Professional Services & Craftsmanship

A Texas boy, born and raised in Corpus Christi, Michael’s love for making and fixing things began as soon as he was old enough to take apart his sister's toys to see how they worked. As he grew, he helped his dad fix things around the house. However, it was in junior high school shop class that he fell in love with woodworking. When asked what he wanted to build for his first semester project, he chose the hardest project available. He built a drop front desk for his mother. It was a rather ambitious goal considering his young age. However, he showed an amazing amount of intuition for how things worked and fit together.

His creative and artistic ambitions grew in high school where he excelled in art and architectural drawing and design. These skills earned him a second place prize at the state level in Texas. During this time, living with his grandparents, they let him design and paint a Pink Floyd mural on all four walls of his bedroom (don't mind the curtains). The mural is there to this day.

Showing an aptitude and interest in mechanics, he purchased a 1986 Jeep CJ-7 after high school. It was in severe disrepair, particularly the rusted out body. At nineteen years old, he asked his mom to buy him a set of mechanics tools and set out to rebuild it. Stripping the body completely, he sanded and repaired all of the rusted out areas, put it back together (with only a few bolts left over), and primed and painted it in his garage. He then rebuilt the mechanical systems - carburetor, engine, manual transmission, and the drive train.

Michael began his career in architecture with a local architectural firm. His twenty-one year career included designing, developing, and managing projects from custom homes, civic and office buildings, to churches and multi-million dollar schools, and even a swimming pool complex. Having delivered construction documents and shop drawings, he also provided construction administration.

After twenty-one years, the Lord called Michael to become a pastor. He went back to school and earned his master's degree in Divinity. While in school, he pastored a small, rural church where his construction trade skills were highly utilized. Being a small church, he served as the maintenance technician for the church building as well as the pastor’s home. He refurbished an antique stairwell, did a tub-to-shower conversion, completed a bathroom remodel, and supplied new copper plumbing to the pastor’s residence.

The Lord called Michael out of ministry after twelve years and brought him to Samaritan Ministries International where he worked as the Manager of Knowledge Management. All the while, Michael has continued to be a  woodworker, carpenter, and all around fix-it man. Recent commissions range from dining tables to free standing cabinets, end tables to puzzle tables. Several of his commissions have also included kitchen and living room remodels.