[ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, he married kim to kanye on "keeping up with the kardashians." now this celebrity pastor is known as much for his friends as his wild sermons. >> i got a plan! >> why he and his glamorous wife are mixing faith and fame to bring a younger, cooler crowd to church. overnight sensations. got a feeling that i'm going under noits. >> success came fast for seanhawn mendes mendes. just after his justin bieber-inspired video. how he went from a six-second clip to touring with taylor swift. and a hotel taking vacation to dizzying heights. it takes climbing and zip lining

to stay here. tonight perched on peru's magnificent mountain. we're on top of the world. but first the "nightline 5." >> sleep like the kids went to nana's house. for the whole weekend. z-quil. the nonhabit forming sleep aid that helps you sleep easily and wake refreshed. we come too burlington to buy our coats and to give them back. >> to help those in need. it makes buying coats here even more meaningful.

seconds. good evening and thanks for joining us on this thanksgiving. the pastor you're about to meet

he'll spread the gospel any way he can. even if it's unorthodox. with a little help from his glamorous friends and his equally glamorous wife. tonight we take an encore look at how that creative approach works to bring in worshippers for our series "faith matters." >> reporter: it was the wedding made in tabloid heaven. kimmie and kanye, two of the most famous people on the planet, tying the knot in an extravagant italian ceremony. televised thanks to "keeping up with the kardashians." no one expected the pastor uniting them in holy matrimony, tucked behind the bride and groom, to steal so much of the spotlight. >> all of a sudden reporters are showing up. everybody wants an interview. but i was utterly shocked, why is anyone even focused on me? >> reporter: maybe his uncanny resemblance to leonardo dicaprio, catching the attention of tmz. >> pastor rich wilkinson jr., aka the lord's leo. he's pretty.

you know, a man of god shouldn't hang out with he'd donism or hip-hop, profanity. do those things collide? >> i think we have to understand that you don't have to approve of someone or even agree with someone always to accept them. jesus, the greatest criticism of him is that he was a friend of sinners and a guest of sinners. >> reporter: justin bieber is his pal. >> you're like a celebrity magnet. >> i feel a lot of people get terms like celebrity pastor and i think we're the opposite of that. there's people in my church no one's ever going to talk about. >> reporter: whether he likes the term it hasn't hurt. >> i love my life. >> reporter: rich and his wife, also a preacher in her own right, have a new reality show. >> we're a team in everything that we do. >> reporter: "rich in faith" premiering on the oxygen channel. he's got a book deal, the cover designed by kanye. >> i think the language of the culture, either curse the darkness or light a candle.

>> things you don't know about me after how many years? >> do i think i'm going to be criticized? absolutely. for me i want to use every tool we possibly can in our culture to promote faith. >> this is it, man. >> reporter: don't let his tatted-up hipster look fool you. rick wilkinson jr. is legit. >> i've got a plan, i've got a purpose -- >> reporter: fourth generation pentecostal preacher, even though his sermons feel like rock concert records less fire and brimstone, more modern-day straight talk. >> if you don't know -- >> reporter: issues like sex. >> the girl on the side, a girl you call up at 2:00 a.m. and she knows what's up. >> reporter: and marriage. >> husbands, love your wives just as christ loved the church. >> good to see everybody. >> reporter: but gay or straight, pro-choice or pro-life, he says he wants to make going to church cool. >> we're front-row people, filling in seats.

to get millennials in the door spirit. the vast majority of young sex. morality? >> i believe the message of jesus goes even deeper than morality. if we're not careful we reduce the message of jesus to behavior modification. when i think it's about heart transformation. >> reporter: rich is perhaps the latest in a wave of preachers creatively marketing their brand. to help spread the gospel. >> the bible says that we have an adversary called the devil. >> reporter: using methods from the sublime to the ridiculous. bull riding pastors to mixed martial arts ministers. all in an effort to get people in the pews. >> there were outlandish tactics that you undertook. >> oh my gosh, you're killing me. >> swallowing a gold fish? >> how do you find this stuff? is this really out there? >> did you really get yourself stunned by a stun gun? >> more of a zapper -- >> hopefully you come back next week --

