- [Heather] I felt liketalking to him was a rush

because it was a secret.

- [Andrew] Her friend was a predator.

- His online profile wasbroadcasted on the nightly news.

- [Andrew] And she was his prey.

- [Heather] No matter where Iwent, I would not feel safe.

- [Andrew] See how shefound refuge, plus...

♪ I will trust your mercy ♪

- Tenth Avenue Northsinger Mike Donehey reveals

how he found the purpose for his life.

All on Today's 700 Club Interactive.

Hi and welcome to the show.

Rock star, Jon Bon Joviis honoring veternas

and their service withhis new song, "Unbroken."

He wrote the anthem forthe new documentary,

"To Be of Service," aboutveterans who live with PTSD,

and the service animalswho help them heal.

All the proceeds fromthis song will be donated

to The Patriotic Service Dog Foundation

where veterans and first responders get

to be paired with service dogs.

- In another effort tohelp support veterans,

the Grammy Award winningsinger and philanthropist,

through his JBJ Soul Foundation,

donated 1/2 a million dollars

to help build the Walter Reed Facility

in Washington DC for homeless vets.

300 vets will now havea place to call home.

The newly constructed apartments help vets

get back on their feetwith residents paying

only 30% of their income in rent,

which may come from their job's wage,

social security, or pensions.

What a great opportunityto make a difference.

You see all these big governmentagencies in Washington

and it's so hard to move the big boat.

But here, an individualtaking what he has and...

- Even in this case, ittook almost 10 years,

I think, to get this done.

- Wow.- Long process,

but both his parents were Marines.

- Wow, so they're--- It's a deep love

for the military.- Yes.

- And there's love in action.

Fantastic news, absolutely.- Wonderful.

In other news, John Spencer,a 65-year old cyclist,

just completed the ride of a lifetime,

biking from coast to coast.

Motivated by the factthat he's still alive

after developing cirrhosisand having a liver transplant.

John started training anddecided to ride as a fundraiser

from LifeNetHealth fororgan donation research.

- John left Yorktown, Virginia,right down the road from us,

on May 1st and 102 daysand 5,184 miles later,

arrived north of Seattle.

That's an awfully long way.

- It sure is.- He befriended

more than 30 strangers, manyof whom donated to his cause

and offered him meals and a place to stay.

His goal was to raise $1 a mile.

So far, he's raised $3,000of his desired $5,000 goal.

John says he also aims to bring attention

to the over 125,000 peoplewaiting for an organ

and the crucial need foradditional registered donors.

If you'd like to learn more,or even donate to John's ride,

go to LifeNetHealth.org.

102 days on a bicycle across the country.

- Wow!- What an effort.

- If he's not in shape,you can't get in shape.

(laughing)

- Well, but he's been dealingwith illness, but hopefully--

- Yes!- He's been

in some sort of condition--- Wow!

- To get started on that.- Wow, amazing.

- Ride of a lifetime for sure.

- Amazing.

- A family from Florida isworking to make a difference

for kids this Christmas in the Bahamas.

For the past seven years,the Vander Werf family

has organized a toydrive to deliver presents

to the children of BiminiIsland, located in the Bahamas.

There are approximately500 children who live

on the island, with most of their families

having little to no incomeand even less access

to stores to buy Christmas presents.

- Ken Vander Werf took up the challenge

to help these children,despite having a stroke,

which left him withoutthe use of his right arm

and only partial use of his right leg.

He collects toys andbikes, inventories it all,

and loads them on a boatthat heads over every year.

Ken, his family andvolunteers, work to ensure

that the kids of Biminihave an amazing Christmas,

with dance parties, musical chairs,

food and even Santa himself.

Every child receives a gift,be it a new toy or a bike.

- Wow.- You know,

after the Hurricane, I'msure this is so appreciated.

- Absolutely.

Well, the Vander Werf Family Foundation

is a 501C charitable organization.

