Have a testimony that you’d like to encourage others with? We’d love to share it! Email fastfriday@comeandlive.com

Dear Chad/Come&Live!,

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, and had the privilege of attending the Come&Live! conference.

The Come&Live! conference is an event I will remember until God calls me from this life. Speaking as a person who is constantly torn between the Gospel’s calling and the temptation of sin, I can testify to the odd sensation of being in a room full of people alive with the Holy Spirit. I approached the entire event as most people in my situation do: not really expecting anything wondrous to occur. I could not have been more wrong.

The moment that immortalizes the evening in my memory is you preaching on stage, praying for the afflictions of everyone in the room. You mentioned all sorts of things. “Someone in the room is going through financial worries and anxiety. God wants to crush them both. Someone in this room is battling addiction, and God wants you to know that through him, any chain can be broken, any affliction can be overcome. Someone in this room has a sore finger, and that’s okay, because God cares about the smallest of struggles, the smallest of afflictions.”

As I stood in the crowd, none of what you said applied to me. Or so I thought.

“Someone in this room is considering suicide. That is not the answer.
God says, suicide is never the answer.”

To this day, I can remember the wave of emotion that coursed through me as the people around me cheered and clapped in agreement. They didn’t seem to notice when I fell to my knees, and half a decade worth of depression, sorrow, despair and darkness flooded out of me in tears. I haven’t cried in such a way in almost a year, but it was as if God’s hand flicked a switch in my head, and all he was saying was “suicide is never the answer, suicide is never the answer”.

When you asked those who truly needed it to raise their hands, and those around them to pray for them, the people around me placed their hands on my shoulders as I struggled through tears to stay on my feet. Among them was Joshua Porter of Showbread. I truly believe that their prayers pierced through all the murkiness, all the pain and all the pent up despair of my life away from God.

At the end of the night, it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted. Every thought of ending my own life had fled, every thought of death had left me. In the weeks since the conference, I have had no thoughts of suicide, and my moments of despair and doubt have been few and far between.

Again, all I want to say is that Come&Live! will truly change the world. It spreads a message of hope, mercy, grace and forgiveness to those who need to hear it the most. I hope you continue to carry out your ministry all over the world, because the world truly needs it. I know that I did. – Jai Aronsen

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My name is John and I was recently baptized, strengthening my relationship with God through Jesus Christ. For some, I was probably the last person they would see standing in front of a church service proclaiming their faith.

Growing up I idolised metal music; blasphemous, grotesque and anti-religious black metal and gore grind. I dabbled with séances and read satanic literature.

I was ignorant of all the times God was present in my life growing up, trying so very hard to reach out to me and using many other people of faith to do the same. I was an insecure, complacent and anxious person, constantly making excuses and with a low self-esteem.

The night I watched Jake Luhrs ‘Come & Live’ testimony; his amazing story about his coming to faith, my life changed dramatically… from a person intimidated and fearful of God and all thing Christian, to a person willing and so gladly submitting himself to our Lord with open arms. Watching Jakes testimony brought back so many amazing experiences and instances in my life I used to call “coincidences” that I now refer to as all part of Gods plan for me and my family. Jakes Come & Live testimony inspired emotions I have never felt before and can never find the words to explain.

I now attend church every Sunday and I am blessed to be a part of an amazing and inspiring Home Fellowship Group, and when people ask about my coming to faith, in my response I thank Come & Live and Jake Luhrs.  God wanted me to see that video.

- John H. 

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At the beginning of this summer I had been struggling to deal with a lot of things because I was so worried that I wasn’t going to get to return to school in the fall. I attend Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN and I am a religion major here. But because of finances I was unable to remain attending. That being a seemingly small problem in comparison to what was to come it still hurt very badly to leave my family here.

Growing up, for background purposes anyways, I have had a lack of family for a long time. My mother left when I was in 7th grade and I became depressed. My father was an alcoholic, and through all of this I guess I somewhere in the mix decided that I was an atheist. There was just too much wrong. The redeeming love of Christ saved me during my sophomore year in high school when a young girl, with no romantic connection to me what-so-ever showed me His perfect love. Suddenly… I felt completed. I had my family.

