In FOCUS:

Teri Copley

Teri Copley began her rise to stardom in the early 1980s. The strikingly beautiful young woman earned starring roles working with actors such as John Turturro, Tim Daly, Stepfanie Kramer, and Carman.

Now, her ministry, Sonset Ministries, aims to give back to the city that introduced her to the world. FreeMP3Bible asked Ms. Copley to tell us a little bit about herself, her story, and her God. She graciously gave us some of her time and answered some questions that might just help answer a few of your own.

FreeMP3Bible: How would you describe God during your childhood? Was He talked about in your house?

Teri Copley: I grew up in a home where Christ was never mentioned. My mother was from a non-practicing Catholic family… My grandfather didn't believe in God due to heartbreak in his childhood years. I became aware of Christ through my friend’s parents. I must say even as a child I loved Him. I didn't have understanding but He made Himself known to me as a child.  I knew He wanted me to do something. 

MP3: Did He cross your mind as you worked your way through the Hollywood maze?

TC:    He would always enter into my life he never gave up on me... but I was deaf and blinded to understand Him. I was in darkness while I was in Hollywood--- but I still had a love for Him

MP3: What sorts of pressures were you under as a beautiful young starlet in Hollywood?

TC:    None that were evident. I guess it's the subtleties you don't really see until you look back. I really just wanted to be understood... I wanted to be loved.

MP3: As you rode the rocket ship to fame, did you ever look back & wonder if this was truly where you wanted to be – who you wanted to be?

TC:   No! I loved it while I was in it.  I wanted to help people. I knew I wanted my life to be about what I gave and not what it gave me, but I was self-centered.

MP3: In 1990, you gave your life to Christ. How did that happen?

TC:    I was doing a movie and one morning I felt a tapping on my finger waking me up and saying, “Isn’t the sun beautiful"?  I responded by saying, “Yes, the sun is beautiful"! I fully woke up and got on the floor and said to the Lord, "Lord, you've given me this life and I've made a mess of it; please let me serve you"!  I don't even know how those words came to me because it was more that I understood.  I saw myself carrying my dead body across my arms and laying it at the feet of Jesus. I was a new person!  I felt Him with me from that moment on and I didn't understand a thing.  I just knew it was Him and He loved me a lot!

MP3: The Enemy walks seeking whom he may devour. As a new child in Christ with such strong ties to Hollywood and its money, power, & fame, how did you resist his lies? TC:   I found something far, far better:  the love and manifest presence of God. It's better than all the riches and fame anyone could attain...

MP3: He continually looks for breaks in the armor of a Christian. When he brings up things you did in your former life, what do you do to turn him away?

TC:   Well, it depends how it's brought up.  If it's a whole bunch of things he tries to attack the mind with.... I worship!  If it's through people and them saying things... I hear them and I try to see the hurt or whatever he is using in their heart and I, with love,  try to give them understanding.  Sometimes I tell them I'm sorry!  I let them know I was lost and weak and never meant to hurt them or cause them to stumble. I do not get offended... because as I see my own weakness, I can also see theirs and as I have compassion for mine and I try to have the same for others.

MP3:  Recently, the label of “Christian” has been thrown around even more than ever in the entertainment arena even causing friends (such as the members of the rock band Creed) to walk away from each other. Some claim “Christian” when it suits the moment. How would you say that have been able avoid any controversy over the validity of your walk with God?

TC: I lost some friends because I didn't have in common the things I had in common with them before. It still is the same this day with people I haven't seen for a while.  I haven't been questioned about my validity as a Christian.  I have a very close friend that walks with me. I think also the Bible says,” You will know them by their fruits" I think people can have a love for the Lord and never really know Him, but He IS faithful.

MP3: When did you found Sonset Ministries?

TC:    About 3 years ago

MP3: Who are your more active partners and what are their roles in addition to your own?

TC:   My friends Delynn Buonvicino and Romona Jones, we all just put it together but Delynn does most of the organizing.... she's really efficient!

MP3: What is the goal of this ministry in particular?

TC: We wanted to go the ground where we came from and bring the reality of the very present Lord to them.  Sometimes people will go to an event before they will go into a church.

MP3:  When was your last “tent revival”?

TC:     2003

 MP3: What does it take to produce something so unusual in an effort to reach the lost?

 TC:   A lot, a lot of time and money.

 MP3: What are your plans for Sonset Ministries (in the future)?

TC:    We are planning to put up a tent this early May! 

MP3:  Your book, Conversations Between a Girl and Her God, allows readers to follow your spiritual growth in a simple, easy-to-read manner. Do you have plans to write another book?

TC:    Yes, I am finishing, "Fits, Mis-fits and Counterfeits" and I will be doing another Girl and Her God Book, called, "Visions and Visitations Between a Girl and Her God”. 

MP3:  It is noted that you are available from time to time for speaking engagements. Tell me about what one would expect to glean from that experience.

TC:    My heart’s desire is that everyone comes to know Him face to face, that everyone will allow themselves to utterly abandon themselves to intimacy with Him.  I speak about a "life on Earth as it is in Heaven....being fully restored to the garden".  I love that!

 MP3: Is this your full time job?

TC:   No, not yet.... but I desire it to be!  ASAP! I don't like being distracted! 

MP3: Who is Teri Copley now?  Just a Girl who Loves Her God!

 MP3:  God has brought you so far in a brief amount of time. Where do you think He will take you next?

TC: I have spent a lot of time trying to foresee that but I just don't know.  I only pray that I never settle for the outer court life or even the Holy place life..... I really want to abide in the Holy of Holies.  That’s where every promise of the Bible is made manifest.  The perfection of His love made complete on earth as it is in heaven. Restored to the garden!

And as our Brother John prayed: "Amen, Even so Come, Lord Jesus."

The plan of salvation is so simple that even children understand and can find the peace and love that only He offers. It is routinely displayed at football games and scrawled onto bridges, but the verse in the Bible that lays this out so simply is John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."