Karl's Biography      I cannot remember a time in my life when singing was not my passion. I began playing in garage bands at the age of eleven, and continued to dedicate myself to music and performing throughout my high school years. I knew this was my best area of expression and I loved it... still do!      After graduation, all my dreams seemed to fall together. I joined a band called the Wright Brothers. Karl (left) & The Wright Brothers performing with Johnny Cash      We enjoyed a successful career performing from coast to coast, including appearances on Hee Haw, The Today Show, and the Grand Ole Opry. We had a recording contract with Warner Brothers and singles in the Top 40... what more could I ask?      During this time, I came face to face with the claims of Jesus Christ. My life and my attitudes started to change, however, there was something standing in my path. Over a ten year period, I had developed an addiction to prescription drugs for a back problem. I tried to handle it myself, but was unsuccessful and when I finally hit bottom, the doctors advised me I would need hospitalization to kick the habit. But in a desperate cry to the Lord, He miraculously healed me of this addiction that had held me in bondage for a decade.      God has turned my desire to sing into the ministry I now have for Him. My mission has been to travel from church to church, regardless of denomination, sharing God's message in song and word. I have personally ministered to more than 500,000 people throughout the Midwest of America, England, Ireland, Belgium and Nicaragua.       The message God wants me to convey is that, in the midst of all the choices the world offers us, we must keep our focus on Jesus Christ. He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.

January 2010      Christmas morning in the county jail.  I left my house well before dawn on Christmas Day; my family still tucked into their warm beds after staying up too late on Christmas Eve celebrating the birth of our Savior at Radiant with my church family, stopping at a neighbor’s where we ate too much with good friends, and ending the evening opening gifts at home with my wife and sons in the glow of candles and Christmas tree lights.  What a different picture than the one I would encounter just a few hours later at the Hamilton County Jail.         Over the years I have visited many prisons and correctional facilities with my music ministry, but this was my first time in jail.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I found was a group of men and women not that much older than my own kids.  Young people locked up on Christmas Day, who pitifully looked like they’d rather be anywhere else that morning.  Some were waiting for court dates to determine their guilt or innocence; others who had already heard the gavel were waiting to be transferred to prisons for their long-term sentence.        I was struck by how quiet it was and how bright and institutionally stark it was in there.  “All is calm, all is bright”  was penned by Austrian priest Father Joseph Mohr in 1817, when he wrote the now famous Christmas carol, but this is not what he had in mind.  The heavy bullet-proof doors opened to let the Chaplain and me into a holding trap and then clanged shut behind us.  In a few moments the second electronic door was remotely opened and then crashed shut behind us and locked up tight. We were silently ushered to a classroom to set up, florescent bulbs humming, two way mirrors with invisible armed guards watching every step all along the way.        We finished setting up and the classroom door opened.  In they walked; all in khaki pants and each with t-shirts in varied colors revealing the severity of their crime.  We conducted two services for inmates to voluntarily attend; one for men and one for women.  I was taken aback by how many mouthed the words and sang along to those old songs; it was obvious they had spent some time in church somewhere along the way.  We sang some hymns, we shared the gospel, and then gave the invitation to receive Christ as personal savior.         Simple and straight-forward.  I’ve done it a thousand times.  But I am always astounded how the presence of the Holy Spirit can infiltrate any room and make it his. How the Spirit of the living God can soften the lighting and warm any space.  How Christ can knock on the door of hearts in the most adverse and inhospitable environment.  So I was overwhelmed – but not surprised – when seven guys gave their hearts to Christ and publicly proclaimed Jesus as their personal savior on that cold and rainy Christmas morning.        I’ve got the best job in the world! Praise God! Blessings, Karl