Hillsong UNITED packs arenas and tops the Christian charts consistently in the United States. They have built quite a following. Interestingly, Hillsong UNITED seems to have hit a chord with a group that has more influence than many: young Hollywood.
This appears to be a natural development out of of the friendship that several young music, TV and movie stars have with the leadership of Hillsong Church. Celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens count the Hillsong pastors as their spiritual mentors. Sports stars such as Russell Wilson and Kevin Durant share similar connections with Hillsong.
And when Hillsong welcomed Justin Bieber to their annual church conference in Sydney, the relationship between Bieber, Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz, and Seattle pastor (and friend of Lentz) Judah Smith was again in the spotlight.
Late in 2014, after an altercation with Orlando Bloom, Justin seemed to have reached a tipping point. As Christian Post reported at the time, he became a regular attendee of Judah Smith's Bible study. The difference in Bieber's life since he began attending that Bible study is evident. After several years of controversial behavior, Bieber appears to have turned a corner.
So what is it about Hillsong that appeals so much to this particular group? It could be the focus on Jesus himself, and their lack of concentration on evangelical 'fundamentalism,' which has fallen out of favor.
Another factor? Judah Smith, Carl Lentz and Hillsong UNITED worship leader Joel Houston, are adept at using social media. With frequent posts on Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, these individuals provide ways to share the word of Jesus on a medium where these young stars love to share. Hillsong meets these Hollywood elite where they are: online.
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Showing posts with label Vanessa Hudgens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vanessa Hudgens. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Vanessa Hudgens Credits Boyfriend Austin Butler With Bringing Her Back to Faith
Being Zac Efron’s girlfriend has its downsides.
“I went through a phase when I was really mean because I was so fed up,” Vanessa Hudgens told the New York Times about her three-year public romance to Efron.
The pair met on the set of “High School Musical” in 2005 and fell in love two years later. Their courtship would end in December 2010.
Seeing droves of young girls lust over her hunky boyfriend did a number on Hudgens, now 26.
“Girls were running after him, and I was giving them death stares,” she detailed vividly. “Then I realized that’s not what that’s about. ’Spread the love, be a good person, they support you, be nice.’”
Her currently relationship to actor Austin Butler is much healthier.
In fact, Hudgens credits Austin, 23, with leading her back to her Christian faith.
According to the article, the lovebirds attend services at mega church Hillsong. “It feels like Arcade Fire — it’s epic like that,” said Hudgens of the popular service. “They really focus on you having your own personal relationship with Jesus, which is wonderful.”
It will be curious how her attendance will impact her. Justin Bieber also attends Hillsong but continues to generate negative publicity.
Also, her faith is still much in flux:
“I went through a phase when I was really mean because I was so fed up,” Vanessa Hudgens told the New York Times about her three-year public romance to Efron.
The pair met on the set of “High School Musical” in 2005 and fell in love two years later. Their courtship would end in December 2010.
Seeing droves of young girls lust over her hunky boyfriend did a number on Hudgens, now 26.
“Girls were running after him, and I was giving them death stares,” she detailed vividly. “Then I realized that’s not what that’s about. ’Spread the love, be a good person, they support you, be nice.’”
Her currently relationship to actor Austin Butler is much healthier.
In fact, Hudgens credits Austin, 23, with leading her back to her Christian faith.
According to the article, the lovebirds attend services at mega church Hillsong. “It feels like Arcade Fire — it’s epic like that,” said Hudgens of the popular service. “They really focus on you having your own personal relationship with Jesus, which is wonderful.”
It will be curious how her attendance will impact her. Justin Bieber also attends Hillsong but continues to generate negative publicity.
Also, her faith is still much in flux:
Her spirituality also involves crystals, dreamcatchers and flowers. “I’m a definite hippie,” she said. “I’m literally my happiest self when I’m dancing half naked on a grass field listening to Led Zeppelin.”
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off... To Be an Actor
For many child stars, the road to 'adulthood' often includes sexuality. Although Miley Cyrus may be the most extreme example of this, many Disney Channel alumni such as Zac Efron,Vanessa Hudgens, and Selena Gomez have also followed this path.
David Henrie, who played Justin Russo alongside Gomez on "Wizards of Waverly Place" and made his name as Larry on That’s So Raven, among other roles, is bucking the trend.
