Pastor Erwin McManus Highlights Friendship With Singer Usher Raymond at Mosaic Church
Pastor Erwin McManus has been celebrating the friendships he's made at Mosaic Church — old and new — and wrote earlier this week about R&B singer Usher Raymond who's a member.
"This week I've been highlighting some of the beautiful people that have come into my life at Mosaic," McManus, pastor of Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, California, wrote on Instagram Sunday to his 79,000 followers.
While he's normally "pretty private" about the relationships he's developed with Hollywood celebrities, McManus said he couldn't resist the opportunity to talk about Usher.
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"Our tribe has so many amazing people and I am so honored and privileged to get to know a few of them," he said. "This week I'm just celebrating friends. This is Usher and he is one of the kindest people I have ever met.
"We were brothers from the start. It was easy because of the journey he is on and the tenderness of his heart," McManus added while describing the bond the two have formed outside church walls.
"Thank you for wanting to know me as a person and not as a personality. Thanks for all the times you waited patiently to hang. ... Thanks for introducing me to Sting! he exclaimed.
"I love our church. I love our tribe. I love @mosaic."
According to Hollowverse Usher was raised in a Christian family and kicked off his singing career at a Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at age 6.
Best known for his racy R&B hits, Usher hasn't been vocal about his faith with the exception of thanking God in the liner notes of his albums.
In his 2008 album Here I Stand, Usher wrote "To my Lord and savior, you have revealed to me where I need to be and what I should be doing. Thank you for my life, my experiences, my struggles, and your grace and guidance to overcome the obstacles."
Usher also reportedly once showed an interest in Kabbalah and was photographed wearing a Kabbalah bracelet. A November 2007 issue of Star magazine also reported that the artist hosted a fundraiser for Scientology when he was married to his now ex-wife Tameka Foster, who the magazine described as a "devout Scientologist."
