Pastor Mike's Testimony
My Damascus Road - December 23rd, 1981
I grew up attending church, although, my personal relationship with Jesus Christ did not become a reality until December 23rd, 1981 at the age of twenty-one. After years of being the prodigal son “par excellance”, I came to understand how much God loved me through Christ’s death upon the cross. My life was transformed overnight. After years of intense Bible Study, I felt called to a time of further preparation. I enrolled at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where I received my Master’s degree. After graduating, I became the Pastor of Ratcliffe Cove Baptist Church. By the sheer power of God, the church went through a significant period of growth that I would call a genuine revival. The numerical growth of the church practically doubled, but I was also keenly aware of “holes in the nets” through which new converts seem vulnerable. This caused me to set aside about a two year period to research the traditional church and seek a new pattern of reaching people for Christ and training them in the Word of God.
My diligent search led me to start Asheville Community Church. Many lives were changed by the grace of God. But I was still confidant that a more effective pattern was possible and I longed to find it. During the Summer of 1998, my wife and I attended the Purpose-Driven Church Conference at Saddleback Church in South Orange County. As I patiently listened to Dr. Rick Warren, he was describing what I had been attempting to do my entire ministry. I saw with my eyes what I had been dreaming of in my heart.
Starting Over - August 22th, 1999
Through many circumstances and much prayer, my wife and I became convinced over time that God was leading me to resign from the church that I had planted and start over. We felt that God was calling us to move to California. We have learned that God never closes one door without opening another. Terri had received a brochure from a traveling nurse organization and we thought that perhaps this was how God might provide for us. (The agency places nurses all over America in their chosen vocations for 13 weeks and one of the benefits for the nurse is free housing.) There was only one problem. We were told that positions in endoscopy, my wife’s expertise, were as rare and hard to find. We spent a number of days going over our finances and decided that we thought we could make the move if nothing came through. So we took a huge leap of faith on Sunday, August 22nd without any promise of financial provision. I stood and resigned before the congregation that day, sharing my heart and plans. God had given us the Word and like Abraham we were to go.
God Moves - August 24th, 1999
Two days after my resignation, a traveling nurse opportunity opened up for my wife in the very area we had asked for - Los Angeles. Is that awesome or what? Does God still provide right on time? Absolutely, but at times, the Red Sea does not part until your toes are wet! Now, we needed to rent our home. One morning as I walked down the hill I prayed for God to rent our home for a certain amount of money. About an hour later, as I ran back to the house my answer was literally standing on the front porch. The rental agreement was signed before the day was out. The next day we had a yard sale. I have never seen anything like it. It was like the Field of Dreams, as people lined up to purchase items. We were left with only one box of nonessentials which we gave away and over $1400.00 in cash! We were astonished to say the least. Within a month, God had arranged every circumstance in our life and we were traveling to Southern California.
The next three months things continued to move at MACH speed. Half way through Terri’s traveling nurse contract at USC University Hospital, my wife was offered what she has described as the “opportunity of a lifetime”. She was offered a position at USC University Hospital in the Colo-Rectal Lab for two nationally known doctors. Meanwhile, when I wasn’t working at a bank, I was prayerfully considering where God would have us to plant a Church. The need for churches in Santa Clarita came to our attention because of its overwhelming growth. Within the final two weeks of December 1999, God opened the door for us to move to this area. God made provision for us to purchase a condo in the area through refinancing our home in North Carolina. We have been completely overwhelmed to see how powerfully God has been leading us over the last few months! Without a doubt, we are supposed to be here and we are very excited to see what will happen next!
