My whole life I have felt the call of God and I believe it was God's grace when, at 6 years old, I began to write. Although it was a painful time for me, I escaped through creativity and writing and it has continued to serve me well through the years. My writing contiues to this day.

My relationship with God began to take form when it was time for my confirmation. I remember the priest asking us to make vows for which we would do this or that in our life, forever. I had every intention of following through and do my best, but I told God that I was not at ease with making vows. I felt more comfortable establishing my own relationship with God rather than having the priest decide my boundaries.

In my teens it was the late 1960's, so I grew my hair to become part of a new and upcoming kind of revolution. That caused quite a stir resulting in a definite physical and mental persecution, with teachers hitting me and many students wanting to beat me. Ever since then, I take taking many things seriously that others seem to value and that causes a certain discomfort for me. Yet, in some kind of strange way, this helped me become stronger.

When I was about 18 years old, I began wishing that God would use my musical talent for good. These thoughts, I believe, were placed in my mind by The Holy Spirit and I had nothing whatsoever to do with it. This was a wonderful time to be a musician, but a painful one to be a young man. The country was divided over Viet Nam and the draft was looming over all of us.

About that time, I enrolled at Cuyahoga Community College and began dating a young lady named Vicky, who's Father was a Methodist Minister. I walked in on him one night in his room as he was talking and sighing to God, praying.

It was during this period, I had such a restlessness reading every spiritual book I could find, Eric Fromm, the Bible, Siddhartha, and Dante's Inferno. Philosophy and songwriting and I really thought I could write songs and help the world. My band Moses was playing out regionally. We would play Ohio Pennsylvania, and New York. We were rock stars and I think the band Moses was pretty positive, but something was missing. I remember the turning point - we played in Buffalo NY one night, traveled to Pittsburgh the next day and played a show in front of about 10,000 people. We then had to drive to Cincinnati to make a record. Although I should have been happy, I felt empty. Somehow the sleazy managers and living out of a van got to me. Shortly after that I went to a thrift shop where I met a lady who told me about the Lord and what it means to accept Him.

I did accept Christ as my Savior, and just about right way, my relationship with Vicky totally fell apart as did my band, Moses. I remember I had estimated that I was going to make $450.00 in one week, but every job got cancelled. Within a few weeks I attended an interdenominational church and I was prayed over to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit - complete with the gift of tongues, a real presence of God, a hunger Scripture, and a power and desire to witness.

Here I was at 20 years old, a Pentecostal, Christian Catholic, singer-songwriter, college student, former rock star. Between that and the rest of the 60s, it was quite an overload for me. After a while, somehow I met some college kids my own age who were also Catholic and likewise struggling to understand this Holy Spirit experience. Like everyone else, I had to come to the conclusion that the Confirmation that we receive as Catholics around age 14 (when we are to receive the Holy Spirit similar to other Denomiations that have similar traditions at different ages) has to really be believed and accepted as an adult. It can't just be an external, social thing. This led me to the Charismatic Renewal [see Charismatic Catholic]; a movement in the Catholic Church where Catholics have the experience of being born again (baptized in the Holy Spirit in a Pentecostal way).

In 1970, I decided to stay in the Church to help others share in this experience and became part of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church. Since that time I have been blessed with a very real presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit through a relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship has helped me during the good an hard times in life. I wouldn't trade my relationship with the Lord for anything in the world. As part of what I understood my new role to be, I lived in a communal household in 1973 and began singing as Christian folksinger from that time until today.

During the 70's, I played mostly in Northeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania and was part of campus ministries at Cleveland State, St. Joseph High School, John Carroll University, and Cuyahoga Community College. The St Joseph High School prayer meeting had, with no exaggeration, 500 people every Tuesday night for about 3 years, welcoming all denominations. These meetings were all about Jesus: not black and white, republican or democrat, rich or poor, or Catholic or Protestant. I still play for Sts. Cosmos and Damian prayer group in Twinsburg as part of the Charismatic ministry.

As a Christian performer during this time, I appeared on Lynn Haney's radio show, Opie Evan's T.V. show in Akron, opened for Larry Norman and jammed with Larry Tomczack's (Clap Your Hands) band in Washington, DC. For some reason, the Lord directed me in the late 60's early 70's pray for Larry Tomczack's baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is documented in his book, Clap Your Hands.

I felt then, as I do now, that being a Christian musician is more than singing songs and playing Christian music. So, after my initial experience, I felt I wanted to sing songs about other topics. I do not believe that a Christian artist has to sing exclusively about Christ because the whole range of human experience (within reason) and artistic expression should be wide open. To have this view in 1973 (which I did) was, shall we say, controversial. As of this writing, it is common for Amy Grant or the Jars of Clay to crossover between the secular and gospel, but in1973 this was not a popular notion. As I have seen the young come forth with that very attitude, I realize that I always have been a Christian entertainer and musician. I really believe that!

I have played music about the Lord in many situations. That's a good thing, but the real point is that the Lord has been with me every step of the way - correcting, guiding loving, giving me wisdom for myself and others. The last thing a witness needs to do is to raise the bar to make other Christians feel they have to live up to something. The Lord will guide you. It says in Hebrews that the New Covenant will be when the Lord writes His laws on every ones hearts, and no man will have to teach one another to know the Lord, for they will all know the Lord and He will not remember their sins anymore."

- Denny Carleton

Note:
Here is a link to a video of one of Denny's songs, entitled Alone In the Universe. While a favorite of many, it puts into lyric the heart of Denny's belief and a true witness to an Almighty and Loving Father. [Alone In the Universe]

As of 2010, Denny continues his witness as a Christian singer-songwriter, but now includes a weekly Christian Radio broadcast, in addition to doing benefits for nursing homes and the mentally challenged.