For many, Assistant Pastor Mark Mellen is the fun-loving guy cracking jokes on stage every Sunday, but he wasn’t always a joyful man of God.

Growing up, Mark saw only legalism and dead rituals at the churches his family attended. By his teens, he was disenchanted with Christianity and turned his back on the church.

He moved in with a friend and discovered drugs and alcohol as an escape. The next ten years were filled with partying, promiscuity, drugs and alcohol. For years Mark couldn’t seem to stay sober for more than 24 hours. As his drug usage increased, he was kicked out of school, lost friendships, experienced long stints of homelessness and did jail time.

Wondering where God was in it all, Mark began to believe that God either didn’t exist, or was evil. Hopelessness drove him to attempt suicide several times, but God always stepped in and prevented it. Needless to say, Mark was at the end of his rope.

He called a friend in St. Paul and asked for help. He moved back to the Twin Cities, hoping to get his life in order. He started to clean up his life, but it wasn’t until he passed through a Northwestern Bookstore that he confronted the God he had given up on. Defiantly he grabbed a book off the shelf and told God, “This is your last chance!” On the back cover he read, “Was God telling the truth when He said, ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart?’”

Mark soon realized that everything has a creator – God. He discovered that not only did he believe in God, he loved Him. He began sharing God with his friends.

In the years that followed, Mark graduated from college, built a successful career in sales and management, got married to his beautiful wife Bonnie, and the once homeless kid became a home owner. He now attends Bethel Seminary were he is getting his Master of Divinity and is in full-time ministry as a Pastor at Substance Church. Mark is seeking God with all his heart because he has a clear picture of the love of Jesus Christ.

For the full story of how God has moved in Mark’s life, in his own words, check out the podcast of his message from May 24th, 2009 “The Apple of your Daddy’s Eye” on Itunes.