Tax deductible donationscan be made via Paypal,

using the email biminitoydrive@gmail.com.

It certainly gives us all pause to think

what am I doing for othersaround this holiday season,

Thanksgiving and Christmas.

What am I gonna do to stepout of my comfort zone

and convenience to make adifference for other people?

- I love at this time of the year,

when you are contemplating what can I,

what can my family do.

And when someone shares the need like this

and then gives you an opportunity to.

- Very simple to help.- Play into it, yes.

Speaking of the holidays,

November is seen as themonth to be thankful.

So what's better than listing

what you're thankful for on a pumpkin?

- The thankful pumpkin is catching

on with families around the world.

Basically, you just take thetime to think of one thing

a day, that's all, thatyou're grateful for.

By the end of the month,

the pumpkin is full ofnames, places or things.

We all have so much to be thankful for

in good times or bad.

So this is a great daily visual reminder.

This is a cool idea,

especially with kids, yes.- I love this!

Yes, I like this muchbetter than the carving

and the, all that.

- Do you buy pumpkins every year?

- Every year.- You do?

Do you carve--- Every year,

and well, yes, we carve thembecause we actually bake

the seeds and eat them.- I was gonna say,

we do that, too.- Do you do that, too?

- I did it as a kid.

- The only problem with that is, you know,

we live here in Virginia.

It's kinda warm.

By the end of the month--- Gets a little funky,

doesn't it?- Flies are coming

out of the pumpkin. (laughing)

- But you actually, do youpersonally carve the pumpkin--

- Yeah, I do.- Nice, nice.

Some scary stuff, I'm sure--- Yep.

- You put out there on the front step.

- Not at all.

Mine are happy, they all smile.

- Next year, 'cause I don'tthink we have any pumpkins left,

we'll do the pumpkin,the Thanksgiving pumpkin.

- There you go. (laughing)

- Good way to start.- Okay, okay.

Coming up, have you struggled

to find God's will for your life?

Lead singer of TenthAvenue North, Mike Donehey,

shares why God may want tochange your will entirely.

Plus, he'll tell us the backstory on the new single.

Mike is here live and we'lltalk with him when we come back.

(lively music)

Mike Donehey of the popularband, Tenth Avenue North,

has a lot to say about findingGod's will for your life.

I think we're all on that trek.

His only journey was filledwith anger and frustration

until he learned to seek God,

to seek God's life for his will.

Take a look at this.

- [Narrator] The leadvoice of the popular band,

Tenth Avenue North,belongs to Mike Donehey,

songwriter and the band's founder.

As his lyrics attest, hethinks deeply about faith

and a Christian life.

♪ So if I fall ♪

♪ And if I fail ♪

♪ I will trust your mercy ♪

♪ Is greater than all of this ♪

(lively music)

- [Narrator] In his firstbook, cleverly titled,

"Finding God's Life For My Will,"

Mike uses humor andvulnerability to tackle

the questions we all haveabout God's plan for our lives.

- Joining me now is Mike Donehey.

It's great to have you here.

- It's great to be here.

- Tell me about this Tenth Avenue North

name for your band.- Oh yeah.

- Where did that come from?

- Oh boy, I wish I had a good story.

(laughing)

We were fighting.

We were in college, me and my band mates,

fighting over possibleband names for weeks.

And then, we got off the exit to our,

where our dorm room was thatwe were gonna practice--

- And there was the sign.- There was the sign.

It was a sign!- If you're waiting

for a sign, this is it!- Yeah.

I go, how 'bout Tenth Avenue North?

And everyone goes, "Yeah,we'll change it later."

(laughing)

Here we are.- Be careful.

- Yeah, exactly.

- But I like it, you know, it'svery random, but I like it.

- Yeah, thank you.

- You had no intentionof becoming a musician.

You really were an activeguy in all kinds of sports

and activities, and thenyou had a car accident.

