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 The 700 Club
Don explains how he records music with the
help of Chris Sligh. |
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American Idol
Behind the scenes of America's top-rated
show. |
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page 1 | page 2 | page 3 | page 4 | page 5 | page 6
American Idol:
Have you ever had someone say something to
you that you needed to hear at just the right
time? Proverbs 25:11 says "a word fitly
spoken is like apples of gold in pictures
of silver." At a worship conference
where I was speaking, another workshop teacher,
Steve Bowersox, said something to me along
the lines of "we create resources that
help the entire church instead of a single
church." That put into words something
I had been feeling - that it was time for
me to quit my church job and concentrate
completely on my music and websites.
I left the church where
I was working part
time and began playing
in the band at Seacoast
Greenville. The Seacoast network of churches is an interesting
story in itself - a church that's growing all around the
south by planting what is called "video
venues."
At Seacoast I met Chris
Sligh. We had both
come from very similar,
ultra conservative
backgrounds and hit it
off instantly.
Chris especially enjoyed
my Nashville war
stories and had a few of
his own. For instance,
how do you manage to win
a GMA songwriting
contest, not get a publishing
deal and end
up working a dead-end telemarketing
job?
Chris was considering giving up music altogether.
One his 9-5 friends told him that it was
time to get a real job and forget his music
career. I couldn't believe Chris didn't have
a record deal - great voice and a fantastic
songwriting talent. Then again, isn't the
music biz all about image. And, well, Chris
does love his chicken wings!
I think Chris just needed a little reminder
that he did have talent and I gave him a
little push in the right direction. I like
to encourage people to follow their dreams,
so I drove him to the first Idol audition in
Birmingham last August 2006. He made it. We went again a month later
and he made it through to the second round,
singing for Idol's executive producers. On
a third trip Chris got his golden ticket
from Randy, Simon and Paula.
Then Chris made it to the top 40, then to
the top 20. I told him his career was set
by this point, so don't worry about it. It
would just be icing on the cake if he could
get to the top 10 and go on the Idol Tour
all summer. He made it and was voted off
the show at #10. As of this writing, the
guy who was ignored by Nashville for years
has 11 record labels, both secular and Christian,
after him. He's on tour all summer with American
Idol and won't have to worry about paying
rent for awhile.
Needless to say, this has been quite an adventurous
year for me. You can read more about my American
Idol experience at my blog:
What's It Like To Be On American Idol
What's It Like To Be On
American Idol Part
2
What's It Like To Be On
American Idol Part
3
American Idol Timeline
at HymnCharts
The Final Idol Adventure
Orchestrating Chris Sligh's
CD
Next: Update 2008. |
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