Mike was born in Indiana and raised in a loving Christian home. Most of his childhood was spent playing sports, going to school, and attending church. After graduating high school in 2001, Mike joined the United States Marine Corps. Leaving the comforts of home behind, he went through boot camp and infantry training which landed him in the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and then...three combat tours in the Middle East.
In the early months of 2003, he was sent to Iraq where he and his unit encountered heavy combat in several cities including An Nasiriyah, Bagdad, and Tikrit. Shortly after returning stateside, he and his unit were attached to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit headed to Afghanistan, and then he was called back to Iraq in 2005.
Mike reached his end of active service in the fall of 2005 and returned home to the Hoosier state. He married Tami, a long-time friend, and together they started a family. However, as a combat veteran trying to be "normal" in society, he lost himself as he tried to navigate civilian life meanwhile his mind was still with his Marine "tribe", creating a new war, of sorts, on the homefront. He not only lost himself, but he was losing family, losing jobs, losing reality, and losing faith. As he tightened his grasp on addictions, he lost his grip on everything else.
Turning to alcohol, drugs, sex, and even suicide, he later wound up in a psych ward and a couple of residential rehabilitation centers trying to find hope. However, it wasn't until he began to look upward--to the only One who could save him--that he found hope and redemption. So after years of battling this world full of addictions, Mike began to seek Christ, and God made ways for him to restore his family, regain reality, and reclaim his life.
Mike now lives north of Fort Wayne in Ashley, Indiana, where he and his wife have three daughters and a small farm. As a means of pursing "dirt therapy," Fourth Mission Farm was started in 2018 to help with his PTSD. "Dirt therapy" can help struggling veterans heal as it gets their hands dirty, they can serve as their own boss, they often go to be tired, and most importantly, they experience the full circle of life and death through farming with plants and animals. Farming brings challenges and triumphs, both speaking to heart of a fighter.
With his renewed spirit, Mike now has a greater passion to help not only veterans, but men, marriages, and families get back up and keep on fighting. Mike uses his experiences and stories from combat, his own struggles and trials in life, and the foundation of God's Word to provide uplifting and encouraging messages that spark motivation. He will help you answer your inner battle cry and help you declare war against the spiritual enemies in your life.