>> reporter: his tactics are more sophisticated these days but word of these charismatic preachers is spreading. with a growing fan base he's opened a new bigger church. called vous, as in rendezvous, in the heart of hipster miami. >> vous church. >> reporter: they set up the new digs the day before the first sunday sermon. >> what will this stage look like tomorrow? >> tomorrow there's going to be a whole bunch of singers up there, screens, lighting. i mean, i don't know, i think it's -- hopefully it looks like a normal -- you've been to concerts. i think we try to make church feel a little bit more normal. >> reporter: they're expecting a crowd of over 600. the goal tonight, no judgments, just acceptance. >> when you get attacked by other christians who are saying, your christianity is not correct or your christianity doesn't live up to my ideals, how do you deal with that? >> i'm not as concerned about

the critics. i know they'll come. >> if we're being honest, it hurts our feelings. i do want people to like me. at the same time, i don't know that's what god's called me to, that everybody like me. >> reporter: he shies away from hot-button issues like gay marriage or abortion because he says he doesn't want to drive people away. >> if you had a congregant who came to you and said, will you marry me, i've been faithful to my gay lover, we've built this home. would you marry them? >> i would for sure have a conversation with them first. i think what troubles me is you're either on one side or the other and as soon as you choose a side it's like, you know -- >> you're attacked by the other? >> you're attacked by the other. >> reporter: kickoff sunday, people are lining up to hear pastor rich preach. most of these people don't look like your average churchgoers but that's exactly what rich is hoping for. it's showtime. >> ready? let's do it. >> go ahead and give jesus a big

round of applause. >> reporter: he uses humor as well as urban slang. >> i got pumped. oh, got my bible back! i flipped out. >> reporter: his stories and his style perhaps uniquely poised to reach this hipster generation of worshippers. >> i want to tell you, your value is not determined by this world, your value is determined by god's words. god said i've got a plan for you. god said you're perfect inside of you. you're valuable. >> i'm not some great theologian, i'm not a great philosopher. pastoring is about shepherding, helping people on the journey. >> it's all about river with the father. it is his amazing grace. come on. if you believe it, celebrate. come on. >> and wilkerson is now out with a new book, "sand cass dell king: on the search for true lasting happiness." it started with justin bieber and videos on social media.

then on tour with taylor swift. shawn mendes tells us about stitching together his unusual past. plus we're going up, up and away to a hotel unhike any

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when sean mendes began posting videos of his justin bieber cover songs on the internet he had no idea how viral one would go and he'd soon be a pop star in his own right. chris connelly takes a look inside the whirlwind mendes' life has become. >> reporter: the teen screams of young female pop music fans may be familiar -- >> i hope you enjoy the show, guys. >> reporter: the face and the name that they're screaming for may not. i've been hurt before >> reporter: this is shawn mendes, a 17-year-old singer/songwriter, on his own onstage with just his voice, his guitar, and that smile. this canadian can draw a crowd of thousands in los angeles.

you watch me >> reporter: watching him play such wide-eyed hits as "stitches." >> when you're out there and your fans sing it back to you what goes through your heart? >> it's the best. there's no other feeling like having your fans sing your song back to you. it's a good feeling. bring me back to life >> he's really hot, he's really hot. >> i'm sorry it took so long. i'm very sorry. >> reporter: it's the climax to a full day which began hours earlier. >> reporter: on the go, shawn serenading a smaller group, the fortunate ones at his vip preshow. >> i was trying to get my phone to take a picture and i couldn't! >> he looks like an angel came from above. he smiles at you. it's like -- aah! >> reporter: now shawn is due at

the teen choice awards across town. >> shawn mendes! >> reporter: at the show he wins a tca for music web star. >> for the fans, i love you guys so much. thank you so much. >> did i sound as nervous as i was? i hate speaking. i suck at speaking. stick to guitar. today is nuts. just won a teen choice award, now going to play at the greek? pretty cool. >> reporter: performing with big beats, dance moves, or high-tech production, mendes is refreshingly old school. yet his rise has everything to do with social media. and its ability to mint new music stars at warp speed. >> could you have done it without a vine, a facebook? >> to be honest i don't think i would have had the confidence to step in the street and start singing. >> reporter: two years ago shawn mendes had never sung a pop song outside his home in pickering, ontario. he'd grown fascinated by cover

