Other than brief forays into the tropics, the Baja peninsula, and the Keystone State, Mike’s lived in SoCal his entire life. His father’s parents immigrated from the Ukraine and, on his Mom’s side, his great-great uncle, Daniel L. Marsh, was the fourth president of Boston University. Marsh Chapel is named after him. While Mike has never been the president of anything or had a chapel named after him, he does hold the record for consecutive three-point shots made in his front yard. He and his wife Lisa were married in 1980, and have raised four children, all of whom live in Southern California.
Mike has chronicled his conversion to Christianity in a series of blog posts entitled The Hard Road Home #1, #2 and #3. Shortly after committing his life to Christ, Mike was ordained and planted a church. He remained in full-time ministry for eleven years. It was a bittersweet experience, one he chronicled in his essay “The Ark,” which was published in Relief Journal 2.3 and received the Editor’s Choice award. During that time, he preached, taught adult Sunday School, led worship, counseled, developed discipleship curriculum for several churches, trained small group leaders, and was a Youth Pastor. After leaving the ministry, he returned to the construction field, where he continues to work.
Mike launched Decompose in July 2005, as a creative outlet, a distillation of thoughts, a record of interests, a ministry tool, a confessional, and an extension of his desire to begin writing professionally, an adventure that is chronicled in his Writing links. Why the name “Decompose”? His essay Let Us Decompose was first published in Relevant Magazine and outlines the thesis for this website. It’s built off the idea of composition, and that all of our works rely on existing stuff; as such, we cannot really compose, only de-compose. We each confront a collage of ideas, opinions, influences, events, trends and people. Mulling that amalgam, deconstructing and assembling its pieces, is the stuff of life, and the difference between a happy and a miserable one. Decompose is Mike’s attempt to discern, interpret, challenge, poke fun at, and ultimately enjoy the world we live in.
