Mike with Shawn Ray, his wife Kristie, and
their
newborn daughter Asia Monet,
along with Kevin Levrone
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Michael Wenger
Michael Wenger is a pastor, but the ministry
he’s involved in is not exactly your
ordinary
church work. No, Michael is a minister
for
the professional bodybuilding and fitness
athletes, and is now also working as
a pastor
in the Entertainment Industry in Hollywood.
This strange journey began for Michael
as
he was going through college and had
the
opportunity to become an assistant
chaplain
for the National Motocross and Supercross
Series. After 4 years there and successfully
making it through Bible college and
graduate
school, God guided him away from Supercross
and into the bodybuilding world. Michael
began “Stronghold Ministries” in March
of
2002 not knowing where God was going
with
all of this, but only having faith
that God
would do miraculous things in this
industry.
But not only did God lead Michael to begin
Stronghold Ministries in 2002, but
He also
asked Michael to pastor a small church
in
his home state of Indiana. At the end
of
2004, the strange plans of God continued
as the Lord called Michael to extend
Stronghold
Ministries beyond bodybuilding and
into Hollywood
and the Entertainment Industry. So
leaving
the church in Indiana, he moved out
to Los
Angeles to pursue God’s expanding vision
for the ministry. Currently, Michael
attends
most major professional bodybuilding
shows
with his assistant Andy Steiner to
help meet
the physical, emotional, and spiritual
needs
of the competitors. For more information
on Stronghold Ministries, log onto
www.strongholdministries.com or email Michael at wengerm@juno.com.
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Mike: Hey before we start let's pray. Lord
I want to thank you for this
opportunity
to give you praise and thanks
for allowing
us God, the privilege to be of
service, to
reach out to the bodybuilding
community.
Lord, I come before you and ask
for wisdom
today. I pray that it would not
be about
me, but to be about You and that
Your name
might be honored, glorified and
praised.
God, I step into the background,
You step
to the foreground. I pray that
all who read
this would know that you are
God. Amen.
1) What's your favorite Scripture?
Ephesians 3: 20-21 - Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we
ask or think,
according to the power that works
in us,
to Him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and
ever. Amen.
2)Who were your childhood heroes?
My childhood heroes were number
one, my grandpa.
He was a great church historian
and theologian
and he actually helped out translating
the
New International Version(NIV)
of the Bible.
The great thing about him that
I always admired
and respected was that even though
he had
the titles he had and the bragging
rights,
if you would want to say, he
was never that
way. He would go and talk to
the lowestof
the low and when you would talk
to him, you
would never know that he was
anybody. He
was so humble. I always admired
that and
I always looked up to that and
I always prayed
to God that when God called me
into ministry
that I would have that same attitude.
3)If you could meet anyone from the Bible,
who would it be and why? You
can't say Jesus.
I'd have to say Elijah. Elijah
was a little
bit different and I think I probably
am too.
But the great thing about Elijah
that always
stands out for me is that he
never thought,
or that it never even crossed
his mind that
God wasn't able to do anything.
I always
think of the story about the
true God versus
the god of baal. If I would have
been in
that situation where they had
the contest
to see which god would burn up
the sacrifice,
I think I would have thought
in the back
of my mind, "I wonder if
God is really
going to come through."
So with him,
he knew, he knew. I think that
kind of faith
is the faith that I long for
and I think
Elijah truly knew who God was
and that's
why he had that faith and that's
my priority
. That kind of faith to know
God in such
a way that there is no doubt
in my mind that
His will, will be accomplished.
MCBB: I know what you mean. Sometimes when
we go through our daily life
we get shakey.
Mike: Exactly! And why would
we even doubt
God? I mean it's kind of stupid
when you
really think about it. He is
faithful at
every turn, every turn.
4)What is a typical day in your life like?
