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ALTON - On the most recent episode of “You’re Beautiful” with Brian Trust, TJ Callahan shared his faith journey and encouraged people to accept Christ into their hearts.
Callahan, who plays drums at Crossroads Community Church in Brighton and serves as the mayor of South Roxana, recently started posting videos on Facebook wherein he talks about the Bible and shares verses with his Facebook friends. He believes God is working through him, and he is eager to communicate his faith to the community.
“Jesus carried a cross for all of our sins, right? And now I’m going to get emotional, because it’s a fact,” Callahan said. “I get challenged — ‘How do you know there’s a God?’ Well, that’s where faith comes in. ‘No, tell me, how do you know there’s a God?’ Well, I’m going to accept Him into my heart as Lord and Savior because it says that in the Bible, you have got to be born again. You have got to accept Jesus in your heart as Lord and Savior, and you’re going to go to Heaven.”
Callahan said he isn’t “taking that 50/50 chance” of not accepting God. He believes “the more you put into Christ, the more you’re going to get out,” and he has focused on his relationship with God.
As part of that relationship, he feels that it’s his duty to share his faith with others. Every Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., Callahan goes live on Facebook and speaks about a Bible verse. He is going through the Bible alphabetically, and he can’t wait to share the next verse with his community.
“I feel like a disciple at this point, to just say, how do I make that difference?” Callahan said. “Whatever’s going on, whatever God’s got His plan with me right now, I’m just listening and focused. The more that we put in faith and the more that we listen, people are hearing it. And in this small community that we’re in, and I’m talking the whole Madison County area, we need it. There’s people struggling, and it’s even close friends of ours.”
He noted that while he was running for mayor, he struggled with the fact that “you have people that just talk so bad on your character that have no idea who you are just so they can try and get votes.” He ultimately decided to give these challenges to God and focus on his relationship with Christ, which helped him overcome these difficulties.
For others who want to build their relationship with God, Callahan suggests they start by listening to 99.1 Joy FM on the radio. He noted that the radio station will inevitably play a song that has a lot of meaning to the listener, and he believes this brings comfort to people while allowing them to grow in their faith.
He also encourages people to find a church and ask God into their hearts. He believes this is the only way to go to Heaven. He offered a prayer for people who want to build that relationship with God.
“When you ask God to come into your heart, you’re going to see that change. That’s where the faith is going to come in. That's when you’re going to start getting hungry,” Callahan explained. “Ask Him into your heart. It’s that simple. Ask God into your heart…I promise you when you get done doing this prayer, you’re going to go to Heaven. I know it.”
You can watch or listen to “You’re Beautiful” at 2 p.m. on Thursdays at RiverBender.com/Beautiful.
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