About Us & I Sought, I Found Chapel Ministry

1 John 3:7-10 - "Dear Children, don't let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning, because God's life is in life. So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God."

Max was raised in a Biblical Christian home; the important word is Biblical. Max's parents raised him to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They taught him to read the bible and pray. He remembers growing up from pre-school all the way through high school having family devotions. He was taught the value of learning the power prayer and reading/applying God's word in his life.

Having the solid foundation of faith built upon the bedrock of God's word has proven true in Max's life. Isaiah 55:10-11, "The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

At age 7, Max and his family attended an outdoor Christian concert in South Minneapolis, MN in the summer of 1988. Evangelist Luis Palau was the Bible teacher that night and he shared the Gospel powerfully. Max recounts he and his family were in the back of the crowd sitting in lawn chairs and when Luis gave the invitation to receive Christ as Savior, Max got up on his own accord and went forward to the front and prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. His mom and dad didn't realize at first because their heads were bowed in prayer. They saw Max up front as people prayed over him. He remembers there was a peace and calm. At age 7 it was easy to receive Jesus he says, but life has it's curveballs that get thrown at you. How strong was Max on the Solid foundation of bedrock???

Nothing changed but everything changed. As a 7 year old, your not into drugs, alcohol, sex etc. But you are learning to steal pencils, gum from candy stores, and lying to your parents. In this time, you are learning right from wrong in many ways and have been for many years by this point. After all, the bible says we were born into sin, thanks to Adam and Eve and their sin that brought death to everything and everyone. This is why we need a Savior to save us from our sins! At 7 years of age, Max understood his sin and the foundation on God's word built into him how his sin seperated him from God. 

Max was in 7th grade when he was given his first playboy magazine. He was at a sleepover birthday party and a friend hide this magazine filth in his backpack. When he got home, his mom opened the backpack and found it as it flopped out on the floor. To Max's shock and amazement he denied it was his. After all, he had never done anything like this before. His friend later on admitted that it was him that planted the magazine and apologized. But the damage had been done, the innocence was gone and now the curiosity had been aroused.

When Max was 14 he had a serious hockey injury that nearly ended his young career. He has since learned that difficulties are good and God uses them to grow our trust in him.  It was October 1st, 1995, he was a freshman in high school playing in a fall hockey league before bantam tryouts. 

When Max was 11 years old watching the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, his heart was pierced when he watched the Romanian women's Gymnastic team compete. They did an expose on how the Romanian gymnysts trained in very tough conditions. In 1992, Romania had just come out from under Communism in 1989 and were learning to embrace their new freedom. God set his heart on fire for Romania but kept it dormant until the appropriate time.     

From 1993-2011, Max was very involved with Hockey Ministries International Christian Athlete Hockey Camps. During these years he attended as a camper, counselor, dry-land instructor, on-ice instructor and eventual evening chapel leader and speaker. From 2007-2011, he was on staff with HMI as a Hockey missionary bringing the gospel of Christ to hockey players of all ages.  In 2012, Max joined up with a local ministry;  International Ministerial Fellowship (IMF) where he currently serves, while still partnering with HMI.  

In April of 2012, Max served with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and did a Sports Discipleship Training School. He arrived in Kona, Hawaii and spent three months going through intense Bible teaching and practical application on how to serve others and share the gospel effectively through sports. Following his training, we were sent out on outreach for 9 weeks. Max had two locations, 3 weeks in Romania followed by 6 weeks in London for the Olympics.  Remember Max saying, "God set my heart on fire for Romania but kept it dormant until the appropriate time." Now was the appropriate time.  

On July 9th, 2012 Max met his future wife (Mariana), he just didn't know it yet! They spent one week together teaching kids the game of baseball and having small group bible studies and sharing personal testimonies of God at work in their lives. YWAM had a strict rule, no dating during outreach.  He took that seriously. He went to his YWAM leader and asked for a new translator because he was very attracted to Mariana. My leader smiled and said, "this is good for you, serve with Mariana and leave it at that."  He trusted his leader and did as he was told.  After their week together, they never saw each other again before Max left Romania.  However, God was working his plans out in both their lives during this time a part.

When he returned home from YWAM, Max jumped back into ministry with his chapels through IMF and HMI.  Everything was great!  During the next couple months he reflected on his time with YWAM and our outreaches in Romania and the London Olympics. Upon reflection, Romania was on his mind but it wasn't until Christmas in North Dakota 2012, that it happened. He saw  Mariana was on Facebook.  He reached out and said hello, "Just thinking about you and my Romanian friends, Merry Christmas!" That was it...she responded right away and responded by saying, she had been praying for Max and had been waiting for him to contact her for 5 months; what patience!  

Mariana's desire in a husband in her words, "was not to have a milquetoast husband."  She wanted a husband to be able to deliver a clear message in public about answering questions biblically. Another quality that she admired when they first met, is that Max was a man of prayer and she was also encouraged about how well he spoke of his parents. Mariana wanted a dedicated follower of Christ that would lead her spiritually for the rest of her life. For Max, that was a lot of pressure, "GOOD PRESSURE and GOOD ACCOUNTABILITY." In her word's, "that's a full time job!"

They dated for 2-1/2 years. He visited Romania 2 times, first to meet her family and second to have their pre-wedding, which helped with her immigration process. Mariana came here twice, 3 months at a time. They were engaged May 31st, 2014 and had their Romanian wedding August 30th, 2014. After our Romanian wedding, Max flew home and Mariana stayed in Romania for the next 7 months. They had made a commitment to abstain from the marriage benefits as husband and wife until their Legal American wedding 7 months later on April 25th, 2015. Six weeks after our Romanian wedding, Mariana's father was diagnosed with a Septic blood infection that started in his leg. Mariana saw this as a great opportunity to ask difficult questions to her father about what he believed and why. Mariana wanted to make sure he understood his assurance of salvation in Christ. Nobody knew how little time he had left. He died 10 days later. The time Mariana had with her father was of great importance and comfort to her and for her mother.   

The next 7 months were hectic leading up to our wedding on April 25th, 2015.  A few years prior, Mariana's mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer and did the standard protocol with Chemo therapy and radiation.  Max never got the chance to see Mariana's mother as healthy, vibrant and full of life.  The little he did spend with her, she mostly was in pain and the cancer moved from her breasts and into her bones, very painful. Mariana's mother was able to watch our wedding live via Skype.  Two months later she died from her battle of breast and bone cancer.  

At our wedding, Max shared that God is very specific and strategic and his plans are perfectly planned out. Mariana and I go for walks everyday and often times she asks the question, "How did I get here?" The simple answer is God brought us together.  When a man and a woman get married, they come together to form one life in Christ.