I was so struck as I was reading your book

by the fact that what we see as adversity,

God uses as opportunity.

Talk about that.

- Is that not the center of--- Life!

- Christian life?

It boggles my mind whenpeople can't wrap their minds

around this terrible thing is happening--

- Yeah.- But God can actually

make something beautiful out of it.

- Yeah.- Because at the center

of our faith is the cross.

- Yeah.- Which is the most horrible

thing that's ever happened to anyone.

- Yeah.- And yet, we just sort of,

oh yeah, that was a great day

of redemption for all man kind.

Then we're like, no, that was awful.

- Yeah.- So for me, yeah,

I was a senior at high school,I was on the soccer team.

We were first place in the state.

- Doing it all, yeah.- Just feeling great

and my buddy catches theedge of the road and,

at 50 miles an hour, Iget thrown out of the car.

Broke my back in twoplaces, broke my face,

you can see the scars still right here.

Can you guys see this scar?

They put makeup on me.- Yeah.

- So I don't know if you can see it.

- They're good.

- But flat lined five times--- Wow!

- On the way to the hospital.

I was mad, I was just angry at God.

You know, you would go,

"Why weren't you grateful to be alive?"

Well, for the next twomonths of my senior year,

I had to lay on my back,waiting for it to heal.

And I'm going, "God,why would you do this?

"Why would you let this happen to me?"

And yet, to pass thetime, 'cause I was bored,

I asked for a guitar.

- Unbelievable.

- So the first time I'mever learning to play guitar

is 'cause of my broken back and--

- Yeah, it's such a, it's an amazing,

one of the amazing stories in your book,

"Finding God's Life For My Will."

Tell me about that title. (laughing)

- Yeah, that's the, thetitle is, unfortunately,

when we ask the question,what's God's will for my life--

- Yeah.- It's come

to mean something that, inscripture, it doesn't mean.

- Yes.- In scripture,

it's like, oh, what'sGod will for your life?

Be joyful always, pray continually,

give thanks in all circumstances.

What does the Lord require of you?

Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly.

It's like the state of your heart

is God's will for your life.

But when we ask, what'sGod's will for my life,

we're asking for a 10step, point by point--

- Yes.- Give me a plan.

- A map.- To the point where,

this might sound provocative,but I would even say,

we're trying to blackmail God.

Like God, what's the secretprayer I have to party,

what's the thing I have to do--

(mumbles)- Where you will give me--

- Yeah.- What I want?

And God goes, "Well, I wantyou to live a life of faith.

"And if I'm gonna giveyou a life of faith,

"that means that I can'tgive you all the answers."

Right, 'cause if you had all the answers,

you wouldn't get achance to use your faith.

- And we'd miss Him inthe process because we,

just in our flesh, tend to getall caught up in the details

and there He is, right infront of us, right within us,

and we don't get it.

- Yeah.- You know,

we're crazy, we're...

One of the tough decisionsyou make in the book--

- We are crazy.- As you were pursuing

God's will for yourlife, was marrying Kelly.

You talk about what a journey that was

because you were so afraidto make the wrong decision.

- Yes.- When we're looking

for the wrong thing, whenwe're looking for the thing

as opposed to just being with God,

we can make wrong choices.

- Yeah, well absolutely.

You have to listen a little harder.

- Yeah.- And when I was sitting

there going, 'cause God never told me,

"Yes, this is the one."

Some people get that.

I was not one of those people.

I was like, "God, is she the right one,

"is she the right one?"

I mean, yes, she's beautiful,and she loves the elderly

and puppies and she's incredible,

but what if she's tricking me?

And we get five days into the honeymoon

and she rips the mask off?

- But what if there are 12 other people

who are a choice that--

- That are better.- Yeah.

- Yes, exactly.

And so, I'm going, "God,is she the right one,

"is she the right one?"

And then, I felt like God kind of said,

"Hey, what kind of husbandwould you be if she was?"

