US News
Q & A: Susan Sligh on Son's Faith
By Cicely Gosier
CBNNews.com
April 3, 2007
CBNNews.com - Chris Sligh was most recognized by his curly afro and witty comments on American Idol, but he is also a Christian, with a strong faith in God.
News recently surfaced of his former attendance at Bob Jones University, a South Carolina Christian college and seminary. Sligh was also music leader at Seacoast Church in Greensboro, S.C.
His parents, Chuck and Susan Sligh, have been missionaries since 1982 and lived overseas since 1986. They currently lead Grace Baptist Church in Germany.
CBN News spoke with Susan Sligh about her son's faith and his music career.
CBN NEWS: What did Chris do growing up while you all were missionaries?
SUSAN SLIGH: When we were in our first work in Germany he helped with ushering. He was in the music ministry and did sing at church some. He wasn't into music like he is now because he was very sports minded. Chris was a great basketball player, soccer player, baseball player. He just was a natural athlete. He was more into sports, really until his senior year in high school. But, he did sing in a men's quartet. He always enjoyed singing and had a beautiful voice.
CBN NEWS: Were you all able to see Chris on American Idol?
SLIGH: Yes. They have a delayed broadcast so we could pick it up some weeks. We did not see every week and we did not see him this week. I called my daughter-in-law, and she told me that he'd been voted off.
CBN NEWS: Have you talked to him since he left the show?
SLIGH: We talked to him. I know he's going to be on the Today show and we caught him at the airport before he flew out. All he said was it's in God's hands, and he felt like it was God's will. He was just thankful for making it as far as he did.
CBN NEWS: Does Chris ever ask you all for spiritual advice and help in his faith?
SLIGH: All of us are very close… Obviously it's easier to get counsel when you have your own pastor right there that you can sit down and talk to, but he's always been very concerned about what my husband thought. He's always been very good about letting us know what he wanted to do, having us pray for him and pray with him.
We didn't know about American Idol until after he was already in the process so he didn't seek us about that. But his pastor and his church and a lot of different people had been behind him and encouraging him to go forward.
CBN NEWS: How do you feel about the musical career he has chosen?
SLIGH: He's our son, our first born. We know that he has tremendous talent. It's not necessarily the direction we would've chosen but we know that he has thought it out. He knows his philosophy. He's very confident in what he's doing.
We're behind him. We may not have chosen the American Idol route, but we know his heart and we know why he decided to go that route. And we felt like he was a mature enough Christian that he could stay true to his faith, his convictions and be able to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish without compromising…Chris is Chris and he has reason for why he does everything…We believe in Chris, and we believed that he would stay true to the things that he needed to stay true to. I feel he has done very well with that.
CBN NEWS: Talk about Bob Jones University.
SLIGH: The reason Chris was asked not to return to Bob Jones is because he went to a contemporary music concert, which was against the rules. Bob Jones has a very specific standard for music, and Chris disregarded it and that was the consequence.
We were in Greenville when we found out about it. We were disappointed that he broke the rules, because he knew what the rules were.You don't want your children to fail. We felt like he made a wrong choice, but it was nothing more than the fact that he went to a contemporary Christian concert, but again he broke the rules.
(On the comments released by Bob Jones University)
They were somewhat disappointed in the direction he had gone. I thought that was very gracious from their stand. I they could've said a lot of negative things, and I don't think they did.
CBN NEWS: Did Chris choose to attend the school?
SLIGH: We wanted all of our boys to attend a Christian university, and he chose that one because he had heard from several different people that it had the very best music training of any place in America.
CBN NEWS: Did you all pray for Chris while he was in the competition?
SLIGH: Of course we did. We wanted God's will to be done. We wanted him to be protected. That he would not compromise.
CBN NEWS: Have you ever worried about Chris and his faith?
SLIGH: I think any parent is always concerned no matter what they're kid is doing. We want the best for them.
Even on the things that we don't agree with him about, he's very definite, he's thought it out and he's gotten counsel on it… It's not that we've worried about him falling away any more than we would worry about any of our other kids.
CBN NEWS: As a Christian, what type of advice do you have for Chris?
SLIGH: Just that he would always seek God in everything that he does and that he would let the Word of God be his final word.
God has given him a lot of talents and we know that anyone with a lot of talents, Satan is going to be right there to sneer. We feel he has a greater responsibility.
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