Jesus broke the chains

Early Life and Seeking a Path

I was a good Catholic boy growing up. I grew up in Salem, New Hampshire, down the street here, like a lot of us former Catholics. I didn't know Jesus at all. There was no Jesus in church, no Jesus in my home as a kid. But I had a good childhood. I was a baseball player, and my path got totally steered my freshman year when I got cut as a baseball player. I didn't know what to do, so I went to music. Drums and music took over my life for a long time.

I moved to LA in '89 to be a rock star, and that didn't work either. My wife and I at the time got married and two weeks later moved to LA. I worked in music stores and, again, still Catholic, didn't know the Lord at all, trying to find my path. We moved back in the mid-90s and got divorced in '02. We had a beautiful daughter, Juliana, who is here with us now. She is the blessing, for sure, and it's been an amazing ride.

From about '04 to '07, I was single, living the rock star, sex, drugs, and rock and roll life, whether it was here or going to Nashville to be on the road with a country band. You guys hear those words, "sex, drugs, and rock and roll"—no exaggeration, okay? No exaggeration at all.

In '07, I met a woman. I thought it was love at first sight; it was lust at first sight. We were basically doing everything backwards. We were trying to be married and live our lives through sex and producing porn, doing that stuff with other people. It got really bad. We really sank to our lowest in 2013. 2013 was a bad, bad year; it was the year from hell. We were pretty much living for Satan, quite frankly. No coincidence, but she had lost her daughter's dad, who OD'd from a needle in his arm. She lost her mother, her stepfather, and her grandmother all in that same year. That was the same year we were doing all that bad stuff.

The Tug of the Holy Spirit

I had to turn away from it, but we were both drinking and doing drugs and partying together. In 2014, I really started to feel the tug of the Holy Spirit. That's when He really started to stop me. As a musician, I found that the Holy Spirit tugged me through music. I found worship music. There was a song by a band called Kutless called "Strong Tower," and another song called "All Who Are Thirsty." With that song, "All Who Are Thirsty," I would just put my headphones on in my basement and just bawl my eyes out to the Lord. Again, I didn't know Jesus, but He was talking to me.

I started to see some stuff and started to see some signs here and there. I was in Lowell, loading my drums for my gig, and I saw this gentleman walking toward me in the back there. He was like, "Michael, Michael." I ignored him, thinking he was talking to some other guy over there. He walked toward me, right where this lady is here, and said, "Michael." I said, "What is your name? How do you know me?" He went like this: "Angel," and he disappeared. From that point on, I really started to see in the spiritual realm. I started to see angels and demons and stuff.

Music was a big part of my life, still a Catholic boy, but I was seeking the Lord. I was starting to pray and ask friends, and friends of friends, mostly Catholic people.

First Miracles and Baptism

One big miracle that happened to me around 2015 or 2016 was with my first wife. I was paying child support through the state because I was unemployed for almost a year from the music. I had to come up with $4,400 on a Monday morning. I had no money to my name. So I reached out to my friends that I knew were believers and said, "Can you guys pray for me?" I was just freaking out. It was a Monday morning at about 10:00, and my first wife messaged me. She said, "Mike, meet me at Home Depot at noon."

I met her there. Keep in mind, this is my first wife, who I was paying child support to through the state. She handed me an envelope with $4,400 in it and said, "Here's the money. You can pay the child support so you don't lose your license." That was my first miracle, an answered prayer. She gave me the money. I was like, "What?" It made no sense. It was crazy.

Then I was like, "Okay, this prayer thing really works."

My good friend Paul reached out to me and said, "Hey Mike, we're doing this Kickstart weekend thing over here in Manchester." This was 2018. Keep in mind, at that point, my second wife was drinking heavily, and we had to part ways. I had to move her out of the house. So I was a single dad. I have a 13-year-old son now, 100% custody, praise the Lord. I had a lot on my hands.

My friend Paul invited us to this Kickstart thing. "Mike, come on down. We'll talk about Jesus, we'll cast out demons, and we'll baptize people." I was like, "Okay, sounds cool." So I got in there. I got in there, and it was probably a room about half this size. The first thing I saw was a woman on all fours, growling and screaming, with her hair a mess. She was possessed, quite frankly. We laid hands on her, and after a couple of minutes, she got free. She was smiling, she was glowing. I was like, "Oh my God, this is real. This is real."

The next day, my son and I got baptized. This was 2018. I realized that was a big step, but it wasn't anything that instantly happened. It was like a process, as most of you know.

Starting a Ministry

The Lord started tugging at me that first year after I got baptized. He gave me in a dream the name Zerubbabel. If anybody knows the Old Testament, Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah, and he helped them rebuild the wall in the book of Haggai. The book of Haggai speaks to me because of that.

I started a home ministry, which I want to lead into now. I had some friends back there—Michaela, Brianna, Damian. We started a home ministry, starting at my house, and now we do it at Michaela's house. But the Lord was tugging at me to do something more.

In a backwards way, I ended up here. Phil and I have known each other for a while. Now, on Friday nights at 6:00 PM, we have a ministry right here in this building next door. We're talking about the full gospel. That's what we're teaching here for the discipleship program.

I want to give one testimonial about it that happened in week two. We had a woman here, Brianna's friend actually. I didn't see it; I was in the other room praying for some people. But a woman came in limping. She had Lyme disease, and she was healed. She walked out without limping, Lyme disease gone, praise the Lord.

So, before I wrap up, I just want to talk about what we're doing in this program. It's really an eight-week program, but it recurs, so anybody can come at any time. The only thing we ask is if anybody wants to come, try to be consistent with it. We talk about discipleship, we talk about repentance, we talk about faith before God, and we talk about water baptism. We also do baptism of the Holy Spirit. We've baptized many people in the Holy Spirit, so if anybody wants or needs that, or has questions about that, please come see us after. We also talk about resurrection from the dead, relationship with God, and preaching the gospel. I think that's something we all need to learn more about, how to do it and receive that boldness from the Lord.

That's what we're doing next door, so if anybody has any questions, please come see us after service. Again, my name is Michael, and thank you so much for listening.