Eye On Europe

SlidePress cannot find the gallery with this id: belgium-kingskid

Another life changed, touched, and filled by the Spirit of the living God…Michel was abandoned by alcoholic parents while still a toddler.  He grew up in the care of foster parents until at the age of 18 his foster mother announced that he was no longer a part of the family.  He would have to go and find his own way in life.  Feeling rejected by the only family he ever knew, he was out on the streets and found a life, one of corruption and tragedy.

Taken in by the drug culture of the city, he became addicted to heroine and crack cocaine.  He was taken in by the worst criminal gang of all, child kidnappers, taking young girls off the street into a waiting van, sequestering them in a basement cell until they were taken off into the underworld’s child prostitution market.  Michel was prodded by the gang’s constant taunting and temptation of more drugs to fill his veins, following their orders, hoping for just one more ‘fix’.

Finally, in 1996 the police caught the principal characters of the gang including Michel.  During the eight years of imprisonment leading up to the most publicized trial in Belgian history, Michel was contacted by the evangelical chaplain of the prison.  He began to understand the basic truths of the love, forgiveness, and hope that faith in Jesus offered him.

After the trial and sentencing, Michel was transferred to the prison where AGWM personnel, Ken Barickman is the chaplain.  With the help and influence of the other two chaplains, during their visits with him, the Lord broke through to Michel’s heart.  In 2007 he made his personal decision to accept Christ into his life as Lord and Savior.  Although he has since experienced ups and downs in his faith, Barickman baptized him on October 5, 2009.  Michel has been transformed from kidnapper to king’s kid as Jesus Christ is now the king in his life.