Carlisle Christian Fellowship

After Jesus!

Before Jesus.

It all began back on May 30, 1972, when I was born to my parents, Claude and Jean Schrift. I grew up in Annapolis, MD, the youngest of six children: three girls and three boys. My childhood was fairly normal: a fishing trip here, a hunting trip there, a lot of friends in the neighborhood, playing Lacrosse. All in all, not a bad childhood. I always knew, however, that there was something missing in my family’s life as there was no consistent peace or joy in our home.

In 1982, when I was ten, my parents allowed me to get a paper route for the local newspaper called the Evening Capital. I delivered newspapers until I was 13. During that time my supervisors name was Jim Reyback (he looked like Abe Lincoln…kind of).

From there I muddled through my teenage years, with not a lot of direction. When I graduated high school, I went into the biggest identity crisis of my life. I always thought I wanted to be a doctor, but, I was not sure what was in store and quite frankly I was at the point of not really caring a whole lot about it. I just wanted to go to college, to have a good time, and if a bachelors degree just happened to fall into my lap…well, I would take it.

That was not what happened at all, however. I thought I had it all together, but after giving college a half-hearted attempt and the partying life a whole-hearted attempt, in 1995 at the ripe young age of 23 I decided to pack my bags and move to Seattle. It was there that I met the woman who would be my wife and the little girl that who be my oldest daughter.

All the while, I still had other motives: a lifestyle that I thought was “Ok,” that I thought would fulfill me, that I thought would be the “easy life.” While I was in the midst of all of this, I started to see how I was on the inside.

In April of 1998, after a short visit with my family the year before, Michelle, Mary, and I decided to move to Pennsylvania. We liked the area, the cost of living was low, and we would be close to our families. Soon after we moved, Michelle began planning our wedding. So in the spring of 1999, I was assigned the task of finding someone to marry us. Since we wanted to get married in our back yard, we needed a pastor who was willing to drive out to our house. I now realize that this was our way of saying, “We have not been to church in a really long time and we have nowhere else to get married.”

One spring afternoon I picked up the Carlisle phone book and looked under pastors. I landed on the listing for a local pastor here in Carlisle named Dave Huston. I called him and asked a few general questions: Will you marry me and my wife? Sure. Will you marry us in our backyard? Sure. How much will it cost us? Whatever you want to give me.

My immediate response was, SOLD! He proceeded to tell me, however, that he would like to meet with us to do some premarital counseling. My response may not have been the warmest, but I agreed to it. Soon after that we went to our first premarital counseling session. Once we arrived at the church building to meet with Dave, he began the conversation by asking where I was from, and I told him Annapolis, MD. He said, “That’s funny, so am I.” He proceeded to ask me what my profession was, and I told him that I was in the restaurant business even back in Annapolis.

Dave went even further than that and asked what I did when I was a kid. I told him I delivered newspapers in Annapolis for the Evening Capital from the time I was 10 to 13, from 1982-1985. Dave told us that he too worked for the Evening Capital those same years. He continued and asked me who my boss was, so I said it was Jim Reyback, the guy who looked like Abe Lincoln.

Dave proceeded to tell me that at that time, he was Jim Reyback’s boss! Now, I don’t know about you, but at this time, God started to speak to me in little ways that I could not recognize at first. This was more than a coincidence, this was more than happenstance. What are the chances? Grow up in Annapolis, move 3000 miles to Seattle, move back east “by chance” to Carlisle, and sit in front of the pastor who is to marry Michelle and me, who “by chance” happened to be the boss of my childhood paper route manager.

As we went through the pre-marriage counseling, I didn’t feel that it was doing any good, as I thought I had all of the answers to our issues and we were walking into to our marriage with all wisdom. Right. I think not.

We got married in October of 1999. Dave put us on the church mailing and invited us to the Easter service in the spring of 2000. We left half way through the service.

On August 10, 2001, we had an addition to our family, Ryley Ana Schrift. In the mean time, Dave and I remained in contact and in December of 2002 we received an invitation to the Christmas program, “A Lambs Tale.” On this occasion we were introduced to Dave’s daughter, Andrea, and her family. Low and behold, Andrea’s husband, Don, grew up in Annapolis too and knew some of the same people I knew. From that point on we began a friendship with Don and his family.

This is when God really began to work. Don became a friend and started to show the light of Jesus and how it brought peace and joy into his life. I knew that Michelle and I were ‘coming up short’ in our lives and that there was something, a void, an empty place, where we were just complacent, sad, angry, but never truly happy.

