Hillsong pastor: 'We didn't pay Bieber to come to Australia'

As Justin Bieber continues enjoying his trip Down Under to attend the Hillsong Closer Conference, his good friend, pastor Carl Lentz, insists the popular Church doesn't pay for his attendance at the annual event.

Appearing on Channel Seven's Sunrise on Wednesday morning, Lentz, who is one of Hillsong New York's lead pastors and a close friend of Bieber, says the 23-year-old pop sensation chooses to fly across the world to "break away" from the glitzy fame scene.

"No, we don’t pay him to attend. This is a volunteer thing," Lentz told Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and David "Kochie" Koch.

"He comes on his own, and everybody here would buy a ticket, be a part of it. He feels like it’s a big part of his year to be able to come here and right now he’s like in the middle of tour as well so I think it’s a good break for him to just press pause on all that and be around people who love what he loves."

Along with Bieber's incredible career success over the years have come various controversies and scandals landing him in the headlines.

And while Hillsong has helped the singer find his spiritual path, Lentz said there's more to the picture than going to church.

"I think Justin is a good Christian and I don’t think his problems are behind him. I think we all have to deal with a lot of stuff to come but he’s doing really well," the pastor said.

"A lot of what you see in the media, if it’s negative, is a small percentage of who he is. I think he’s really fun, he loves people. It gets weird when you’re this famous to kind of trust people and act normal but for the most part he’s a really fun guy to be around."

Justin secretly flew into Sydney earlier this week to attend the Hillsong convention.

It's not the first time he's been in town to go to the $359 event, and he's not the only A-lister to subscribe to the church.

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The likes of Hailey Baldwin, Gigi Hadid, Selena Gomez, Cody Simpson and Vanessa Hudgens have all been seen hitting up Hillsong Church services.

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