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About the Author

by Brother Mike

January 22, 2006
My family came out of the Lutheran church when I was 12 years old. My parents decided to leave because our branch of the Lutheran church began to publicly teach that many of the passages in the Bible were fairy tales with nice morals. This from pastors who were graduates of the church sponsored university that formerly existed as the national Lutheran bible college. My parents tried to speak out. But, instead of being embraced by church leadership, excommunication proceedings were started against them. Basically, my parents responded by saying, “You can’t fire us because we quit!”

Meanwhile, my father had recently been baptized in the Holy Spirit (with the proof of speaking in tongues) at a Full Gospel Businessmen’s meeting. So, we went searching for a Pentecostal church. We found an Assembly of God church in rural western Pennsylvania. There, during a New Year’s watch night service, my dad led me in the sinner’s prayer. A few months later, with inspiration from David Wilkerson’s book, “The Cross and the Switchblade” and a child evangelist who had a gift for leading children into the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I too was baptized in the Holy Spirit (also with the proof of speaking in tongues).

Through divine circumstances, I met and married my wife of 27 years. We have three children. Our oldest son is married to a beautiful young special education teacher. He is finishing his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. Our second son is in his first year of medical school. My wife and my two sons are all graduates of Evangel University. All with high honors. My youngest son was a two-time student body president. Our daughter is a champion Junior Bible Quizzer and is very happy to be a carefree elementary school student. We have a Chihuahua dog named Goliath who thinks he is a Great Dane.

I retired from the Air Force after serving over 22 years as a communications and computer officer. After spending two more years as an Air Force civilian, God called us to Springfield, Missouri to become the Vice President for Operations at Central Bible College. Again, the circumstances were quite miraculous. We sold our home in Illinois without a realtor in three days for $40,000 more than we paid for it (only four years before). Then, only 60 days later, God provided us a home, our dream home, for $80,000 less than the builder was asking and he had built the home for himself! We knew God wanted us at CBC. However, both my wife and I thought God had called us there to make a difference until I retired for the second time. God had other plans.

Unbeknownst to me, the Assemblies of God leadership was considering merging CBC under our sister school across town, Evangel University. The vast majority of leadership, faculty, students, alumni and constituents from both schools objected to this idea. Their reasons varied. However, the General Superintendent (GS) continued to push for the merger using devious means and sometimes good, old-fashioned deception. My boss, the president of CBC, objected repeatedly and directly to the GS. I saw the correspondence with my own eyes. In the end, he too was ignored and declined to take his second term as a result. This left me and the other three VPs without top cover. Shortly after the president’s departure, I was made aware of pending changes to the A/G Constitution & Bylaws which would reduce the voting members at General Council from an average of 3000 to the 17 Executive Presbyters. I advised the CBC constituency of this by email. Headquarters was not happy with the disclosure. Meanwhile, during my personal devotions at home, I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to go talk to the GS in person. This being a rather radical thought, I asked God for confirmation. Within ten minutes, I got a call from my secretary who said, “Mike, the GS would like to talk to you now.” Confirmation!

I went to this meeting with a word from the Lord (which I will not share) that I thought would certainly contribute to my demise at CBC. The meeting did not go well. Shortly after that, I was placed on administrative leave until the CBC Board of Directors decided my fate. They decided to terminate my employment for “conduct unbecoming a CBC officer.”

After all was said and done, I realized that my parents’ experience with the Lutheran church, my training in the military, the emphasis on integrity for military officers, the miraculous and rapid sale and purchase of our old and new homes respectively, had all been God’s training and provision for “such a time as this.”

Finally, if you really want to know about this author, you need to know what my ambition is. It is rather singular: to obey the two Great Commandments found in Matthew 22. I want to love God with all that I am. That means I must know Him. And I can only do that through daily prayer and reading His Word. And I want to love my neighbors as myself. And I believe that my nearest neighbor is my wife followed by my children. If I succeed in these two areas, then I have something to offer a lost and dying world. If I fail, I have nothing of value to offer anyone else.

Regarding this web site, it is something God has called me to do. I do not enjoy writing these articles because I am nobody special. Further, I will not ever ask anyone to trust me or to be loyal to me. Rather, I ask that all who read this site verify everything I say against God’s Word first and then any cited sources second. And then, if these things ring true, I also ask you not to just sit around in a pity party complaining about our leadership. Instead, you have a scriptural mandate to act—to be a good steward of this thing that God has placed in your hands. Pray, fast, and preach the Word. And vote at General Council!

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