Carey's Story on the 700 Club

By Mia Evans-Saracual The 700 Club

CBN.com –“I was a tough business woman,” Carey Lewis says, “Behind the successful, corporate, talent executive CEO that the world saw, things started falling apart.”

Carey Lewis ran what she calls her own little empire—Actors, Models, and Talent Competition—or AMTC. AMTC’s client roster has included names like actress Megan Fox and country music star Chris Young. Carey’s hard-nosed business savvy gained her access and influence in the entertainment world. “I was arrogant and I was demanding,” explains Carey. “And I thought I was doing it for the right reasons. I thought I was doing it to run a good business and to give good service.”

Carey’s introduction to the industry came early. Her mother was a New York model and her dad was a former WWII fighter pilot, turned stunt pilot, for the Air Force. “My mom was the model who was hired to stand on his float going down Times Square. It’s kind of romantic.”

After college, Carey went to work in her mother’s modeling school and turned it into a national talent development agency, AMTC. Carey married and started a family of her own and followed in her mother’s footsteps. Her home life took a backseat to her glamorous career.

“I was financially successful.” Carey says. “Our company was respected. We had successful people in the entertainment industry. So by worldly standards, I was a good success. Personally speaking, it was certainly the opposite. Behind the tough exterior of this successful businesswoman was a girl, who felt unloved and unattractive.”

…and afraid. For years, like clockwork, panic attacks gripped her mind. “I would wake up in the middle of the night, and some problem would come to mind. And the problem would seem just seem enormous – like a monster. And I would just have this overwhelming fear.”

Soon, her fears of what could go wrong in business, came true. “We had clients that left, that started their own businesses that took our clients with them.” At home, her 30 year marriage was crumbling. “We had a house of war. I was disrespectful to him. He was disrespectful to me. We were disrespectful to our children. But I think my marriage fell apart because I was married to my work. That was my first priority.”

With her husband gone and her children now grown, Carey felt more alone than ever. She isolated herself in her mountaintop cabin. “I was close to the bottom. Maybe I was at the bottom of my life. I was just desolate. I was overwhelmingly sad and depressed. I was searching, but I didn’t know exactly what I was searching for.”

“I would watch preachers on TV. And I watched The 700 Club. And I would get inspired. I could relate to what they were saying. It made sense to me. I think God opened my ears, and He opened my heart. And He opened my eyes. And it was during that process that I realized Jesus is the big Who I was seeking.”
Carey prayed and accepted Jesus as her Savior. “He was so patient with me. Little by little I surrendered. I told my family, and my life started to change. I began to feel the peace and feel the joy and feel the love and the things that only Jesus can give us.”

She says the Lord healed her panic attacks and her heart. “I think that my personality has had an overwhelming transformation. I used to be angry a lot. I was such a controlling CEO. I was prideful. I asked forgiveness from my ex-husband. I asked forgiveness from my children. To the best of my ability, I admitted what I had done wrong. I asked forgiveness from people with whom I worked.”

In time, Carey’s company recovered from the setbacks. She gave it a new name. AMTC now means Actors, Models, and Talent for Christ. “God is the CEO of my company. We are helping actors, models, singers dancers become stars for God, become role models in a dark industry that desperately needs them.
Since then, Carey’s two daughters, Lexy and Glynis, and her son-in-law Adam, have all become Christians. Now, one of Carey’s greatest passions is sharing the hope she found in Jesus Christ.

“To me Jesus is life. That’s the meaning of my life now, to serve Him. I went from being a burned-out 51-year-old CEO to now I’m a 56-year-old girl on a mission. It’s never too late for you. It’s never too late for your loved ones. If God can transform me, He can transform anyone. It’s never too late.”