Behind the Mission: The Gas and the Brakes

Michael and Richard had each been following separate callings long before Convicted 4 Christ became the ministry it is today.

For Michael, it began with twelve bags.

He took those bags to the streets, began praying with people, and watched a simple act of obedience grow into a street ministry. He loved serving people and knew he was following Jesus, but becoming part of a sober living ministry was not initially his plan.

Richard had carried a different vision for years.

While incarcerated, the name C4C came to him before he fully understood what it would become. He knew he wanted to help people coming out of addiction and incarceration. He dreamed of opening a sober living home where men could rebuild their lives, encounter Jesus through genuine relationships, and experience the Gospel through the way they were treated.

Somehow, God brought their two stories together.

Michael readily admits that he was not an enthusiastic participant at first. The initial appeal was practical: managing a sober living home would mean he no longer had to live with his sister.

Richard remembers sitting with him in the car and asking, “What do you think about managing a sober living?”

Michael’s response was immediate.

“Where are we going to get this sober living? You got a bunch of money or something?”

Richard did not have the money or the house. What he did have was faith.

“If we’re supposed to have a sober living, God will make it happen.”

They began searching, knocking on doors, exploring opportunities, and hearing no after no. Then one day, a real estate agent called about a house they had seen.

Richard picked Michael up, and together they drove to the Mardi Gras house. Standing in the driveway was a man Richard had known for nearly fifteen years.

They shook hands.

That meeting became the beginning of their first sober living home.

The partnership between Michael and Richard has always worked because they are different.

“Michael is the gas, and I’m the brakes,” Richard says. “He wants to go, go, go, go, go. And I want to slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down. Somewhere in the middle, we meet.”

That balance has helped shape Convicted 4 Christ.

Michael sees possibilities and moves toward them with confidence. Richard brings caution, prayer, and careful consideration. One pushes the ministry forward. The other helps ensure it is moving in the right direction.

Richard’s wife, Michelle, has watched that faith unfold from the beginning.

She remembers Richard coming home and telling her they were going to buy a house.

“Where are we getting the money?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But God’s going to show up.”

She agreed to trust with him.

Since then, she has watched Michael and Richard continue stepping into God’s purpose, serving men through sober living, helping people move from homelessness into housing, and creating opportunities for lives to be rebuilt.

“The hand of God is all over this ministry,” she says.

But perhaps the most meaningful part of their story is not only how many people they have helped. It is how deeply the people they serve have changed them, too.

“In the process of doing this, it’s always talked about how many people we’ve helped,” Michael says. “And I am overwhelmed by how much they’ve helped me. Without the people and their suffering, I would never know the Jesus I know today. For that, I’m eternally grateful.”

Convicted 4 Christ was not built by two men who had everything figured out.

It was built through faith, different personalities, unanswered questions, repeated setbacks, and a willingness to keep taking the next step.

One became the gas.

One became the brakes.

Together, God continues to steer the ministry exactly where He wants it to go.