Jackson and Grand Rapids Michigan

  I was in Jackson, Michigan last Sunday and Monday.  Ministry was awesome, great responses.
  Sunday night we were in a different church and the focus was youth.  The pastor of this church blessed me so much.  Before the event we had the opportunity to sit down and encourage each other and pray.  He let me know that he had heard me speak a few years ago and was really encouraged.
  I had one man tell me to not feel bad if we didn’t have a lot of people show up.  He explained that the churches don’t really do a lot of activities together so he just didn’t know how may folks would come from other places
  Well, we had 438 young folks show up!  Church capacity was 430!  It was an amazing night with great responses.  Afterwards one young man, about 10 years old, came up to me with a very serious face.  He looked at me and said, “I really didn’t want to come here tonight, my mom and dad made me come.”  He continued, “But this was really cool!  I’m coming back tomorrow.”  He then proceeded to give me a huge hug!  My heart was so blessed.
  Monday morning I woke up to 10 inches of show and the school that I was supposed to speak at closed!  Oh well, the snow curse continues!  Monday night we had a great audience again though and I was truly blessed by the responses.  I felt really bad about missing the school though because our youth are sooooo important!
  God is good though.  I just so happened to be in Grand Rapids this weekend.  (And it’s snowing, of course.)  This has been a very good here as well.  My friends from the music group, Casting Crowns, are in town so I was able to take some dear friends to the concert.  These guys bless me every time I’m around them.
  Sunday I’m speaking to a youth outreach and the place sounds like it will be packed as well.  They did a reservation system on Facebook and were very encouraged by the responses.  Over 175 have reserved and they know there will be folks that haven’t reserved.  We can hold about 225 in the facility!  We’ll see what God is going to do there.
  So, why the comment about God being good!  Well, because I’m in Grand Rapids I can drive home through Jackson on Monday and speak at the school that got cancelled last week!  It will be a long day, but it is worth it.  Your prayers are appreciated for my wife and I as we drive.
  Got an amazing email from one of the young men that I’ve had the privilege of meeting on the road.  Hope it blesses you like it blessed me.

Hi,

My name is Josh Sadlon, and I'm the dorky christian song artist that followed you around in december. My CD comes out in a few months through BCC records and I am really excited about that. I know God has given me a great purpose to spread his message to others through speaking and song. I am starting my video documentary for World Renewal International to Mexico and Haiti later this summer and I hope to bring the stories back to the states in order to show how big of an impact Christians have on the entire world. I have been praying for a few months about all the things I learned from you in that one day and I know God has touched my heart. I have since created my own message series called "I didn't know?" and it’s about finding the stereotypical basics of Christianity are often more complicated and are missing key parts of the truth. I have been playing and preaching this new series for a few months to over 300 teens and have had an amazing response. I would like to thank you for the encouragement and knowledge you gave me to understand and relay the truth to others.

I have a burning passion to understand more, and to learn how to move people as well as you do. If you are looking for a young speaker, well here I am... haha. I have been praying about the calling He has sent for me, and I believe I can help the organizations you work with to reach a new generation, and to inspire older generations. I know when I talked to you you felt you and your team were thinking that it would be difficult for older men to connect with the younger people. Even though I believe you will be a very good speaker to hear when you are 100, I know I could be of help in spreading your Godly message across the world.

My new website is www.joshsadlonmusic.com , although my full tour schedule is not up, I did put the creation museum as one of the places I hope to play at this summer.

I hope that you keep me in your prayers as a student and in my ministry as I return to Anderson University soon for music business and ministry. I hope to hear from you soon to see what you think of my future.  Thank you very
much---Josh Sadlon

  Share the Lord with someone this week.  You never know the impact it has!

Carl k.