Well, it definitley varies every
day. Stronghold
ministries is not jsut a bodybuilding
ministry
although that is one branch of
it. I live
here in Hollywood, California
and I also
work with the entertainment industry
- film,
television, music. But all of
it began with
bodybuilding. When I look back,
God had me
take that step into bodybuilding
strictly
on faith and I just said OK God,
I don't
know where You're going, but
I pray that
Your will be done. Through bodybuilding
I
got to meet the personal trainers
to some
of the stars and God laid it
on my heartto
to and do the Hollywood ministry.
So, I am
kind of busy, definitely but
a typical day
would be that I wake up and start
the day
with the Lord. Read the Bible
and pray. Try
to listen to Him for the day
and what He
wants me to do. I answer some
emails, and
get on the phone for a little
bit in the
morning calling people. At lunch,
I try to
eat with somebody, whether it
be an actor,
a musician or traveling down
to Venice to
Gold's gym. I'll do that every
once in a
while. In the afternoonI will
do different
stuff for the ministry, calling
people or
hagning out with somebody or
typing out messages.
Since I don't have a secretary,
I have to
do all the paperwork and there's
a lot of
that as well. In the evening,
ther's a lot
of events going on here in Hollywood
so we
try to meet with somebody. I
also do a lot
of traveling as well.
MCBB: Well God certainly put you right in
the middle of the vanity section,
didn't
He? I mean Hollywood and bodybuilding?
Mike: Yeah, I prayed a prayer in highschool
that I never really understood
why I prayed
it, but I felt I had to pray
it and that
was: "God, take me where
no one else
will go. I don't want an easy
ministry."
And as a highschool kid, you
have no idea
what your praying. And it has
always been
that way. God has led me to places
where
few people have gone and there
is no way
to rely upon anyone other than
God.
5)What Biblical figure do you most identify
with & why?
I would say Joseph. I had someone
come up
to me right before I moved out
here to California
and say "Michael, you're
a Joseph."
And you know when someone says
that to you,
you realize right away that it's
pretty deep,
that's from God. So I went back
and read
the story of Joseph with that
in my mind.
Joseph was promised many things
at a young
age, and I'm only 29 and throughout
my life
God has shown me and promised
many things.
And no matter what happened in
Josephs life,
he was promised that his brothers,
his whole
family would bow down to him.
Throughout
Joseph's life, it looked like
anything but
that would happend to him. But
yet in the
end he believed and trusted,
even when it
looked like there was no way,
and in the
end God was faithful to every
promise He
had made to him. I feel like
that's like
God's call on my life with some
of the visions
He has given me for the bodybuilding
world,
the entertainment industry and
the world
as a whole. Some times it seems
like anything
but that is going to happen.
But God is so
great! So I would say that like
Joseph, sometimes
the only thing I have to lean
on is God's
promise and trust in him even
though I'll
be looking around and thinking
there's no
way.
6)What trait do you like most about yourself?
I have had a lot of people say
that I am
persistant and I think with what
God has
called me to, I would think that
perserverance
is something that I have to have.
There are
many days that you think "What
in the
world am I doing?" But I
know that is
part of the territory of taking
God to those
where God has never been. You're
going to
have days where you are on cloud
nine and
days where you're on negative
12 and you
just have to make it through.
You have to
understand that you're going
to have a bullseye
on your back because satan's
territory is
being invaded. Some days, with
th armor of
God I'm able to fend it off,
but there are
some days I'm not but I know
that I am able
to push through because of God.
So that is
a trait and a strength that I
believe He
has given me.
7)What trait do you least like about yourself?
Well I think especially this
past year that
I've been living out here in
California,
I've sometimes almost been like
a deer in
the headlights. Because you see
so much that
God is showing you and it's so
big and so
above and beyond all you could
ever ask or
imagine, sometimes it's hard
to even know
where to begin. How to know where
to begin
what God is showing you and so
I would say
that there are times that it's
difficult
to focus on one thing. I feel
like I'm being
scattered. So I think focus on
what God wants
me to do at that particular point
in time
is something that I really need
to work on.
God is teaching me how to focus
on the most
important things. I'm learning
how to work
through that.
8)How have you been able to represent God
in your sport?