But in all of that, I found other people that cared about me here. About a year ago my father left too, and moved to a far away city and I lost all contact with him. But this is where things started getting difficult. Not long after summer began this year, he came home to see me and I was shocked. Something had to have been wrong. He sat me down, looked me right in the face, and said “Son, I have terrible news..” At this point I am wondering what could be worse than what has already happened? My family is somewhat non existent, my father left me to do college alone, and now I don’t even know if I can go back.. “Son, I am going bankrupt and I have stage 3 stomach cancer…” My heart shattered. Why? Why was all of this happening. Not long after that my house and car were both reposed and I lost everything. I wasn’t in school, my father is dying and I am separated from God.

I prayed. I prayed everyday, and got others to pray…Nothing seemed to work. This whole time God was silent. But I started to notice something. I had grown so dependent and reliant on Him that I was praying with people all around me and completely ignoring my own issues. Sure it felt horrible that all of that was happening but I suddenly didn’t care. God had shown me peace in my nothingness. I had this desire to serve the world of broken people and to see God’s kingdom expanded. My Heavenly Father and I became closer than ever.

About three weeks ago, my father calls me. He had gone to the doctor and they did all the tests they had, but for whatever reason.. his cancer was completely gone. Not there… I wept.. And it wasn’t too long after this happened that he told me he was moving back home and wanted to establish a relationship with me. I gave it one more shot to get back in school and when I decided to call it quits, I bumped into the head of financial aid here and he decided to give me a chance to come back and now I am working to stay here. My mother and I re-established a relationship after 5 years of not talking to each other.

God had taught me in my nothingness, I had everything. I was complete in serving His purpose. And I had this season of brokenness so that I could learn the most important thing. God’s perfect love, establishing His perfect peace in my heart. No matter what I lose. I wont lose Him.

Praise God. Come&Live has had a huge role in sharing that love with me. Thank you so much for that. God bless you.

That’s my story. I hope it blesses you as it has me.

In Christ

-Troy M. / Nashville, TN

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After your show in St Paul, MN, Renee ended up praying over me and the Lord healed me through her. I played violin for 7 years but I had to stop 2 years ago because I developed some serious hand/wrist problems, and I could barely hold a person’s hand without my thumbs popping and all of that fun stuff. I told Renee that I would update her after about a week and I am SO HAPPY to say that I can actually play my violin for more than 10 minutes now! It seems like my hands get stronger every day. God has used her in an amazing way and I would love it if you could share this with her Now that I can worship through playing
and creating music again, I feel closer to God than I ever have in my entire life!

You guys are such an amazing group and I love everything that the Lord
has blessed you with. He is so good!

Maggie / St. Paul, MN

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My dad cheated on my mom and started a new relationship with another girl, (and by girl I mean it literally she’s like 3 years older than me.) Since then everything went downhill, and you could just see it in my house you know? We used to have a lot and now we had nothing and my house was literally falling apart. We didn’t have money to get things fixed and oh well…I had never talked to my dad about what happened, (he’s kind of a tough guy), and I didn’t have the courage to talk to him about anything, Jesus included, but today I watched Come&Live’s New Zealand video and I felt God just push me to do it. I decided I needed to talk to him today…so when I finished translating Life In Your Way’s kickstarter video I figured if I could relate to it, he would as well…I showed it to him, talked to him, told him Jesus loves him, and well…he ended up accepting Jesus into his heart! Pretty awesome huh? It wasn’t a big show, as I said he’s a tough one! He didn’t like burst into tears… but he was holding them! I could tell haha. And most importantly I got to tell him everything that was in my heart, and I didn’t cry! I didn’t want to cry because I didn’t want my tears to touch his heart you know? I wanted God’s word, God’s love to do it…and when my voice started to break I was like God help! And I relaxed and everything went smoothly! We prayed together and my dad received Jesus in his heart today! I had been praying for it for a while, I know you guys prayed for it as well so thank you so much! It happened! Now I’ll pray for God to show him the way back home. Just wanted to share that with you guys! Be blessed beyond measure!

Valerie A / Madrid, Spain

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I’ve spent my life seeking and running but its weird when you come to the realization that God is not hiding! God met me in a very real way for maybe the first time in 10 years that night (Arrows are Deadly Tour in KC, MO). How’s my neck doing? I have no idea, because I don’t think about it anymore. Let me be clear that there was no diagnosis to my stiff neck (4 months of pain) or my elbows and knees… it was troublesome and starting to interfere in my life because of dizzy spells and constant pain. That night I felt all pain leave. The next morning I woke up and felt a stiff neck… what I did then is what I believe God really was after all along… I left it at His feet. I gave it to God and went on with my day. Its been 3 weeks (approx) and as I sit here asking my wife (literally she is next to me) she and I separately have written this down: if a month ago this pain, dizziness and consuming’ness’ of this disorder was a ’10′ what would you rate it today?  Again we both separately answered this: 1 or 2.

