Pastor Judah Smith Says Justin Bieber is a 'Man of Faith'

Judah Smith, pastor of The City Church in Seattle, Washington, recently spoke out on his friendship with pop star Justin Bieber, saying that the celebrity has taught him what life is all about.

Smith told Fox411 in a recent interview that he's "very proud of Justin," suggesting that the 21-year-old has faced many challenges while being in the public eye at a young age and has been able to face those challenges, especially thanks to his Christian faith.

"I'm very proud of Justin. What's amazing about Justin and many young men today [is] it's not easy to be a man of faith. It's not easy to make good decisions," Smith told Fox411 while discussing his newly-released book, entitled Life Is___.

Smith also discussed Bieber's celebrity status, saying the young pop star's life is not that much different from the lives of his fans.

"I think people would be surprised to discover that their challenges and struggles are not too dissimilar to us, average ordinary people. We're all looking for essentially the same thing and I think that's faith and hope and love and meaning and of course satisfaction, peace, joy," Smith added.

"There's great challenges as well when you're someone in the public eye," the prominent pastor continued. "You can come to some conclusions even quicker and I would say that [...] I think some of my friends [like Justin] have helped me be able to sit in the front row and watch them do what they do and really, really watch them come to some pretty awesome conclusions about what this [life] is all about."