Well, believe it or not, Kanye West has his own church. Many people are wondering if Kanye is taking a little too serious his nickname but according to People’s magazine, it is a “healing experience.”
Everyone is aware that whenever a celebrity has a mental breakdown, they often recur to religion to find their way back. Lindsay Lohan went Muslim, but Kanye West seems to be getting back to the Gospel. But, how did all this start?
To begin, Kanye’s church was launched back in January and, so far, is one of the most exclusive church-going experience in the Greater L.A area. According to Kim Kardashian, they have attended different churches, such as Hillsong or Tony Robins services but none of them seem to be what they were looking for. The difference of this church is that it unites music with art to bring healing to the body. This church is not even held inside of a building. Past locations include secret spots in Burbank, West’s home studio in Calabasas, and even a chartered airplane.
The attendance list of personality-invited celebs includes Kid Cudi, Diplo, Katy Perry, Courtney Love, and David Letterman. The sermons are preached by DMX and choirs that re-imagine Kanye’s songs as spiritual anthems. West’s wife is a frequent attendee, along with the rest of the family.
But what moved Kanye West to create his own church? His longtime friend and collaborator Tony Williams stated that “The goal is to communicate the message of love effectively through music and community.”
Kanye made a big announcement to those who were able to attend Coachella this year through Kim Kardashian’s Twitter, where he appears to be in a private plane and he goes on to inform the passengers that they booked another show.
“We will be doing a Sunday sunrise service at Coachella,” he stated.
The Easter morning service took place on a grassy hill in the middle of the festival grounds. The sermon was given by fellow rapper DMX. Tolentino, who was close by watching the gathering, stated that West’s services aren’t so much about piety as they are about self-promotion.
“With Kanye, it’s always been this very complicated dance between whether he is worshiping God or subsuming God to his own ends,” Tolentino notes. “He grew up Christian, he’s spoken about that. There’s always this sense, though, that he might worship God but never serve him. It’s always seemed like God, in the end, would always serve him.”
As a Christian, I believe that anyone is free to believe and express their faith however they see fit. I don’t agree with what he says at all but that is his point of view and I respect that. I’m still skeptical about whether Kanye should qualify as anyone’s pastor, though, and stating that God will always serve him is not very wise of him.
Mathew 7:21-23 says,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