What has happened is a reversal in my life. Its changed me by bringing me to rely on God. I sure hope it doesn’t always take pain… ugh… but I hope it keeps me close to Him. We will all die eventually of something, its in His design, but I believe He is showing me something to renew my strength AND more importantly to bring glory to Himself.

All praise be to God, he is good!

Stephen G. / Kansas City, MO

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When I was four, I was diagnosed with seizures-a very minor form of them- but nonetheless I have been on medication to control these seizures for 18 years. Also, from things that have happened in my past, I had been struggling with depression and anxiety. For those of you that don’t know this, you might be staring at the screen right now like “no way”…but its for real and I have struggled with these things for a long time.

Now three weeks ago, my church had a concert- it was called the Come and Live Tour- featuring three bands: The Ember Days, Ascend the Hill, and Showbread (I’ve been a fan of theirs since I was 13 Any ways, the concert was amazing. At the end of Showbread’s concert they all came to the bottom of the stage, where the crowd was and them and the pastor that represented Come and Live asked if anyone needed prayer. I was like….uhhhh ok. Now you must know that in my life I have received a lot of spiritual abuse so sometimes group prayers scare me and intimidate me. I love my church but these people weren’t from my church…and I’ve met some wacky Christians ya’ll- I love them all the same but after being abused by people that “say” they are Christians, you just get a little apprehensive. So I just decided to be like “whatever” and pray in this group of people. One after the other, people came forward and asked for prayer for certain illnesses and issues going on in their lives. The whole time, I felt like God was trying to tell me that I should ask for prayer for my seizures and anxiety. In fact, Jordan turned around and said, “Ali, you should ask”…to which I quickly snapped, “NO!”….I was SO scared. I was literally shaking…but I knew I had to do this afraid because if I left that building that night without knowing what God had in store for me…I would be even more disappointed in myself. So ….teary-eyed and still shaking, I stepped forward. I told all these strangers and one of my favorite bands from my childhood- go figure- all about my issues. I felt stupid and foolish but they all looked at me kindly and started praying. One specific prayer that I can remember- a guy-I think his name is Ben? but I’m not sure since I’d never met him before then- but I know he goes to my church…but anyways! He prayed that all the thoughts in my head would stop rushing that all the brain cells would just slow down and that there would be peace in my head. I felt this warmth crawl from my toes all the way up to my head. The most amazing prayer time EVER!

Since then I’ve been going off my medicine, and I have had not ONE seizure!!!!!!! My anxiety and depression is now under control too! I almost can’t believe it! Healings are only things I’ve heard about or seen on tv or read in books! But now, it’s me! I’m the one healed of an 18 year-old illness!!! No more needles, no more pills, no more MRI’s, or EEG’s!!! No more dizziness or any weird side effects!!! It’s almost hard for me to believe but…its so real. Seizures are one thing you can’t fake…THAT is how I know this healing is real.

I am so blown away by God’s grace. Thank you to the Come and Live tour for coming to my church. And thanks to those who listened to God and were in that prayer circle with me. You were instruments of an amazing change in my life.

Before I sign off, I want to encourage all of you with something. If you are afraid to do something, or if you are afraid to put your faith in something-do it while afraid. It will make you stronger! When you are weak, God is strong. Whether you believe in Him or not- its just the way it is! He is always there and He will lead you to a better life if you just let Him!

Love You Guys. Thanks for letting me share my story

Ali

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I am a 20 year old from Glendale, Arizona. I was raised as a PK. And when I was 18, my parents decided that God was leading them to start a church in the heart of the unchurched Portland, Oregon. This drove me to bitterness because little did I understand why they were dragging me there… Selfishness spread throughout my bones. At the age of 19 I told my parents I was going to move back to Arizona because I was to join a signed band and as all musicians dream, “fame”. Its been exactly a year since the move, and my goodness how things changed for me. I lost my job, my house, my girlfriend, my car, and my band. Its been nothing short of difficult for me to become emotionally stable. Well, the other night, I get onto YouTube, and I get this feeling to look up Come&Live after hearing about you through a friend. I watched the New Zealand documentary, and then began to watch the “I Am Living” testimonials. I fell to my knees and cried out to God. Its been two days, and I just cant stop thinking about what you’re doing and your ministry. I am so thankful to have come across your videos. I would love if you could pray for me Chad. I’m sure a 20 year old dude from Arizona is the least of your worries at this point, just know that you and your crew have changed my life around and I am now happy to say God is turning my heart inside out for good. No more selfishness, no more bitterness, and I have found comfort in just the very fact that He has taken everything from me so that I could find Him. Thank you so much for what you’re doing! God Bless!