- Ouch.- And suddenly, like--

- Yeah.- Stringing her alone

while I'm waiting for other options.

That didn't seem like themost loving thing I could do.

So I said, maybe I don't just need

to choose her on my wedding day.

Maybe I need to continue tochoose her every day after.

- Wow, yeah.

You have a lot of things inthe book that make us think.

You have one chapter called,Capitalistic Christianity.

Talk about that.

- Yeah, yeah.

We don't even begin to realizehow much of our culture

shifts how we view God.

One of the ethoses that anygood businessman in America

will tell you is leastamount of investment,

greatest amount of return, right?

- Right.- And that can bleed

over into the way we treat people.

- Yeah.- That if you don't offer me,

even a bigger platform in ministry,

then I have no reason to serve you.

- Yeah.- But when I look

at Jesus, I go, wait a second,

He had the greatest amount of investment

for the least return.

- [Terry] Yes.

- 'Cause none of us areever gonna return to Jesus

what He invested in us.

I mean, He's the Son of God.

I can't match that.

- Where are you going with that?

- Right, yeah.- Right.

So then, suddenly, that frees me up to go,

oh, I'm free to invest in peoplewho are a terrible return.

- Yeah.- Who may not

ever even get it.

- To forgive those who don't deserve it.

- And even keep lovingand serving people that,

maybe I can't convertto my way of thinking.

- Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, to love them right where they're at.

Here's another provocative thought.

You talk about that Goddoesn't call us to be leaders.

(laughing)

Whoa!- Well,

so my springboard for thatthought is St. Augustine.

He said, "A man can be no good Bishop

"if he loves his titlemore than his task."

- Wow.- Okay?

And I've seen a lot of people who are

in love with their titles.

It's no, it's no surprise that Paul,

in 1 Corinthians 3 and4, there's this argument

about who do you follow?

You follow Apollos or you follow Paul?

Who's your guy?

And he says, "Don't call usleaders, call us servants."

- Yeah.- And so,

we go, I got you, Paul.- Yeah.

- Servant leader.- Yeah.

- And we throw leader onand I think we do that

because servant doesn't appealto our ego, but leader does.

- Yeah, well, and itdoesn't appeal to our ego

and the service of a servantdoesn't appeal to us either.

- And all the leadersof The New Testament,

the Greek word is shepherd.

And shepard, in that time,were like the scum of society.

I mean, you ever try,we were talking earlier,

you ever try to hug a shepard after he's

been with sheep all day?

- Oof.- They don't smell so great.

(laughing)

And that means I have to love the sheep

more than my reputation.

- Yes.- And some of us,

our desire to be seen asa leader actually keeps us

from walking the way Jesus did,

because Jesus was knownas a drunk and a glutton.

Why, because He wasnot afraid to associate

with people that people don't understand.

- As I read your book, Ithought of that picture

that we used to seeyears ago of all the fish

swimming down stream andthen, there's one colorful one

in the shape of a ichthysand it's going the other way.

(laughing)

- And the thing is, and here's the deal,

if you need to be called a leader that,

as soon as Jesus says,"Hey, come follow me,"

and you're following Jesus,and then what if Jesus asked

you to do something that makes you go,

I'm gonna lose all thesepeople that are following me,

well, suddenly, you'renot gonna follow Jesus

because it's more importantto you to be seen as a leader.

- Wow.- So I go,

just follow, man.

Just follow.

- Thought provoking to say the least.

Well, the band has producedseven albums, 22 singles.

There's a new release out.

Let's take a look at one ofthe songs from that release.

♪ So if I fall ♪

♪ And if I fail ♪

♪ I will trust your mercy ♪

♪ Is greater than all of this ♪

♪ And if I bend ♪

♪ And if I break ♪

♪ I'll trust the hands that hold me ♪

♪ Are greater than all my regrets ♪

♪ You are are greaterthan all my regrets ♪

♪ You are, you are ♪

♪ Father, I know ♪

- Greater Than All My Regrets,

what's the inspiration behind that, Mike?

