At the young age of just 12-years-old, Micah began using drugs and by the time he started high school, he was known as “that guy who could get his hands on anything.” Although he graduated at the top of his class, he passed up numerous scholarship opportunities because of the money he was making selling drugs.

His “life-on-the-edge” lifestyle caught up with him in July 2016 when he was first arrested. He was arrested again in November 2016 for related drug offenses and went to jail. He was 20-years-old with no foreseeable future and so hopelessly addicted that he was incapable of envisioning a life for himself apart from the dark and depraved life he knew.

After serving 19 months of his prison sentence, Micah was released on good behavior and picked up right where he’d left off. After yet another long bender of doing drugs all day, every day, he finally reached out for help. He knew that if something didn’t change, it was likely that he wouldn’t live much longer.

Curt Williams, Founder and Executive Director of Youth-Reach, was a long-time family friend and Micah’s mother reached out to him in a desperate attempt to secure help for her son. After resisting help from Youth-Reach several times, Micah finally came to the end of himself and saying, “Take me anywhere, I’m done.”

He arrived at Youth-Reach Gulf Coast in May 2019 as a very angry and violent young man with very little respect for authority and a self-proclaimed atheist. About two weeks later, his world was rocked in an encounter with the Lord during a church service. At that point, Micah remembers knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that God was real.

The next several months was an intense process of transformational healing, repentance, and growth for Micah.  For the first time, he learned what Biblical manhood looked like from the men mentoring him and began to see how very different his life could look following Jesus. He was overwhelmed with the unconditional love of the Father and support he now had as a member of the Youth-Reach Gulf Coast family.

Today, Micah is almost 24-years-old, has graduated from Youth-Reach, and is leading an independent, God-honoring life. Instead of a life bent on his destruction and the destruction of others, he is a productive member of society who is sharing the gospel and his testimony with others who so badly need the hope of Jesus. He plans to work with a faith-based missions organization, Reimagine Peru, as an intern this year.

When you invest in Youth-Reach, you give the gift of a new life grounded in Christ to young men who are on a hopeless path to destruction. You are helping us raise arrows in the hand of God that are released into our community and our world. Thank you – from Micah – and from thousands of others who are now living a life fully alive.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11