The following are excerpts from testimonies that people have sent regarding their experience at Karitos 2010...

• This was my first year along with my team Chosen Ambassadors at Karitos and we were blessed beyond measure!!! The word that came forth in every class has impacted my life and ministry.... Can't wait for next year!!!!
  

• I asked God to provide "Divine Appointments" at Karitos, and the extra prayers of everyone there must have multiplied them! Everywhere I went, God was there and I was so enriched and nourished, just by having Him use me and teach me, through the excellent quality classes--Music Evaluation and Prophetic Art both just blew me away!--and through the inspiring people I met, especially Artist on Fire, and well known, beautiful saints.
  The speakers took my breath away, again and again. I loved having Jane Rubietta do oral interpretation of her work and I can't get over the amazing delivery of "God's Trombones!" Throughout it, we were treated to a plethora of thought-provoking visual art beauty, more than I have ever seen, with none of self exhibited. Thank you to all artists who gave so much time and preparation to our Worthy Lord Jesus Christ!
  - Peggy Wilmeth Carr

• I've been in a very dark place these past two years and only the Lord and his presence has sustained me. The worship at Karitos made me feel like I was in heaven. I want to thank you for the excellent presentations/speakers as the free evenings were very touching for me and my boys.

• Praising God with all the ways he has blessed us with is a wonderful testimony in itself for showing the goodness of God. We have all kinds of gifts that He has put within us and I feel it is not natural to suppress them because of a church's fear of them as I feel is the case in many churches. I and my husband were deeply touched by the worship and it has made us want to be better Christians. Thank you for being vessels of the Lord.
  - Carol A. Brown

• The Karitos 2010 Conference was a great experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. The facility where the conference was held was magnificent, the dancers and workshop leaders were fantastic and the celebrations were uplifting. I felt very blessed to have been able to participate in a grand event.
  - Jeannine Baldwin
  

• My life was changed in the three days I experienced Karitos! I never knew that there was anything like this going on in my area! people displaying their gifts freely before the Lord and others. It was such a liberating experience! I love painting and drawing for God and to see others do it really touched me and gave me an extra boost to do it even more! The embracing of my gift from others was amazing! God really touched me during praise and worship I completely surrounded my hands to him to let him use them through my creativity what ever it may be! I was really freed after Karitos it also released a dancer on the inside of me and on that sunday after Karitos I danced for the first time in church! I was really inspired, renewed, and empowered by this experience lol all this in 3 days!
  - T'era

• I always felt there was more to Praise and Worship than what was in the traditional type church setting. I cannot find the words to describe being in the presence of the Lord and to praise and worship Him in the dance and with our other gifts "freely". Karitos has set me free from the boundaries of rituals and tradidtion. I am praying that the blessing God gave me in the services there will continue forever in my praise and worship to Him.
  - April B. Morrow

• I had too much fun at Karitos!! Man man man I got a good word on Friday night that put me in a totally new mindset. No more excuses. The past is ova! Ima be Armed n Dangerous!!

• I was going through a season where I felt I had nothing else to offer to my church, my dance team and most of all, God. I felt like I was not connected to my dance team and I was not being appreciated. At times I was being hard on my ministry, expecting perfection but not offering understanding. I wanted to love them and have a relationship with them but I didn't know how. The class that was taught by Pastor Karen, Weapons of Warfare was an answer to my prayers! We learn that the 3 weapons of warfare that we needed to fight the spiritual battle that we are in are: Prayer, Praise and Love! We had everything else expect love. The Holy Spirit moved in such a way that I fell in love with my sisters (dance team) and felt the love from them right back! I have made a commitment and a request to God to make a way for us to attend this conference every year! We have shared our testimony with our church and have so many people interested in going next year.... WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!
  - Mercedez Taylor

• I have been on a Journey of healing to freely express myself through dance for over ten years. I have been to serveral dance conference leaving with an impartation but never really feeling as if I was free to express. Prior to even knowing I would be attending Karitos, a few month prior, I attended a one day dance conference and recieved a word from the Lord in a small still voice 'be free' as I was lead to grab a unfamiliar double angle wing flag that I began to twirl around and around and around and around around......This was the beginning. But while at the Karitos Conference...while in Pastor Karen Williams workshop, He Teaches My Hands to War II, I shared with those whom I attend the conference with, I felt an entire level of freedom that Ive never felt before. Since I've left the conference I've been expressing myself in dance in ways I never thought I would or could. I have been using many of the techniques taught in many of the workshops taught by Pastor Williams, Yvonne Peters, Linda Wade, Alyce Roeder and Maura Hoagland. And I know that as I continue to contend for the presence of God by allowing the impartation I recieved through different fragances that represented his anointing and a constant reminder of how much he is with me through the prophetic words I recieved from Jolie, Yvonne and Jeff while in the "Worship Watch Psalms with Yvonne Peters and Vivien Hibbert. I thank God for each and everyone of you.
  - Angela Peavy

• The Lord spoke directly to my heart through some of the artists and workshop leaders to give some direction and encouragement to me. Being in the evening sessions was so refreshing and encouraging to me as well.

