The 2018 Light The Fire Again (LFTA) gathering in Toronto, Canada, pulled together an unprecedented line up of leaders from revivals of the recent past: John Kilpatrick, Claudio Freidzon, Lou Engle and many more. But one on-stage guest stood out less for her involvement in one of those moves of God and more for the unique fruit that came out it: a Christ-following pop star.
Pattie Mallette is Justin Bieber’s mom. As she testified at Light the Fire again 2018, she gave her life to Jesus in Toronto hospital room after a failed attempt to take her own life. The Christian couple who took her under their wing were themselves discipled by none other than John and Carol Arnott, the leaders of the Toronto Blessing.
She told the crowd at the packed Attwell Center (the very sight of the 1994 outpouring) that, as a new and unmarried believer she became pregnant with Justin. She felt deep shame and was sure that her pregnancy would end her acceptance at the church. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
Instead, her mentors and the church kept their arms wide open with grace. As she relayed to the Arnotts, “You taught them to love me where I was at. I remember coming here in 1994 when I was staying at a pregnancy home. I remember the church leaders praying over me and prophesying that I was going to birth revival. … When Justin was born I had him dedicated to Jesus.”
As Justin’s platform as an artist has grown, he’s begun to use his fame to point his audience to Jesus. During Pattie’s testimony, John Arnott pointed out that Justin tweets about the love of Jesus to his 106+ million Twitter followers. Pattie confirmed this and noted that, “He (Justin) came to Catch The Fire at 12 before he became ‘Justin Bieber.’ I remember … the 20-somethings picked him up as a sign to upholding the next generation and they marched him around the room. And, they had no idea what God was going to do.”
She goes on to say, “This has been a full circle for us.”
She recalled travailing in the Spirit during one of the Toronto Blessing services. She was moved by the Holy Spirit to ask God to “take back the arts.” Now, God has put their family at the center of the music industry and said, “Now God’s saying, you guys have done it your way long enough. Now it’s My turn. Move over and I’m going to show you how it’s done. And now He’s put all of these people (Christians) at the top and He’s saying, ‘Shine for Me!’ … And He’s bringing revival!”
John Arnott capped the segment by observing, “I believe young guys like Justin Bieber are going to bring this generation back to God like never before. We want to pass God’s fire onto the next generation. I think the church missed it with Elvis. He loved Jesus, but the pressures of the music industry are formidable. We need to get behind these guys, even when they make mistakes, we must welcome them back with open arms.”
Certainly, the need is great, time is short and evangelist Daniel Kolenda and the CfAN team are beyond happy to see Christ proclaimed from any and every arena of society. We pray Justin and Pattie continue to see God’s favor as they stand up for the truth of Christ’s redeeming love.
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