Daniel C. / Glendale, AZ

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Testimony from Alberto Inostrosa (Montreal, QC Canada) – October 21st, 2010

My wife was pregnant this year & all was going well until April 2010 when after a routine check up the doctor was alarmed to find that there was some sort of abnormality with our baby’s brain. Shocked and horrified all I could fathom to say was “oh Jesus, no Jesus” over and over again. The doctor said that there would be a chance that the baby would be born with a damaged brain or may not make it at all. Tears streamed from our eyes as he booked a rush appointment with a specialist to see us regarding the serverity of the abnormality. Sobbing we walked out of that room like zombies and then got into the car, as soon I turned on the car “He Will Reign” from Sleeping Giant started seeping through our ears. We were blasted with fear, anger & pain from the news. We came home to announce the news to our family and rivers of tears followed. I hated myself for questioning God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and my faith which I had stuck to miltantly for all my life. I had no one else to turn too when for some reason through prayer I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to write to Tommy Green (from Sleeping Giant) and so I did. Tommy did not hesitate or waste any time, but called me back immediately. He felt my aguish and pain from over 1000 miles away. He too with his wife Krissi were expecting a baby at the same time and felt the sadness that such news could bring. Tommy took the time to hear me out and I expressed my anger and dismay but he assured me that God has a plan and in his words “was workin’!” He listened and was caring and offered encouragement. He was a voice when I heard no voices and assured me that everything was going to be alright, more importantly we prayed together and at that instant  the whole world shut down as I fell to my knees holding Bible in hand. Tommy, with a feverent voice called on the Holy Spirit and Jesus and asked that this affliction be cast out of my baby’s brain. My eyes were blood shot from the tears cried and I felt his voice give me hope!

Two days later we met with the specialist, again with Bible in hand and prayers coming from all regions of the world including prayers from fans of Sleeping Giant and members themselves. The doctor started her investigation – my eyes were shut in prayer – after 15 minutes the doctor turned to me and asked “did the doctor tell you on what side the abnormality was found?” I said, “the right, why? do you see anything?” Dumbfounded she said “No, I don’t I see that, everything is fine! But just to play it safe I’ll do a second check” and so she did and she found NOTHING!!!!! She turned to us and said “you have a perfect normal baby girl! I don’t understand how they could have seen an abnormality.” I said it was a miracle, I called Tommy and Krissi thereafter and told them of God’s grace and miracle. They were so happy for us and knew deep in there hearts that Jesus would see us through and He did! We are so grateful to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit for seeing us through along with the prayers from Tommy and Krissi.

Since then, I’ve met Tommy at a Sleeping Giant show and he even mentioned the story during his live show which had some people in tears. He is indeed an amazing individual, I truly believe he and Sleeping Giant are part of the reason that my beautiful baby girl Deva Maria is now 4 months healthy and strong! We have always supported Tommy & Krissi’s ministry even prior to this event and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives. I plead with you to please help him and take my testimony as proof that Tommy is truely a man of God and a true disciple of Christ!

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Testimony from Brian Boldt – October 21st, 2010

I am just writing to say thanks to you and everyone who is a part of Come&Live. To be honest, I’m not sure why I decided to email you. I guess I feel compelled by the Spirit and I also understand the power of encouragement. Also, we all have a story and sometimes we just have to share it. So here’s my story.

I guess what I really want to share is how God has used Come&Live to speak in to my life. It truly has changed the way I listen to music and has made a big impact on my life. To give some background, this year has definitely been the hardest year of my life. I went through struggles in my faith to the point that I almost gave up on God and became an atheist and then my wife gave up on our relationship and left me. Slowly everything in my life that I took pride or joy in slowly crumbled and was stripped from me. My understanding of God, my wife, physical struggles with my back, and finding myself in a career that I found no joy in. It was all gone. I woke up and found that I had nothing left.

