Worship Leader Brings Simon Cowell, Other Judges to Tears on 'America's Got Talent'
In show business, the first rule is – you always leave the audience wanting more. When Influence Church Worship Pastor Michael Ketterer hit the stage Tuesday night for the live quarterfinal competition on NBC's "America's Got Talent", he left the judges and the audience in tears – literally.
Ketterer, a former member of the Christian group United Pursuit, brought judge Simon Cowell to tears with his rendition of James Bay's Us.
Cowell, who's normally one of the gruffest people in reality television, seemed very moved by Ketterer's performance even telling host Tyra Banks that the singer was "an amazing human being."
Ketterer and his wife Ivy, are the parents of six children, five of which were adopted through foster care. Cowell choked back tears when telling Ketterer what an inspiration he is to everyone on the show.
"Michael, as a dad I can't imagine what you've done. And the fact that you're on this show and you really need this — I don't know, you're a really special guy. I don't know, there's something about you," Cowell said.
The other judges agreed with Cowell.
"We just need more men like you," said judge Heidi Klum.
The following day, after his performance, the couple released a video to Youtube titled "I Am Second," sharing the Ketterers story of how they came to adopt five children.
In the film produced by White Chair Productions, Ketterer also explains how extremely special it was to get to perform a song to his children in front of the world – and he how he got to tell them how much he loved them.
Ketterer also admits that he wasn't ready to be a father as he was extremely immature.
Ketterer, along with Melody Noel, Whitney Medina and Matt Gilman (also three musical artists from the Influence Church's ministry) are members of the Christian group Influence Music, a record label and artist collective under the church's oversight.
The group released its debut album, Touching Heaven, in May, according to the church's website. Their debut album is a compilation of songs written last year during a writing camp in which worship artists and LA-based pop writers participated.