- Oh, well we talked aboutI cut back the number

of shows we were doing, touring,

to be a more present father and husband.

And the next year, I actuallywas riddled with regret

that I hadn't made that decision sooner.

I finally listened to thespirit and he said, "Hey man,

"I'm greater than all your regrets."

- Yeah.- Like, "I am,

"I specialize in reweavingthe mistakes you've made

and turning them into redemptive stories."

- You know, God is afterour hearts and so is Mike,

with his book, "FindingGod's Life For My Will."

You're gonna love it.

You heard a clip from thesong, Greater Than My Regrets.

It's from Tenth Avenue North'slatest CD called No Shame.

The book, "Finding God's Life For My Will"

is available wherever books are sold.

Mike, thank you for sharing with us today.

- Yeah, thanks for having me.

- Great to have you here.

Andrew.- All right, well,

still to come, her onlineboyfriend is busted

and her picture popsup on the nightly news.

- [Heather] I felt liketalking to him was a rush

because it was a secret.

- How did a 12-year oldgirl become an easy target?

That's coming up next, stay with us.

(dramatic music)

At 12-years old, Heather Englishfound an online boyfriend.

She felt a rush keepingtheir relationship a secret.

And then, one evening,

her secret blew up on the nightly news.

- His online profile was broadcasted

on the nightly news saying that he

was arrested for intent ofprostitution of a minor.

And my picture popped upas one of the profiles

on his top eight friends on MySpace

and that's how I foundout he was arrested.

- [Andrew] That man wasno stranger to Heather.

For months, they had been developing

a close friendship online.

Heather had been an easy target.

At 12-years old, she justneeded someone to listen

to things she couldn't tell her parents.

- I felt like talking to him was a rush

because it was a secret.

I saw the red flags on multiple occasions,

and I ignored them because that's not

what I wanted to believe.

I could talk to him about school.

I could talk to him about family,

and he was just thisunbiased person that I

could bring in and he was kind.

He was somebody I could confide in.

I enjoyed talking to him.

- [Andrew] But news of his arrest

left Heather feelingafraid and out-of-control.

- I didn't know if he was in jail,

I didn't know if he was out on bond,

I didn't know when his trial was.

I knew he lived in my town,

I knew that he liked me

and I was very afraid of being raped.

- [Andrew] Soon she discovered something

that helped her deal with her fears.

- I was so anxious andafraid that I wasn't hungry,

and I remember thinking like

"Oh, this is a great distraction."

So, I would startcalculating like how long I

could go without eatingand how long I could go

until I would let myself eat again.

- [Andrew] Then she foundanother way to cope.

- I felt powerful in a sense,

like I had control over my body.

And then just theoverwhelming relief that came

with cutting, the release of tension.

- [Andrew] But it wouldn't end there.

Heather was in her sophomoreyear of high school

when 11 friends and family members died

in the span of eightmonths; three by suicide.

- I felt more out of control

having people being ripped away from me,

people dying too young.

I started cutting alot more, a lot deeper.

- [Andrew] Heather startedseeing a counselor,

but still blamed herself for everything

going wrong around her.

- I was still cutting, binging,

purging, fasting, over-exercising.

I was punishing myself forthe mistakes that I had made.

It distracted me fromthe sadness that I felt,

but probably more than anythingit helped with my anxiety.

- [Andrew] Hoping a changeof scenery would help,

Heather went to collegea few hours from home.

- I felt unsafe in a differencesense, and at that point,

I realized no matter where Iwent, I would not feel safe.

In college, if anythingcould get worse, it did.

- [Andrew] She hadunrestrained freedom to cut,

binge, and purge and had to withdraw

after only one semester.

- I felt like there was nothingleft that even the world

could offer me and I wasnot going to get better.