I knew I had to find God again. I knew that He was the answer for my life. But as I started to search, I found that I didn’t know how to find God anymore. Life had led me so astray. I felt so lost. What I wanted was to find that rest. That peace of resting in God. To truly understand God’s grace. To have a life that has been redeemed by God. But I couldn’t seem to find it. Life still felt too overwhelming for me to handle.

Then one day I stumbled across this band called The Ember Days. And then Ascend The Hill and Lovelite. God has always used music to reach me; to speak to my soul. As I found myself listening to these bands, I started finding refuge in God again. Just short glimpses of refuge that helped me get through the days. I’m not saying that life is all good now. It’s not. But I have some hope. And I have found a place of refuge. Listening to music that is so worshipful has slowly softened my heart. It gives me hope. Refuge. Peace. The power in honest worship is amazing and this was one way that I have begun to connect with God again. It has started to change the way I listen to music now as I have begun to really appreciate music that glorifies God in ways that I connect with. Not that I’ve sworn off listening to “normal” music but I just find so much more joy in listening to a lot of the bands I’ve found through Come&Live.

I give all the glory to God but I do want to thank you and your team for your all your efforts towards Come&Live. God is using you. He has used the bands of Come&Live in my life to help carry me through hard times. So thanks for making yourself available for God to use you and thank you for your commitment. And thank you for finding and working with artists who want to sing about God and who He is. It just seems that Come&Live is about so much more than just putting out music.

God bless,

Brian

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Testimony from Chris Ross II (Springfield, MO) – September 27, 2010

Thank you for showing your example of faith and following Christ. You hear a lot of Christians talk about it or use it for the title of their church, but never really live it out. I say that not to bash on any religion, but as a whole as Christians in general. We don’t follow by faith. Your testimony has encouraged me greatly to live that way and continue to run the race while I wait on Christ’s return.

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Testimony from Colin Stell (Golden, CO) – August 19, 2010

Early 2009, when C&L! was just a blog, I stumbled across it and was pulled into the writings you had posted. I was coming out of the darkest time i have ever faced in my life after dealing with a 6 month plus battle in depression. Through that time I had fallen away from God, was in an ungodly relationship that ended with broken hearts and irreversible things having been done. I was on the brink of using drugs, vaguely asking around to see where I could get cocaine, and a deep deep guilt and shame for what I had done and on top of this, my addiction to pornography was worse then ever. I was also practically homeless having moved out of my dads house and having too much pride to live with my mom. Thankfully my sister noticed how torn down I was and offered me a place to live with her and her husband. I moved in August 2008 and carried the weight of my guilt and shame throughout the rest of the year and into 2009. Stumbling across the blog one day I not only was encouraged by the writings, but was also very excited about the forthcoming ministry that is C&L! now. It was the humble beggining of a turn around in my life. I remember when the myspace went up and seeing what artists you partnered with and immediatley getting some of the bands music! Then I had the opportunity of meeting you and you praying for me at Heavenfest 2009 after you spoke. I remember your honesty as you spoke about what God had done in your life and where he was bringing you now with C&L! It truly inspired me to take Jesus seriously for the first time in my life (The Glorious Unseen also played a huge part in making that day one I will never forget because of what God showed me that day). I joined a college ministry not long after and have been growing ever since! And I am continually encouraged now that Come&Live! has grown into what it is now! It’s a beautiful, anointed ministry that glorifies Christ over all! So I thank God for you guys and my college ministry because you have played vital roles in where I am today. Today I am depression free, I have laid down my dreams at the foot of Jesus and am leaning on Him for my future (I have no idea where my future is going haha.). After 10 years I have finally decided to let it go and truly fight for purity in my life. So truly, thank YOU guys for letting God lead you into HIS calling, and inspiring a messed up dude like myself to find my hope in Christ and to make HIM supreme in my Life above all else. It’s a process but it’s going somewhere! I am forever grateful for you guys! And I am blessed to know you Chad and also Graham! I hope to hang with you guys again somewhere down the road Lord willing. Come&Live! goes beyond just music, it has inspired me to make Jesus Lord of my Life to make him known to others!

