More Bieber sightings at church, prayer meetings, jury is still out
NEW YORK, N.Y. (Christian Examiner) -- From a Saturday night Bible study to a Sunday night sermon, Justin Bieber is back in social media this week after a weekend of chapel and church.
Pictures appeared on Twitter Saturday night as several Pittsburgh Steelers' players shared photos of themselves with the 20-year-old pop-star at their Bible study before Sunday's game against the New York Jets.
According to the Huffington Post, among the players to tweet Justin's appearance was Steelers quarterback Bruce Gradkowski. The team's loss the next day is now flippantly attributed, by some, to the Candadian singer.
But Steeler's veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told ESPN that "there was ample blame to go around after reviewing film," and Bieber happened to be at the study because one of his mentors was leading the service.
The next day, church goers showed Twitter accounts of Bieber and model friends Kendall Jennar and Hailey Baldwin during a worship service at Hillsong Church, New York.
But even with the increased sightings in spiritual settings or with different pastors, Bieber's bad-boy reputation follows him as reports of his past antics continue to headline the news.
On Monday, Bieber's lawyer, Shawn Holley, reportedly went before a Los Angeles judge on his behalf. Holley told the judge the singer was on track to complete his sentence resulting from a vandalism case where he egged his neighbor's home earlier this year.
Bieber currently is on probation resulting from the misdemeanor vandalism offense for which he has paid $80,900 in damages and is required to complete community service as well as anger management classes before his case is scheduled to be called again on Feb. 10. Following the completion of the sentence, he will remain on probation until 2016.
Despite his rap sheet, Bieber maintains his conversion is real and he has a genuine commitment to Christ.
On Monday, he posted a photo of himself on Instagram writing a caption in a book: "The old is gone the new is here #workinprogress."
Though the Daily Mail deemed the post "cryptic" the reference seems to point to the NIV version of 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"