Mike’s Story

Mike was brought up going to church and accepted Christ at 9 years old. He struggled as a teenager trying to live his life the way his parents wanted him to live. He began to hang out with people who he thought he could trust, but ended up doing drugs and alcohol. Once you start it’s never easy to quit, especially when you have a void in your heart like Mike did.

Mike has been married multiple times and when those didn’t work out, his addictions got even deeper and he became an alcoholic. He lost his wives and children because of his bad choices. He felt defeated, lost and lonely. “I wanted to commit suicide. I felt like a failure in so many ways. I was trapped.”

Mike heard about Feed the Need Missions and finally had enough courage to visit the Bastrop South site. It was a day that he was feeling the lowest in his life, and truly contemplating suicide. He was looking for a place to get connected, to have relationships, to build friendships. “When I arrived at the site I thought no one was going to allow me to serve. I thought I was unworthy to do anything. All I could hear in my head was a bunch of people telling me I was worthless and was never going to be accepted.”

When Mike arrived that evening, he walked up to the table where the food was served with his head down.  A volunteer asked him if he was there for a burger, and while he was, he also explained that he would like to serve. Without hesitation the volunteer accepted him with open arms and showed him the ropes on where he could jump in.

“It was that easy, show up and start serving,” Mike said. He served for the hour and then stayed for the bible study. “It was something I needed.”

Mike kept coming back every week. He would eat a meal and serve anywhere he could. Slowly his confidence started building, he was beginning to find his self-worth again.

After a few months, Mike went out of town for a couple of weeks. The second week of not being at our weekly community he received a phone call from a volunteer checking in to make sure he was okay.

“Never had I felt what unconditional love was before until that moment. When I hung up the phone letting them know I would be back the following week I started weeping. Someone truly and genuinely cared about me. I threw my hands up in the air, and I said, ‘thank you Jesus, you are real.’”

Mike found a place where he was accepted for who he was, “I now have a new family. Never in my life have I had true transformation and know what Christ’s love truly is. If it wasn’t for Feed the Need Missions and the people serving, I am not sure where I would be. I found purpose again. And now I can share my story with others, as before I couldn’t.”

For Mike, Feed the Need Missions is much more than a burger, it’s about being part of Christ’s family and seeing it’s life-changing transformation.

“Lives will be changed because of what I went through. Just like your story can impact others too.”