US News
Chris Not Sligh-ted by Idol
By Cicely Gosier
CBNNews.com
April 3, 2007
CBNNews.com - Chris Sligh may be off American Idol, but he is far from giving up on his music.
Sligh was the latest contestant voted off American Idol, a move he has said several times he doesn't regret.
"In order to win this competition, I would have had to make song choices that I really didn't want to make," he told the Greenville News, a paper in his hometown.
Winning, he added, wasn't as important as staying true to his music.
Sligh, who has always seen himself as more of a "band guy," admitted in the interview to thoughts of quitting the show weeks before being voted off.
"I never came into this wanting to win it," he said. "I made the Top Ten. That was my goal." Sligh later added on his blog site that though he hadn't set his goal on winning yet, "the top 10 all won. We get to go on tour and have doors opening left and right."
The Path to American Idol
The former high school basketball star left his band, "Half Past Forever", to audition for Idol. Their album was released Feb. 28 and has ranked in the top 25 on Amazon.com since his vote-off.
Just before leaving Idol, Sligh, 28, was confronted for his music choice by Bob Jones University, where he attended school for several years.
Jonathan Pait, a spokesman for the fundamentalist school said in an Associated Press interview they were "somewhat disappointed with the direction he had gone musically." Pait added that American Idol did not represent the values of the university.
Sligh was expelled from BJU for attending a Christian concert featuring the band 4Him.
"They kicked me out," Sligh said in the paper. "It was actually good, because I had been trying to figure out how to leave. I don't want to throw them underneath the bus. I respect what they do - it's just that their sect of Christianity is not really what I want to be associated with," he said.
After Bob Jones, Sligh attended North Greenville University , a small Baptist college where he was only three credits short of a music degree.
Place in This World
The son of two missionaries, Sligh has always had a place in the church.
"He teaches a small group Bible study at his home. He is very well grounded," said Chris's mother, Susan Sligh.
He is also a director of music at Seacoast Church in Greenville, S.C. The church supported Sligh through his entire Idol career, holding viewings of the show during the week. Seacoast's pastor, Chris Surratt, told the Associated Press though he may not be singing gospel music, Sligh has remained solid in his faith.
"He's not going to back away from the fact that he's a Christian," Surratt said. "He's going to let that shine through in what he does."
Describing himself in his blog "theological digressions", Sligh said, "I am first and foremost a Christ-follower. I am also a rock star. I don't feel the two are diametrically opposed. If you do, I feel bad for you."
For more on Chris's Christian roots, read A Q&A with Susan Sligh, where his mother speaks out on his faith and music career.
Sources: The Greenville News, American Idol, Associated Press, Blogger
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