versions of big hits on youtube, the same diy efforts that got justin bieber noticed. >> i think i was so intrigued by the fact that someone could take a popular song and make it their own. and that on top of that, people could like that more than the original. >> when did you start thinking that could be me, i could try that? >> i had one friend and she was like, i know you sing, why don't you try it, post it? >> reporter: which he did. not only on youtube, as bieber had, but on facebook and on vine. >> it's just so unique at the time. you know, no one was doing that. i didn't do it to become famous, i didn't do it to get recognition. i just did it for fun. >> reporter: until one day in august 2013, when he posted six seconds of himself singing bieber's hit "as long as you love me." it was an overnight smash. >> was that frightening when it blew up? >> totally. like, i don't want that. that scared me. i was like, i can't do this. a couple of days went by. my friends were like, dude, you keeps going up? you're at 15,000.

i went back on and posted a lot more. >> reporter: engagingly unpolished in his many clips, his sister aaliyah as his you'll never get your blessing till the day i die >> reporter: sean became a vine sensation. >> weird having people online thinking i'm a superstar. then going to school and everyone treating me so normal. a weird complex. >> reporter: island signed him last year. he left town and hit the road. be the life of the party >> as soon as i signed to the label, everything took off. "life of the party" went to number one. things got crazy. >> reporter: on a torrid pace of live performance and promotion he opened for taylor swift. >> she got me on stage and had 60,000 people sing "happy birthday" to me which was nuts. so nervous, my heart was pounding. >> reporter: he heeded the counsel of his greatest musical influence, ed sheeran, whose

for taylor swift. >> he said to me, do everything. he said, do everything. go to every radio station, meet everybody, do everything. why not? >> this is how you do an awards show and an actual show in the same day. coffee. >> reporter: it's a life so uncommon that, despite since denied reports that he's dating camilla caballo with whom he's recorded "i know what you did last summer," shawn admits to personal isolation. >> it's true. feeling lonely in a crowded room is one of the realest things i can think of. it kind of happens. no matter how many people are around you. sometimes you don't know those people at all. >> i guess that's my question. who can possibly understand what your last two years have been like? >> i don't know. justin timberlake? maybe when he was my age? >> reporter: even now, mendes is so green that he has no preshow ritual. >> i'm going to chill by myself

for an hour, bye, love you. >> reporter: and still gets anxious alongside his pop music peer group. front of taylor and i've been on tour with her for weeks. i can't be calm in front of her. >> breathe a little bit, put it together. >> it doesn't work. she's taylor swift. she's too gorgeous. >> reporter: words on the minds of the fans who scream as sean takes the stage. >> if you could hear my heart right now, it's beating so fast. oh whoa whoa whoa >> reporter: after this show, shawn will fly to canada and again live with his parents in his old house. >> we built a new deck and i was able to buy a hot tub for my mom and dad to chill in. as a kid i wanted -- i want to get a job and make money and save it so that i can do something to make my parents less stressed. which made no sense, how would that work? and it kind of came true.

you watch me >> reporter: for "nightline," chris connelly in los angeles. up next, getting there is no easy feat. once you, do let's just say you'll get a room with a view. inside an unforgettable hotel. moderate to severe crohn's disease is tough, but i've managed. except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing.

and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your gastroenterologist about humira.

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our final adventure tonight takes us to a hotel perched on a mountain. and you can't just jump in a car to get there. my "nightline" coanchor byron pitts once again takes that

trip. >> reporter: it's called sky lodge. travelers who want to live and sleep on the edge. in a completely transparent room, guests sleep perched atop a 1,200 foot high cliff. checking in requires a steep four-hour climb. guests tethered to a safety line as they scale the mountain. once there, the company, tour a vive, offer luxury amenities and a bathroom all fit within these dangling capsules. the payoff, watching peru's magical valley of the incas unfold before your eyes. and room service. dinner and wine are included, along with this spectacular view. thrills don't end at checkout. guests zip line back down the mountain to the valley floor. so if the sky lodge is now on $300 per night to reach these dizzying and spectacular heights. >> our thanks to byron.

tune in to "nightline" next week as we go behind prison walls. as dads serving time try to forge a lasting bond with their kids during one extraordinary visiting day. >> the most important in my life. the most important. and i've lost so much time with her that i can never get back. to know that they've got to go back home. not see them all for one day. >> thanks for watching. "world news now" coming up with overnight breaking news. tune into "good morning america" tomorrow and as always we're online at abcnews.com.