Recently the filmmaker of the new short "Catch," Henrie told The Christian Post last week that maturing in Hollywood did not imply that child and teen actors hoping to reshape their careers had to go to extreme lengths to alienate former fans.
"I think everyone as they transition out of a younger show wants to transition into a career of acting unless you didn't like acting and you don't want to do that anymore," explained Henrie. "You have to transition out of it and that comes with doing older, more mature roles, but that doesn't mean doing crazy things that just insult your audience. Your audience has to grow with you."
Henrie, 24, said that he had chosen to advance his career through selecting "good roles" and is currently filming a sequel to Mallcop and will be starring alongside Emily Watson and Kevin James in the World War II-themed movie Little Boy, which will be released in October. It was during the latter through which Henrie discovered his latest passion — working behind the camera.
"[While working on Little Boy] I became very good friends with this filmmaker named Alonso Alvarez Barreda and he did a beautiful short film that I loved called Crescendo and I really admired it," said Henrie. "I sort of hounded him and said, 'You know, man, I really want to make a short film. I've wanted to do this since I was little.'"
Henrie, raised Catholic, also spoke about his faith. He described his childhood faith as 'lukewarm' and said that he and his family attended church roughly once a year growing up.
"Now that I'm older, I take it more seriously," he explained, adding that a primary motivation behind the growth of his faith was "his family in the future."
"I always knew that a man was someone who would stand by something and live by something and as I got older I wanted to figure out what that was," said Henrie.
Unlike many of his more reluctant peers, Henrie said that he actively looks forward to getting married and having children.
"I think our generation especially has a weird stigma towards families, like people aren't wanting to have families and aren't wanting to have kids," he said.
The actor/filmmaker said that he realized that pursuing a Hollywood career can at times be in conflict with one's ability to prioritize their family.
"I get bummed out a lot of times with my peers because a lot of actors are running away from their families to come out here and act. They don't have the support of their families with comes with its own set of problems. If you're running away from something to pursue something else you better be a really tough cookie. You really better have a good head on your shoulders and strong moral fiber otherwise you're leaving structure to pursue something that's not structure and you're just letting your emotions take you wherever you want and if you're just living life by your emotions, you're going to blow with the wind," said Henrie.
Henrie critiqued his fellow Millennials as "the YOLO generation."
"'You only live once.' 'Do whatever you want.' 'Let your feelings guide you.' That's the worst advice ever! Let your feelings guide you - that's terrible. My feelings make me want to do crazy things all the time but no, you do what's right," he concluded.
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David Henrie, who played Justin Russo alongside Gomez on "Wizards of Waverly Place" and made his name as Larry on That’s So Raven, among other roles, is bucking the trend.
Recently the filmmaker of the new short "Catch," Henrie told The Christian Post last week that maturing in Hollywood did not imply that child and teen actors hoping to reshape their careers had to go to extreme lengths to alienate former fans.
"I think everyone as they transition out of a younger show wants to transition into a career of acting unless you didn't like acting and you don't want to do that anymore," explained Henrie. "You have to transition out of it and that comes with doing older, more mature roles, but that doesn't mean doing crazy things that just insult your audience. Your audience has to grow with you."
Henrie, 24, said that he had chosen to advance his career through selecting "good roles" and is currently filming a sequel to Mallcop and will be starring alongside Emily Watson and Kevin James in the World War II-themed movie Little Boy, which will be released in October. It was during the latter through which Henrie discovered his latest passion — working behind the camera.
"[While working on Little Boy] I became very good friends with this filmmaker named Alonso Alvarez Barreda and he did a beautiful short film that I loved called Crescendo and I really admired it," said Henrie. "I sort of hounded him and said, 'You know, man, I really want to make a short film. I've wanted to do this since I was little.'"
Henrie, raised Catholic, also spoke about his faith. He described his childhood faith as 'lukewarm' and said that he and his family attended church roughly once a year growing up.
"Now that I'm older, I take it more seriously," he explained, adding that a primary motivation behind the growth of his faith was "his family in the future."
"I always knew that a man was someone who would stand by something and live by something and as I got older I wanted to figure out what that was," said Henrie.
Unlike many of his more reluctant peers, Henrie said that he actively looks forward to getting married and having children.
"I think our generation especially has a weird stigma towards families, like people aren't wanting to have families and aren't wanting to have kids," he said.
