{"id":10602,"date":"2015-10-22T16:07:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T20:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=10602"},"modified":"2015-10-22T16:07:49","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T20:07:49","slug":"dancing-with-the-stars-contestant-carlos-penavega-shares-how-church-changed-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2015\/10\/dancing-with-the-stars-contestant-carlos-penavega-shares-how-church-changed-his-life.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Dancing With the Stars\u2019 Contestant Carlos PenaVega Shares How Church Changed His Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2015\/10\/MV5BMjMzMTcxMjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTM3NzYzNDE@._V1_UY317_CR270214317_AL_.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-10604 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2015\/10\/MV5BMjMzMTcxMjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTM3NzYzNDE@._V1_UY317_CR270214317_AL_-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"MV5BMjMzMTcxMjI4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTM3NzYzNDE@._V1_UY317_CR27,0,214,317_AL_\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Most young teens are major fans of the band Big Time Rush, but did you know that band member Carlos PenaVega is also a devout Christian? On a previous episode of \u201cDancing with the Stars\u201d, contestant Carlos PenaVega shared the most memorable time in his life; the year he became a Christian.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012 PenaVega was on a tour with his band having the time of his life. However, the fun and exciting days PenaVega grew to love did have to come to an end. When he returned from the tour, PenaVega fell into a deep and dark place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI locked myself in the house. I started smoking weed like every day\u2026 I really hit rock bottom\u201d PenaVega said.<\/p>\n<p>The depression from being alone took a toll on the big time band member, but everything changed when he reached out to a friend who invited him to a church service.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI walk in the church, and I know that I was supposed to be there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>PenaVega went on to speak about how transformed his life became after the first week he spent at the church. His pastor, Duane Fanther, spoke about how he remembers when PenaVega first came to church. \u201cHe wanted change; he wanted transformation,\u201d Gather said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so crazy to me that in one week, my life changed forever.\u201d PenaVega said tearfully on the show.<\/p>\n<p>Not only did PenaVega accept Jesus into his heart that week, he also met the love of his life. PenaVega was invited to a Bible study group where he met his now wife, Alexa PenaVega. He attributes her faith in God to be another large reason in his choice to give himself over to the Lord.<\/p>\n<p>PenaVega chose to dance to the song \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d on the episode of Dancing with the Stars because it was one of the first songs he had heard at church. He also believes it represents the transformation he has seen in himself since he found God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most young teens are major fans of the band Big Time Rush, but did you know that band member Carlos PenaVega is also a devout Christian? On a previous episode of \u201cDancing with the Stars\u201d, contestant Carlos PenaVega shared the most memorable time in his life; the year he became a Christian. In 2012 PenaVega&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2806,2807,1691],"class_list":["post-10602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television","tag-big-time-rush","tag-carlos-penavega","tag-dancing-with-the-stars"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Dancing With the Stars\u2019 Contestant Carlos PenaVega Shares How Church Changed His Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Carlos PenaVega of the band Big Time Rush is celebrating his journey of finding Jesus on the show &#039;Dancing with the Stars&#039;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2015\/10\/dancing-with-the-stars-contestant-carlos-penavega-shares-how-church-changed-his-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Dancing With the Stars\u2019 Contestant Carlos PenaVega Shares How Church Changed His Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Carlos PenaVega of the band Big Time Rush is celebrating his journey of finding Jesus on the show &#039;Dancing with the Stars&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2015\/10\/dancing-with-the-stars-contestant-carlos-penavega-shares-how-church-changed-his-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-22T20:07:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" 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