- [Andrew] Doctors tried everything,

including electroconvulsive therapy,

also known as shock treatment.

But she always fell back intoher self-destructive patterns,

feeling the weight of beingcalled a hopeless case.

- I still carried alot of guilt and shame.

I still felt like I wasstill partially at fault.

I had been inpatient treatment six times.

I had done intensive outpatient twice.

I had been through multiple counselors,

nutritionists, psychiatrists.

I was on 12 differentpsychiatric prescriptions a day.

I didn't feel like a person anymore.

I couldn't go to school, I couldn't work.

I couldn't leave the house;I'd have a panic attack.

- [Andrew] After Heather moved back home,

her dad encouraged her togo to Mercy Multiplied,

a Christian rehab center.

He had tried two years before,

but Heather didn't think it was for her.

- Although I believed in God,I wasn't a follower of Him.

I felt like I was too bad of a person

to be called a Christian.

- [Andrew] Now at 20, havingexhausted all other options,

she decided to go.

For the first time, Heatherfelt there was hope.

- The staff was amazing.

Very friendly.

Just genuinely happypeople who wanted to help.

It wasn't just a job to them, you know,

they actually wanted to help me and they

wanted to help change my life.

- [Andrew] The counselors encouraged her

to read the Bible and pray.

The more Heather learned of God's love,

the more she surrenderedcontrol of her life to Him.

It was a roommate who helpedher take the final step.

- And she held my hand and Iasked God to come into my life

and I said I wanted tolive my life for Him.

I literally felt like Ihad taken a whole layer

of myself away and becamea new person at that point.

And even though I knew my walkwasn't going to be perfect

from there on out, I knew Iwas going to be different.

- [Andrew] As Heather continuedher therapy and counseling,

she started to see herselfthrough God's eyes.

- I wasn't a bad person,God didn't look down on me,

and He wasn't disappointed in that.

All I had to do was accept Hishelp and that I could change,

I had to believe that Icould actually change instead

of being labeled thehopeless case that I had

been for so many years before.

- [Andrew] By the end of her stay,

Heather had been healedof her fears and anxiety,

and she hasn't cutherself or binged since.

Now, Heather is married and back

in college pursuing a nursing degree.

And she says, her scars arereminders that God's love

can overcome any problem.

- Even when you'relabeled a hopeless case,

there is hope and that hope lies with God,

and if you let God into your heart

and, you can overcome any struggle.

- Did you hear what Heather said?

She said, "I knew my walkwould not be perfect."

Nevertheless, she surrenderedto Jesus and said,

"Take my life."

You know, at one point inher life, she was binging,

and having eating disorderissues, cutting herself.

Why was she doing that?

She said, so she could control something,

so she could controlsome aspect of her life.

I would put forth that we arenot to be in control, God is.

That's the way we were designed,

for God to be in controlof, not only our destiny,

our eternal life, butour daily life as well.

Maybe that's why the writerof Proverbs 3: 5 and 6 says:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge Him,

and He shall direct your paths.

It's both simple andrather complex to turn

our life, turn our control from us

into the hands of a loving God.

Yet that's what the Holy Spirit

of God calls us to give Him control.

She said, "I knew that Icouldn't change myself."

That's the one wonderfulnews of her testimony,

that she said even thoughI can't change myself,

Jesus can change me, Jesuscan transform my heart,

Jesus can take the brokennessand these destructive habits

away from me and He canchange who I am at my core,

as I find my identity in Him.

If you need someone to pray foryou today, if you're broken,

if you're in emotional pain and heartache,

which many of us are,

I encourage you to callus at 800-700-7000.

There is someone who wouldlove to pray for you.

All you have to do issay, here's my concern,

here's my brokenness, pleasepray for me, please lift me up.

Give us a call, we'd love to pray for you.

We leave you with 1 Peter.

After you have sufferedfor a little while,

the God of all grace, whocalled you to His eternal glory

in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm,

strengthen and establish you.