• Being from South Africa I was used to open praise and worship with people filling the aisles to praise God in dance. When we came to the USA, it seemed like Western Theology had crippled the people to believe that expression of dance is unnecessary. My experience at Karitos proved the exception. I felt the hunger again that I had back home. My focus is to keep the fire burning and allow it to be contagious.
  - Roscoe Hoffman

• I went to Karitos on a whim. I had never heard about it besides an email that an elder from my church sent out to all the people in our church involved in praise and worship. I looked over the email the week of Karitos and registered the Monday of the conference and got a friend to come along. The conference general sessions really helped me to get back to freely worshiping God and enjoying His presence. I heard His voice more clearly than I had in a while, and re-connected with Him in the way I know He's longed for from me. The most powerful part of the conference for me was walking through the Cross on the last night. I gave a major part of my life that I had been battling back and forth with to Him, and I know He was pleased. I loved the classes, met great people who I am still connected with, and I really hope to do it all again next year! Thanks!
  - Phylicia Tarver

• The conference was one huge blessing, every workshop and general session built on the next. Even the evening worship every day added to what I needed. I was exactly were God wanted me to be and now I need to continue in what he leads me into.
  - Peter Kroiss

• I had an awesome, worship filled, experience at Karitos this year! My week leading up to the conference was filled with low points, but beginning with worship Thursday night I was re-filled with the Spirit that sustains me and reminded of the possibility that I might bring an offering in righteousness. All the sessions... I attended were fun and informative, and it was great to spend some time in fellowship with old friends and new. Saturday's worship time was powerful, the thought of crossing over and leaving my burden at the cross still rings in my heart. My thanks goes out to all the conference organizers, and I pray that God keeps us all safe until we meet again at next year's conference!

• I just thank God for using you all. It was a time of Healing and restoration! A great and powerful experience! Thank you!
  - Janie Boston

• As a Gate Keeper I must have a Zeal for God that eats me alive.. Karitos was amazing!!! being with the body of Christ sharing our gifts and just being with Jesus was...was..man I don't even have the words to describe it... I wish it would never end.

• The series of workshops on film/DVD making were very informative. It is inspiring to be with other Christian film film makers to share stories and here how to improve.
  - Janet Sullivan

• I saw the Lord's hand moving powerfully at this conference -- especially in the visual arts. And few weeks before Karitos, I had organized a gathering of artists and the majority of who attended were the visual artists: prophetic and liturgical artists/painters. There was a powerful breakthrough that happened that day. At Karitos, in John McDavitt's and Linda Harris-Iorio's workshops, there was another powerful breakthrough that occurred -- it was like a release and open door for the visual artists to emerge and start making an impart for the Kingdom of God.
  - Lynn Zuk-Lloyd

• Karitos 2010 was an enriching experience that felt deeply satisfying and that triggered immediate changes in my life. I came out of Karitos with a resolve to cut back on email and Facebook because I had been spending too much time on them. I also realized that I had been spending way too much time at work--even when physically not there, I was thinking about it. Karitos helped me to reprioritize. Work is important, but when I'm with my family and friends, I'm fully with them mentally. The general sessions were amazing and the workshops that I took were helpful and thought-provoking.
  - Sue Ekins

• Karitos is one of THE most exciting, powerful and spirit-filled conferences I have ever attended. The praise & worship is dynamic. The musicians and singers are anointed. The speakers are gifted professionals. The energy throughout the weekend is contagious. And the artists are overflowing with a desire to bless the Lord with their awesome talents.
  
  I first attended Karitos in 2006 at Wheaton College. I enjoyed every second of it from the moment I walked in the door during Praise & Worship. I wrestled for 3 years after that with other obligations that were always on the same weekend as the conference. THIS YEAR I cleared my entire schedule to make it. I didn't even have a ride or a hotel room, but I registered anyway. At the last minute, God blessed me with 2 roommates that welcomed me in. I still didn't have a ride. Two days before the conference, I found a Pace express leaving from downtown Chicago that stopped 4 blocks from our hotel in Bolingbrook! Praise God!!! I had someone bring my luggage to my job and only had to walk 1 block to take the bus downtown. When I got on the bus I didn't have the right card, but the driver said "Go sit down sweetie". She even drove the bus to the corner so I wouldn't have to walk across the parking lot in Bolingbrook. I KNEW it was meant for me to be at Karitos this year. My roommate was gracious to let me ride back and forth to the church with her everyday. She even drove 20 minutes to Downers Grove to drop me off at the Metra (the LAST train leaving for Chicago that night) when the program ended Saturday evening! God is awesome and He always, always, always makes a way..."
  
  This year’s conference was such a blessing to me. God has renewed my excitement about the gifts I had buried long ago. I made the mistake of telling Pastor Corey that "I USED to sing" and my roommates that "I USED to dance". The weight of my own words convicted me enough to recognize my selfishness and resistance to God's call in my life. After attending 3 dance workshops and finding myself dancing through my pain in front of the stage for the third time, I could only laugh at my "injured knee" that I had convinced myself would not do what it used to- regardless of how many healing scriptures I know and believe and have prayed and confessed while laying hands on myself and others. When my choir family I had sang and toured with for over 10 years split up, I was heartbroken enough to only let my voice out a few times a year. At the closing ceremonies, Pastor Corey was asked to gather singers to pray over the congregation as they came through the cross. He remembered my testimony, turned around and pointed right at me to come up. I sang all of that stubbornness right out of me! I am still on fire. I committed to be part of the Steering Committee for next year. I scheduled myself to take some dance classes this fall. I even ordered a few vocal exercise cds to re-condition my voice. Let me tell you, God meets you right where you are and helps you climb out of the hole you dug yourself into. Then He mercifully moves you into your next assignment...
  - Angel Simmons