Bryan Carlton

I grew up going to a Disciples of Christ church in a south suburb of Kansas City. I remember my mom telling me about God – that he lived in heaven, created us, and that we should pray to him when we needed something or wanted help. We were expected to go to church on Sundays and I remember hearing stories about God and Jesus, but I don’t remember hearing about sin or salvation. My parents did their best to instill good values in me, so going through middle school and high school weren’t too bad. I always figured that I didn’t drink, I didn’t do drugs, I wasn’t having pre-marital relations with anyone so I was good to go. Plus I went to church, so I figured that was icing on the cake.

Then, my sophomore year, a good friend of mine invited me to this youth ministry deal that some of the kids in our school went to. They talked about Jesus, and what he did for us on the cross. I figured I was already good to go but I would go to these meetings anyway since they were pretty fun. Well, summer time came along and several of my friends were going to camp, so – wanting to hang out with my buddies I decided to go along too. That week was amazing! They talked about God and Jesus in ways I had never heard before. One night the speaker at the camp talked about sin. I had heard some talk of sin before, but I always thought people that were sinning were murderers and thieves – not me. That speaker talked about how EVERYONE was a sinner, and that there was nothing we could do about it on our own. That hit me pretty hard, and it made me pretty sad because I had really thought that I was ok, being the good person that I was. The next night, he talked about the cross, and how God had sent his only son Jesus down to us to pay the penalty for ALL of our sins by dying on the cross. After his talk that night, each camper was able to go out individually and sit by themselves for a while. That night I decided to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I prayed to God that I knew I was a sinner, and there was nothing I myself could do about it. I knew that only Jesus dying on the cross could take away my sin.

Going back to “the world” from camp was interesting. I saw things differently. I heard conversations differently. Problems did not seem as large anymore, as I had God guiding me. I was so changed by the experience that when I went to college I started doing volunteer ministry with the same group that helped lead me to Christ. I wanted other high school kids to know how God can work in their lives. For example, after college I needed a job – I got a really good job offer from a company in Kansas City. I could live with my parents for awhile and save some money. Problem was I had been dating this girl for a while who was going to grad school at Iowa State. I thought if I was to have a future with her I would probably need to move to Iowa. I remember praying on the night before I needed to make my decision about the job – asking God to give me wisdom and guidance in my direction. The next morning I awoke with an amazing peace in my mind and my heart about turning that job down. I knew that God wanted me elsewhere. Some people thought I was a little out of whack for turning down guaranteed money, but I knew things were going to be ok. I ended up marrying that girl – we have been happily married for 8 years now and have 3 wonderful children. God has ways of working in your life – having a personal relationship with Christ is so important to me. Without Christ in my life, I honestly don’t know where I would be right now.