Heavenfest THIS year was probably one of the most spirit filled times I have ever experienced. At the Sacred assembly I had some people pray over me after they read Matthew 11:28-30 and I raised my hands for prayer and immediatley had peoples hands on my shoulder and neck, truly praying for a full release from the burdens that I mentioned above (I was still holding onto some of it). A dude behind me prayed for me and afterward I turned to him and he put his hand on my shoulder, smiled and told me that he saw a servants heart all over me, and that I was going to be a warrior for Christ! God literally gave this dude a vision for my life! Needless to say I was floored, because it all made so much sense. God has been working in my life for me to be more selfless, and growing in my walk has been increasingly consistent. Praise God man! I then walked over to the hardcore stage for the rest of the evening. White Collar Sideshow killed it man! I was definiteley encouraged by their message having delt with porn for ten years. And then Sleeping Giant…. I have never been apart of that kind of worship but it was awesome! When they put the cage on the side of the stage I went over there and gave my crap to God, ALL of it and got out! True repentence man! I felt the Spirit just drop on me and just worshiped God. When we started baptizing people and praying for people, I can’t tell you how encouraging it was to see those kids surrender to Christ. And then you guys obviously know how awesome that prayer time was! I was driving home trying to process what had happened and it took me a few days to see the full extent of it, even now I look back and am just in awe of how the Spirit moved that night! And praise God for the kids who came to Christ that night! That was awesome!

So I can’t really thank you guys enough for allowing me to be apart of that day as a part of Come&Live! My prayer is that the Lord would continue to work through you and that you all will continue to seek God’s will for your lives and C&L! He IS doing powerful stuff through you guys for HIS glory, and it’s a beautiful thing to see, and it’s a beautiful thing to support! Sorry this was so long man, just wanted to share with you guys the impact God has used you guys in my life for! Praise be to Jesus! Love you guys and praying for you guys! Blessings!

Brotha Colin Stell
Jeremiah 29:11

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Testimony from Greg Sorvig (Indianapolis, IN) – March 17, 2010

C&L! has inspired me on all levels. Chad, C&L’s founder, has been a positive Christian role model in my life for a good decade plus. Knowing your passion it’s easy to see that C&L! isn’t a fly-by-night operation with a hidden motive (especially being a non-profit instead of a standard business that enigmatically “gives back”). This is why I started donating to C&L! on a monthly basis before your site was launched. The trust and faith I have in you carries over to the musicianaries, who are doing it all for Jesus.

I haven’t been able to dig Christian music in the past. I can’t say I really sought it out, but I always viewed it as a lesser alternative to my favorite secular music. Growing up people at church would recommend Michael W. Smith and other mega artists. It was fine music for listening with your parents and clapping your hands, but that was about it. Later in middle/early high school Takehold artists and bands that came through Slacker were a great introduction, but I was too absorbed with secular friends and bands.

Additionally, the notion that a band had “made it big” on a highly profitable, large Christian label seemed contradictory to me. This is a blanket statement, as I’ve been ignorant to the Christian music world, but it still made me question the motive. With C&L! there are no questions.

What blows me away about C&L! is the variety of artists and bands that I really, genuinely like. Instead of viewing these musicianaries’ music as a lesser alternative to the norm, I see their music as an equal, if not better, substitute to what’s on my iPod. I’ve listened to each of the albums/EPs a couple times now and there’s something there for every mood. Sons of God and I Am Alpha and Omega for when I want something with a harder edge. Lovelite and The Ember Days when I want something softer, yet powerful. Daniel Bashta provides the passion and breakdowns that I need from time to time, and so on.

And instead of simply supporting a band by buying merch I now proactively seek out more information on each C&L! band by following them on Twitter, checking out their websites, and seeing what they have to say about Jesus. Each musicianary brings something new to my faith, and it’s amazing being able to expand my understanding of Jesus through the music I love, created by sincere, dedicated artists.

C&L! has challenged me on many levels; my interpretation of worship, faith, Christian music, giving and the true definition of worldly success. Coinciding with other faith-related events in my life, C&L! has made me feel more connected to Jesus than ever before. Over the years I have guarded my faith as a personal experience, but have since opened up to my wife, family and strangers. I yearn to worship with others, and have more than welcomed the idea of joining a church again.

I have volunteered my gifts as a graphic designer to charities and non-profits, and no longer value monetary and corporate status as markers of how successful I have and would become in life. I also ordered the John Piper book you suggested on your C&L! profile page. My ongoing challenge is to bring Jesus more and more into my daily life. Adjusting my spending habits and wants is also a challenge that I’m eager to face.

I could go on!

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