The actor/filmmaker said that he realized that pursuing a Hollywood career can at times be in conflict with one's ability to prioritize their family.
"I get bummed out a lot of times with my peers because a lot of actors are running away from their families to come out here and act. They don't have the support of their families with comes with its own set of problems. If you're running away from something to pursue something else you better be a really tough cookie. You really better have a good head on your shoulders and strong moral fiber otherwise you're leaving structure to pursue something that's not structure and you're just letting your emotions take you wherever you want and if you're just living life by your emotions, you're going to blow with the wind," said Henrie.
Henrie critiqued his fellow Millennials as "the YOLO generation."
"'You only live once.' 'Do whatever you want.' 'Let your feelings guide you.' That's the worst advice ever! Let your feelings guide you - that's terrible. My feelings make me want to do crazy things all the time but no, you do what's right," he concluded.
read full article
Monday, March 17, 2014
'E!' TV Host Jason Kennedy's Bible Studies Influencing Hollywood 'Nice Guy Movement'?
Jason Kennedy, "E!" TV host, was featured in a new Glamour magazine article that suggests the Christian celeb was "leading the way" in a "nice-guy movement" in Tinseltown, and that his celebrity-oriented Bible study meetings have grown in popularity since they were revealed last year.
Kennedy's Bible study gatherings, noted last year in a Christian Post article, reportedly started out quite small and have been attended by celebs including Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and Justin Bieber. Currently, according to the Glamour article, attendance at the 32-year-old's Bible study gatherings has grown to hundreds from around town:
The speaker at that night's gathering was Judah Smith, pastor of The City Church in Seattle and reportedly Justin Bieber's pastor, who is described in the article as "a rising figure in contemporary ministry and a Hollywood regular." Smith reportedly preached about "positioning" in Hollywood for personal gain and how to handle being confronted with pornography.
Kennedy, who is in a relationship with former model and popular blogger Lauren Scruggs, said the Bible studies help him "survive Hollywood" and encourages him to be a better man and boyfriend.
Instead of "bad boys" like actors Jude Law, Hugh Grant or John Mayer, it is celebs like Kennedy, Channing Tatum and Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad" who apparently are turning the tide in Hollywood, according to Glamour.
As for Justin Bieber, one celebrity who has drawn the "bad boy" label of late due to recent run-ins with the law, Kennedy suggested that the recording artist was not "trying to be outrageous."
Instead, the "E!" host said Beiber was "going through a struggle."
Kennedy's Bible study gatherings, noted last year in a Christian Post article, reportedly started out quite small and have been attended by celebs including Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and Justin Bieber. Currently, according to the Glamour article, attendance at the 32-year-old's Bible study gatherings has grown to hundreds from around town:
Two nights before the Grammys, I step inside a Beverly Hills hotel and file into a ballroom filled with more than 600 of Hollywood's photogenic finest: actors from my favorite TV shows, singers and songwriters of hit pop songs, models, talent agents, and, this being Los Angeles, lots of really hot people who only look famous. They are all here because Jason Kennedy invited them.
"It's Grammy weekend! Who's here to party?" the 32-year-old co-host of 'E! News' and 'E! News Weekend' bellows into a microphone. Lantern-jawed and Equinoxed, Kennedy gives the crowd a big smile, baring his white-picket-fence teeth. "You know, I was wondering if you guys were going to be at some fancy club tonight," he confesses, looking at his unscuffed Converse Chucks. "Or here with me praising God."
The speaker at that night's gathering was Judah Smith, pastor of The City Church in Seattle and reportedly Justin Bieber's pastor, who is described in the article as "a rising figure in contemporary ministry and a Hollywood regular." Smith reportedly preached about "positioning" in Hollywood for personal gain and how to handle being confronted with pornography.
Kennedy, who is in a relationship with former model and popular blogger Lauren Scruggs, said the Bible studies help him "survive Hollywood" and encourages him to be a better man and boyfriend.
Instead of "bad boys" like actors Jude Law, Hugh Grant or John Mayer, it is celebs like Kennedy, Channing Tatum and Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad" who apparently are turning the tide in Hollywood, according to Glamour.
As for Justin Bieber, one celebrity who has drawn the "bad boy" label of late due to recent run-ins with the law, Kennedy suggested that the recording artist was not "trying to be outrageous."
Instead, the "E!" host said Beiber was "going through a struggle."
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