I grew up in Beaver county with my mom and sister.  I didn’t have a father.  I was a troubled child.  I began smoking weed and drinking by the time I was eight. By age twelve, I was doing heroin.  When I hit ninth grade I was expelled, and I never returned to school. Other kids had drams of being doctors or astronauts, I just wanted to be on the street making money.

As a result of my choices I spent six years in prison and went through endless rehab programs, thirty-one in all.  At one point, the state of Ohio said I could not be rehabilitated.

I was serving a six month jail sentence when a pastor came to me. He said, “God told me to talk to you. The time is now, Michael. God will change your life, and you’re going to impact cities”  I laughed.

Several days later and without explanation, I was released from jail with another three months left on my sentence.

I eventually ended up in a Christian recovery home in Pittsburgh. After a lot of starts and stops in my progress, some drugs and difficulties with authority, I came to fully accept Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  I was so broken and in a very dark place but God literally removed my craving for drugs completely. All I could do was rejoice and be thankful.

Now, I have Him with me. The rest of my life I’m living for him. That’s what I impart into the guys I work with in the Home now.