Britney Spears might be having a hard time in Los Angeles but parishioners at a church in Lexington, Kentucky have written the troubled pop star notes of encouragement.
London, Oct 30 : Britney Spears might be having a hard time in Los Angeles but parishioners at a church in Lexington, Kentucky have written the troubled pop star notes of encouragement.
Senior pastor Jon Weece of Southland Christian Church has suggested they keep the 25-year-old singer, currently in a court battle to regain joint custody of her two sons, in their prayers.
"Take a few minutes and write a note to Britney Spears. No preaching. No criticising. Just love. As a church, let's love Britney the way Jesus loves her," Weece instructed his 8,000-strong congregation last month in both a weekly sermon and in a message posted on his blog.
The pastor claimed that he was driven to action by the negative coverage surrounding the divorced mother of two, her failing career and her increasingly convoluted custody battle.
"In the world's eyes, she's young, beautiful, talented, successful, yet her life is in shambles filled with bad relationships and devastating life choices," E! Online quoted Weece, as telling the members of his church.
"If she were your next-door neighbour in the same situation without the money and success, wouldn't you care about her problems? Wouldn't you pray for her and offer her support and encouragement?" he added.
However, not all parishioners supported the call.
"You're asking people to take a few minutes to write a note of encouragement, and you're actually collecting them and mailing them. Wouldn't it be better to spend that time offering support to someone who will actually be touched and encouraged by it?" said one.
Cindy Willison, Southland's communications director, said that the church is still gathering letters and trying to find out the best way to get the bunch of good words to Spears out in L.A.
"This is an opportunity for us to reach out to someone who probably doesn't have a lot of people in her life that care for her as a person," Willison told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
ANI