Pictures were always meaningful to Pastor Mike Croteau. In the Catholic church he grew up in, he saw the stained-glass depictions of Jesus and believed Jesus wanted to do something in people’s lives, here and now. He knew that Christians should do the work of Jesus in our world. In addition, Mike valued the images because he wrestled with a learning disability.
When Mike was 9 years old, he became increasingly self-conscious of his learning disability. He begged his parents to take martial arts classes. As a teen he believed if he could outwork everyone in martial arts, he could overcome his fear of rejection and shame that he experienced academically. The work ethic ingrained in Mike through martial arts eventually began to translate to his academics. But as he struggled with his schooling, Mike also struggled with his faith.
In high school, he sought counsel from a religion teacher who told him that sincerity was his ticket to heaven, but Mike instantly recognized and rejected the illogic of that notion. He was unable to see how his prior faith experiences were intersecting and impacting his life, and so for a time Mike wandered from God. When he started a career in running martial arts studios, Mike acknowledges that God was constantly pursuing him. “Every time I was wrestling in my soul, there was a Christian telling me that I needed Jesus. When I wrestled with the fear of rejection and failure, my studio would end up being filled with Christians.”
Mike eventually found himself at a church play, “Heavens Gates, Hells Flames,” at the invitation of some gym friends. Up to then, he had concluded that salvation is through works. “I had already sacrificed enough, and I knew that if faith is based on my performance, I did not have what it takes.” In contrast to the religions Mike had studied, “Jesus made sense. He makes logical sense. He came into the mess that we created, gave his life for our sins, in a way that we cannot save ourselves.”
A few years later, Mike was invited to a prayer meeting in Ottawa. There, Mike humbly acknowledged to God, “I’m done with me, I need you.” He describes the experience as a Damascus Road intervention. Mike saw all the dark things in his life, but if he would just say the name of Jesus, it would all be gone. He sobbed as the weight of shame and guilt left him. What would come next? “In that moment, I knew that I was to tell the whole world about Jesus.”
Mike began telling everyone about Jesus. Initially he felt the Lord leading him to give up all martial arts. He threw away all his belts, uniforms, certificates, awards and stopped coaching entirely. Mike began to feel the tug at his heart to be a minister. He started going to every church service he could attend and reading every ministry book he could get.
A few years later, he began serving within the church by leading a small youth ministry, which quickly filled a living room with students and then the church sanctuary soon after. Eventually, Mike’s calling was clarified, and he committed to being a pastor.
Mike recognized, “God knows how to speak my exact language to capture my heart.” As he committed to vocational ministry, a pastor approached him with a full-time ministry job in Ottawa. This move eventually led him to launch a marketplace church. Mike and his wife, Trish, launched Community Life in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with their close friends. Community Life started out of a mall, and throughout the week, the facility functioned as a martial arts and fitness studio. While some of the people who came through the building did not go to a church, Mike was able to pastor the people after the classes and be present in their lives during times of crisis.
Shortly after COVID, Mike felt God tell him to, “Marry the loves of ministry and martial arts.” Out of this leading, Fight Church was launched in 2023 as a second or alternative style service out of Community Life. Having less systems and requiring minimal setup and tear down, Mike is excited that Fight Church “is meeting people right where they are at.” As people stretch, they talk through Jesus’ life in chronological order and share a story about what it means for people today. If anyone needs prayer, they pray right there amid the training.
People’s lives are being changed through the special focus of martial arts. Though people come in with different pasts, Mike communicates that “God knows how to hold our hearts, he does not turn a person away who is broken and contrite in spirit.” Mike sees not just people learning about Jesus, but is encouraged by their transformation as well: “Not only does Jesus save; he heals.”
As a part of Fight Church, Mike and Community Life Youth Pastor Angie started Kids’ Fight Church (KFC). They baptized seven of these kids and adults last year. This month there are some women preparing to launch a female version of Fight Church called Warrior Women (WW). WW will emphasize women’s fitness, self-defense and healing through Jesus.
Mike’s first love is sharing Jesus, and he is grateful God is using his passions to reach people: “If my only skillset was making pie, you would see me making pie in the cafe and sharing Jesus.” His encouragement to all Christians is that “God knows how to speak to the people in your life through you.”
Rev. Jacob Gibson is the senior pastor at LifeSpring Wesleyan Church, Richmond, Indiana, and graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University and Wesley Seminary, Marion, Indiana.