We soon got involved in a home friendship group and then a Bible Study. On February 8, 2004, Don and Andrea were teaching us a Bible Study and going over how to be born again. That’s when the light went on for Michelle and I. It was 9:30 at night sitting at a dining room table. No thunderous voice. No lightning striking. Just the still small voice of understanding showing me the way into everlasting life. That night we both got baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). A short time later we both received the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit.

This is my testimony, this is how God brought me out of sin. Although Jesus knew us even in the womb, He also knew every step we would take until that cold night in February when I was baptized in His name. You see, God knows the beginning and the end. Why do we so easily forget where we came from and where Jesus has brought us to? We should never forget how merciful He has been, how patient He has been, and how much grace He has supplied for us. Jesus is no respecter of persons, situations, or lifestyles. All he wants is your heart to be in the right place so you can come to know Him.

Dave and Barbara Huston (2008)

By the time I had reached the age of 31, I was divorced, lonely, and miserable, living in a pathetic 8 by 35 foot mobile home. I smoked two to three packs of cigarettes a day, drank alcohol and smoked marijuana on a regular basis. I had joint custody of my three children but couldn’t have them over for the night because my home was too small. On weekends we all stayed at my parents’ house. The only thing I had going for me at that time was my job. I poured myself into it and was steadily climbing up the ladder. It was my escape. In fact, I dreaded the weekends because I knew I would be lonely. As Monday morning approached, I was always eager to get back to work.Even though I was making good money, I was always broke because of bills left over from my marriage and divorce. During my 20s I had owned my own business and a nice house in the country with a swimming pool. But just at the point when I should have been really prospering, my life was in shambles.

In the Spring of 1981, a man at work talked me into letting him teach me a Bible study. He would come over to my house each week and walk me through the Scriptures. I had always been interested in spiritual things, but I must admit, I had never made much effort to read the Bible. I has fascinated with the things I was learning, and I was impressed with his willingness to come over and teach me each week.

In the Fall of that year, my friend invited me to the local assembly he was part of. Since it was a Saturday, I had my children. So that night all four of us walked into Antioch Apostolic Church for the first time. I had been raised in an Episcopal church where everyone was absolutely quiet and the prayers and music were very structured and formal. But this church was different! People were raising their hands and praising God out loud. They were singing from their hearts. People seemed to be genuinely sincere in their love and adoration for Jesus. And the preaching was powerful and right out of the Bible.

I didn’t respond that first night. In fact, I left the service greatly troubled on the inside. The thing I couldn’t get away from was that the people worshiped God as though He was actually there, standing right in front of them. For the first time in my life I felt that I had been confronted with the reality of God.

I returned the next Friday evening, November 13, 1981. That night I did respond. I repented of my self-centered life, I prayed and reached out to God, I was baptized by immersion in water in the name of Jesus Christ, and God filled me with the gift of the Holy Spirit, just like it happened in the Bible (Acts 2:1-4; Acts 10:44-48; Acts 19:1-6).

Since that time God has worked many wonderful things in my life. He has healed my hurting heart; He has delivered me from alcohol and cigarettes; He has given me a beautiful new wife; and He has placed within me a higher purpose for living. Today I live in Carlisle, PA, where I am involved in the oversight of a local assembly called Carlisle Christian Fellowship. My three daughters have grown to adulthood and are all married to ministers of the gospel. They have also given me ten fantastic grandchildren. What a mighty God we serve!

Jesus said that we must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. He explained that this meant being born of “water and the Spirit” (John 3:3-5). I now realize that this new birth comes by being baptized in water in the name of Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). When I had my new birth experience, my life was changed. Today, the old things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. I thank God for the peace and joy He has given me and for the wonderful church family He has placed me in.

Carl Koser (2008)

I was single until I was 41 years old. I was considered a free spirit and mostly did what I wanted. But I still felt empty. For about two years I attended different churches, and even joined a Christian singles club. I started going to a church regularly, but after service I would go home and resume what I would normally do. I did not feel God’s presence, but at the time I did not know how that should feel. I thought I was O.K., because I was attending a church that taught from the Bible.

Then one day I went on a blind date to a church picnic. It was difficult. I met a new girl, new people, all strangers. But they made me feel welcome. When I went home that afternoon I really did not plan on seeing any of them again, but God had other plans. My friend who set up the date told me this girl was wondering if I was going to see her again. So I called her, we dated, and I attended her church. No comparison! I felt God’s presence and the warmth and love of His people.

About five months later, on a Wednesday evening after a home group meeting, I got baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and God filled me with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Three days later I got married. So I really got “married” twice in one week, Praise God!

I can’t promise you will find the girl of your dreams, but you will find brothers and sisters in the Lord who will love you. But most of all, you will meet Jesus Christ, Who loved us all so much that the He died on the cross for our sins.