WITNESS
"My whole life I have felt the call of God. My still feel that it was God's grace when, at 6 years old, I began to write. Looking back, it was a painful time for me and I escaped through creativity and writing - which I have continued to do to this day.
At my confirmation, I remember the priest asking us to make vows which we would do this or that in our life, forever. I remember talking to God and saying I would try my best, but I didn't want to make vows. I felt more comfortable setting my own relationship with God rather than having the priest decide my boundaries.
In the late 1960's I grew my hair and that caused such a stir. A definite physical and mental persecution followed, with teachers hitting me and many students wanting to beat me. In some strange way this helped me. I really have had a hard time ever since, taking many things seriously that others seem to value. When I was about 18 years old I started to have thoughts that I wished God would use my music 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 as a young man. The country was divided over Viet Nam and the draft was looming over all of us.
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. (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 interested me and also 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 but 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 dollars 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, a Pentecostal, Christian Catholic,
singer- songwriter, college student, former rock star. Between that and the rest of the 60's, it was quite an overload.
After a while, somehow I met some college kids my own age who were Catholic and struggling to understand this Holy Spirit
experience. I have come to the conclusion that the confirmation that we receive (when we receive the Holy Spirit as a child
as Catholics) 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) and decide to stay in the Church to help others share in this
experience. 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 through the good an hard times in life. I wouldn't trade
my relationship with the Lord for anything in the world.
In 1970, I became a part of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church. I lived in a communal household in 1973. I began singing as Christian folksinger from 1970, which I continue 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 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 used me in the late 60's early 70's to be the person to 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 Christianity 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. 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 a new standard or 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
At the end of this paragraph is a link to a video of one of Denny's songs, entitled Alone In the Universe. This song is a favorite of many, and puts into lyric the heart of Denny's belief and a true witness to an Almighty and Loving Father . ( Alone In the Universe )
Note: As of 2008, 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.