't hold on to shame but I'm free because I know who I am and how loved I am that man that I'm like that's what I'm talking about that's the freedom in Christ well in mode in some ways what you're just describing points back to where we started is what had troubled me in the past were these like one sentence shout outs to people's faith yeah where that was all that you heard from them and then you didn't know anymore so I'm not putting it on them but that's all like that these longer places where people are getting interviewed and they're talking about their journey that you then begin to seal see the the depth of that transformation or where hey this part of me has been changed in this part man this is still a struggle here yeah and that that is powerful and and so for me in many ways it is that those longer form opportunities to talk about faith that I think have even the bigger impact than just the the one sentence shout outs yeah well I don't you think it's kind of like the Bible everyone let me take things out of context and create my own story around it I mean think about how powerful that is the scriptures use for the same thing if I have an agenda and I don't have you know a good place in my heart but I'm for myself I may take things out of scripture and use them inappropriately out of context to get what I want like and and I think sometimes people I know people do do that with other people right out of jealousy out of you know just wanting to you know and it's a sound like culture yeah so you get one statement and yeah something shocking out there and yeah yeah the you know the one we had talked about ending with um and and I like that you suggest we end this way is um Mark Wahlberg he's always been someone who's very sort of attractive well that too um from but all my female friends say Mark Wahlberg if you hear this shout out to you haha but you've been very affront about his faith yeah and interestingly coming out of a Rome Catholic tradition yeah which is often been more redescent and in thou those ways and right now he's um during this lent um though this may be showing after lent but he was uh in um in the the hello app doing a narrating the this prayer app and so but it last way beyond just the 40 days of lent but Mark wanted to be a part of that he was asked to and I just saw this interview with him did he create that no I don't think he created he was just it's just his voice it's his voice that's my understanding of it it was just interesting he comes at life from this very sort of hyper disciplined sort of way yeah I mean he was you know

getting up at ungodly 3:

00am in the morning to work out and then do his devotions and then do all this just hyper disciplined but how much faith has been central for him yeah and then I watched some more in interview with him where he's talking about that whole struggle that you know you and I have gone is how do you share that convicted faith with your kids in a way that invites them in but doesn't force them in and and it was just interesting to hear him I'm not gonna lie I'm so distracted I just keep thinking about Mark Wahlberg like putting me to sleep with Complin prayers at night and I'm kind of getting excited so I'm gonna download this hollow app and I'll let you know how it is you let me know how it is too I'm excited it's yes I will pray the rosary with you Mark absolutely he's so it's okay you said he's cute I get it but yeah I mean I think it is a place of you know it's just interesting how that that public statement of faith can make an impact for people are there are there things on the app for kids like for I don't know I have not spent much time on the app myself so well I'm gonna spend some time on the app so we'll let you know you let us know comment below and it's been fun talking with you about celebrities and faith one more thought if you are listening to this and you sort of in a dark place or wrestling with who is Jesus to you we encourage you to reach out to us at unpacking truth.com or reach out to a local church around you talk to a pastor talk to another someone who you know is a follower of Jesus if you're trying to figure this out for yourself we'd love to help you they can help you figure out what faith can mean in your life absolutely there's nothing better than a relationship with Christ next time an unpacking truce we had to be brought to that place because scripture talked about it and so culture had to push us there to me around some of the issues with women and leadership at the same some of culture had to lead us and then we had to look back and go oh maybe we didn't understand these scriptures quite correctly well and but here's the thing it's like anyone I think like do your history like do your work like if you go back and you look at this stuff you see that women were doing everything men were doing and affirmed in it in scripture right and then there came a point in history when that was taken away and so why are you know what we don't want to look at that we just want to read things literally and not look at the bigger picture or jump few thousand years back because some of that yeah and what because it does something for you thanks for tuning in if anything we said brought up any questions or ideas let's keep the conversation going in the comments below or email us at unpacking truth at Loc church help and don't forget to like share and subscribe so we can continue helping people unpack God's truth for their lives

People on this episode

Head Shot

Pastor Kendall Koenig

Host
Head Shot

Pastor Maureen O'Connor

Host