Churchome Pastor Judah Smith recently shared that he got mobbed by the paparazzi and asked if he led a cult.
Smith, who is good friends with pop sensation Justin Bieber, told his congregation, “I’m not gonna lie to you, this was a first for me. I got out of my car and was immediately surrounded by paparazzi—that’s a first for me.”
In addition to being Bieber’s spiritual advisor, Smith also officiated Bieber’s marriage to Hailey Baldwin in 2019. Smith baptized the couple in 2020.
RELATED: ‘Relationship Was Special’—Carl Lentz Says He’s ‘Sad That I Broke That Trust’ With Justin Bieber
During a 2021 interview with GQ, Bieber described how Smith’s relationship with Smith’s family relationship attracted Bieber to trust the pastor and seek his wisdom.
“It was something I always dreamed of because my family was broken,” Bieber said. “My whole life, I had a broken family. And so I was just attracted to a family that eats dinners together, laughs together, talks together.”
The Bellevue, Washington, pastor said that he told the paparazzi that his “friend” was not with him.
“All of a sudden, this nice lady with her camera, [turned] on her camera,” Smith recounted, “[and] she goes, ‘So is this a cult or not?’”
“And I was like, ‘Oh, my word. I wasn’t expecting that question,’” Smith said. He then looked in a direction offstage and joked, “So guys, if you could bring the snakes out, [and] we got some blood.”
RELATED: Justin Bieber Shares His Opinions—And a Warning—About Celebrity Pastors
Assuming he might take some criticism from his staff for the joke, Smith said, “I didn’t tell anyone I was gonna do this, but if we are a cult, we are the worst cult in the histories of all cults.”