Through bodybuilding, it's just
been amazing
how God has called me into this
sport in
2001. I really didn't know anything.
I had
just come from being a chaplain
in the National
Motocross Series - dirt bike
racing - where
I was a chaplain there for four
years while
I was going to school. I really
had no clue
what God was doing when He called
me into
bodybuilding. I thought, man,
this is a dark
sport, a sport where Jesus is
nowhere to
be found. All I had was God and
a good sense
of humor as He told me to go
and watch what
I do. Even my family and my parents
didn't
truly understand what God was
doing, but
I knew that I had to go, that
I had to try.
I actually emailed Ronnie Coleman,
I went
to the top. I said OK, I heard
he was a Christian
so I emailed him and told him
what God was
laying on my heart as far as
being a chaplain
for the sport. So I went to the
Arnold in
2002 with my ministry partner
Andy Steiner
(MCBB note: Andy will also be a future interview
here as well) who has a bodybuilding background and he
didn't know personally the people,
but he
knew the names in the sport and
those who
had somewhat confessed the name
of God somewhere
and somehow. So we just went
up and visited
those guys. So we went up to
them and told
them what God had laid on our
hearts and
got nothing but positive responses.
We knew
right then and as we walked out
we were totally
amazed at what God was doing.
From there
we have been amazed, in the last
three or
four years to see how many people
have given
their life to the Lord. It is
truly unbelieveable,
and now we are present at basically
every
pro bodybuilding event. We pray
with the
athletes and have become familiar
faces that
everyone knows. This year we'll
be holding
chapel service for the athletes
and also
individual prayer time as well.
We also work
with Shawn Ray at his Muscle
Camp. Just becoming
really involved in these people's
lives.
You know the sport part is great,
but people's
lives are what really count.
So hopefully,
we have been able to represent
God at these
events and also everybody's daily
and personal
life.
MCBB: It's amazing when you think about it,
it's like they're starving because
they're
empty.
Mike: Oh yeah, there's a hunger there and
it's truly amazing because most
of them have
never really come in contact
with God. They've
never really tasted Jesus and
what the Bible
says is "tasting Jesus is
more than
good," so if you can just
give them
a little taste. See how good
He is. Then
it's up tp them to choose what
they do with
Him, but they'll never forget
the taste.
That is something that has been
my philosophy
for a while and I think and really
appreciate
people like Shawn(Ray), Kevin(Levrone)
and
Flex(Wheeler). People like that
who are willing
to take a stance for Jesus. Shawn
has really
been a big help as far as getting
on the
phone at the hotels and calling
these athletes
and having us come to their rooms.
Whether
it be Muslims, atheists or whoever,
it doesn't
matter we go up to their rooms
and we pray
for them. I think that some don't
know how
to take it but at the same time,
they know
that we are doing it out of love.
We're not
there to bash people over the
head but that
we truly care about their hearts
and souls.
9)If you could change one thing in your sport,
what would it be?
Obviously drugs. Our bodies are
our temples
made in the image of God and
a lot of these
athletes come away with severe
illnesses
or even death. I would also like
to see a
little more camraderie. You know
take that
one tie-in that could do that,
which is Jesus
Christ and I mean that. It's
a very isolated,
individualistic sport that when
the athletes
do come together for like the
Olympia weekend,
there is very little said between
the athletes.
It's very non-engaging, very
non-personal.
So I would say the drugs and
camraderie.
10)If you were to die today and go to heaven,
what would you like to hear God
say?
I think it would be something similar to,
well obviously everyone wants
to hear, "Well
done good and faithful servant,"
which
is something I want to hear.
But I also want
to hear what the apostle Paul
said that he
was able to do and that is "You
fought
the good fight, and you stayed
in the race."
And that's my prayer, to do it
all, to go
to these places where God takes
me and be
able to give God the glory. I
just pray that
I remain faithful and I would
obey His every
word and that He would recieve
all the honor
and glory.
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| Thanks Mike for sharing with us and for helping
to make our first trip to the
Arnold a blessed
and memorable event! We pray
for continued
success in your ministry! See
you there next
year! |
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