American Idol Misses out Moriah Peters Sings for a Higher Power by Patti Townley-Covert
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Inland Empire Edition Vol. 23, No. 9 SeptemberSe 2012 www.christianexaminer.com Robert Tyler Elections Events Defending religious 11 ballot measures Promise Keepers CEO FREE liberty preserves right face California vows to light fi re among to spread the Gospel voters in November So. California men page 4 page 6 page 5 American Idol misses out Moriah Peters sings for a Higher Power By Patti Townley-Covert hen Moriah Peters’ mom suggested her Wdaughter audition for American Idol in 2010, the high school senior hesitated. She’d done enough modeling to know that the Los Angeles entertain- ment scene can be very dark. However, her mom was so convinced of God’s leading that she persuaded Peters to begin a In 1996, a Temecula home Bible study grew into a church, which began meeting fi ve-month interview process to in a barn on Rancho California Road in the wine country. Calvary Chapel Bible be on the show. Peters said she Fellowship, known as “The Barn,” now wants to expand and is fi nding resistance spoke openly about her faith, from the wineries and the Riverside County Planning Commission. and no one complained—until she performed for the celebrity judges. Though they loved her Churches rally for right soulful voice and look, they said she needed to go make mistakes, feel sexy and experience life. to build in Temecula’s Peters said she knew God had closed that door and had a big- sprawling wine country ger plan, but she didn’t feel like it. She’d wasted important time that By Lori Arnold to its current 7-acre site. Included might have been better used study- in the church plans are designs to ing for fi nals. TEMECULA — Jesus may have dedicate 75 percent of the land to Since her freshman year at turned water into wine in the grape vineyards. Don Lugo High School in Chi- Gospels, but unless existing zoning The commission approval for the no, Peters said she’d had a plan. laws are changed, churches would study came after a heated, eight- “My plan was to get a scholar- continue to be banned in Temecula hour hearing that pitted churches ship at a University of California, Wine Country. against the valley’s growers. Citing go on to law school and become Churches have reason to hope, urban sprawl that has encroached an entertainment lawyer.” however, after the Riverside County upon other wine enclaves, the re- That way, the honors student Planning Commission agreed to gion’s wine growers and vintners fi gured she could stay involved explore lifting the ban on Aug. say they are trying to protect their with her hidden dream: music. 22. That’s when it voted to accept agricultural farmland from other But God had a different plan, $100,000 from Calvary Chapel uses that could threaten their exis- Peters said, with a sparkle in her Bible Fellowship to re-examine the tence. They have rallied to uphold voice. While leaving her last audi- environmental impacts of having the 1999 ban on churches, which tion with American Idol, a strang- churches and schools in the Tem- was implemented after Calvary er approached. After hearing her ecula Valley Wine Country. Chapel was granted permits to op- sing and express her convictions, The church, the only one located erate in a former dilapidated barn he said he wanted to introduce in the winery-designated area east along Rancho California Road. her to singer/songwriter Wendi of the city, is seeking to expand its The original church permit was Foy. That connection took Peters facilities and open a school after to Nashville where she recorded acquiring a 22-acre parcel adjacent See DISPUTE, page 10 three demos. Foy warned Peters not to get her hopes up. As a result, Peters said she came home and prayed that if Biola University joins it were God’s will, He’d open the doors. Knowing that most singers don’t get signed, Peters realized PHOTO BY JENA COOPER/JLYNDELPHOTOGRAPHY federal suit over abortion that only God could make her The celebrity judges on American Idol loved Moriah Peters’ soulful voice dream a reality. She let go of the and look, but they didn’t vote for her to continue on the show because she outcome and planned to take ad- needed to ‘go make mistakes and experience life.’ But her audition opened health insurance mandate vantage of her scholarship to Cali- the door for a Christian recording contract. LA MIRADA — In the ongoing main free to operate according to fornia State University, Fullerton. cal values and morals. But early God. In the midst of her angst battle against Obama’s new health their deeply-held beliefs. Punishing A week later, Foy called. Five in her senior year, she went she asked, “God, are you even mandate, two evangelical col- religious people and organizations labels wanted to meet Peters. through “a dry and doubtful leges—Biola University and Grace for freely exercising their faith is an With offers from all of them, she real? Because this doesn’t make College and Seminary in Indiana— assault on our most fundamental chose Provident Label Group. period” when she questioned sense to me.” That very moment, have fi led a federal lawsuit against American freedoms,” said Alliance They recently released her fi rst the existence of God and every- she knew He was. the Obama administration. Defending Freedom Senior Coun- album, “I Choose Jesus.” thing she’d been raised to be- “I knew that if God is not real, The lawsuit is the latest to chal- sel Gregory S. Baylor. She also chose her education, en- lieve. When people asked her to nothing matters. But if He is real, lenge the administration’s uncon- Baylor said that religious employ- rolling at Grand Canyon University defend her faith, she couldn’t nothing else matters,” she said. stitutional mandate that faith-based ers have no real choice: you must where she can do her marketing classes explain the origins of the Earth Though not everything made employers provide insurance cover- either comply and abandon your online while pursing her music. or historical evidence for the ex- sense, Peters chose to believe age for abortion-inducing drugs at religious freedom and conscience, istence of Jesus Christ. because she was convinced un- no cost to employees regardless of or resist and be taxed for your Choosing Christ One night, while outside look- derstanding would come as the religious or moral objections. With Christian parents, Peters ing up at the stars, Peters said she “Christian colleges should re- See LAWSUIT, page 2 said she was raised with bibli- had an honest conversation with See MORIAH PETERS, page 10 For information about advertising, subscriptions, or bulk delivery, please call 1-800-326-0795 2 • CHRISTIAN EXAMINER • September 2012 IE www.christianexaminer.com Movie promoter launches project to re-engage church with the arts By Lori Arnold the arts,” Bock said. “We need to can only be the Christian commu- on the History Channel. Other get back to a place like that. The nity that made it a hit.” planned projects involve Stephen HOLLYWOOD — Since starting defi nition of a patron of the arts “We target Bible-based projects, Spielberg with a proposed epic on his faith-based Hollywood public re- has changed pretty substantially things that are rooted, absolutely, Moses, and Will Smith is consider- lations fi rm a dozen years ago, Jon- since the Renaissance. It used to be in the Bible, where the only people ing a movie on Cain and Able. athan Bock and his team at Grace if you were a patron of the arts you who would make this a big, huge hit “I think they are a lot more recep- Hill Media have often bridged the were a rich guy in tights with a coin are people who are believers in the tive,” Bock said of Hollywood. “In the gap between the increasingly edgy purse. Now, the patron is the ticket- Bible,” he said. past 12 years I have personally seen movie industry and a skeptical buying customer, the consumer. the Christian community go from Christian community. They wield a lot of infl uence— not Chasing momentum near-pariah status within Hollywood “We have a tendency to stand individually (because), if I buy one Their fi rst project to promote is to a place where we are now absolutely there with our arms crossed waiting ticket it makes little difference, but “The American Bible Challenge,” a seen as a potential audience, as a real to be offended,” Bock said of the as a community you can have a tre- new game show on the GSN chan- audience worth going after. Christian community. mendous amount of infl uence over nel, formerly known as the Game “That’s a terrifi c thing, to go The marketing guru, who worked the projects that are made into the Show Network. Bock said if Chris- from enmity to being viewed as a for Warner Bros. before launching future. tians rally around the show and it real, potential customer. I’ll take Grace Hill, said he’s hoping to im- Jonathan Bock, owner of Grace Hill “This relationship worked well becomes a major hit, Hollywood that, in a 10-year-time span, any day prove the relationship between the Media, has launched As1, a new like this for hundreds and hun- is more likely to produce similar of the week. That’s a huge step in two communities through As1, a initiative to re-engage Christians into dreds of years.