While serving as an Army Ranger at Fort Lewis, WA, Mike met Jesus and married Dena. They now have 35 wedding anniversaries and 7 adopted children. Mike graduated Abilene Christian University (BA ’95) and Pepperdine University (MS ’97). After a decade in pastoral ministry, Mike joined Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission in 2007 as the director of downtown Seattle operations. Mike spearheaded ‘Climbing Out of Homelessness’ starting in 2011. 9 successful ascents of Mt Rainier have created summit victories for 43 men and women men overcoming addiction and homelessness. The program is the subject of the 2015 independent documentary film, A New High, which can be viewed on Apple TV, Tubi, and Fandango At Home. In 2014, he became the CEO of the Tacoma Rescue Mission (TRM). In 2018, Mike became the CEO of Yakima Union Gospel Mission. Mike served as the NW District President of CityGate Network, an association of almost 300 missions nationwide, and a member of Downtown Yakima Rotary. He is now the Director of Donor & Volunteer Engagement at Philly House. Having grown up in a home marred by his father’s alcoholism, Mike has a heart for the orphaned and abandoned, the lost and misled. At his core, he is an evangelist…someone who lives to see the Good News expand on the earth.