Serving in South Buffalo at Bread of Life Church

Finding God’s Plan For My Life

In 1989, when I graduated from West Seneca West Senior High School, I joined the US Navy and vowed to never return to Buffalo, New York area again. 21 years later, I returned to Buffalo and I’ve been here for the past 14 years (never say never), residing primarily in the South Buffalo neighborhoods. My first reintroduction to this city in June 2010, was a plethora of church visits throughout Western New York, as far as Rochester. After a summer of running around, doing outreaches, serving a couple of local ministers, I settled at a non-denominational fellowship called the Bread of Life Church, in South Buffalo.

2019-08-19 Bread of Life Church, Buffalo, NY

When I started attending “The Bread” regularly in September 2010, the church was lead by Pastor Dominic and Lucille Schipani, who have lead the church for over 30 years. I didn’t plug into a ministry specifically, but served all the ministries at least a few times to see where God wanted me. After 6 months, I felt led to assist the Youth Pastor, as it appeared to be a handful for him to operate without help. By April 2011, I asked if I could host an event, and launched my first concert series called “5th Fridays @ The Bread” It was held every month that had a 5th Friday, and featured Christian Hip Hop artists that I knew from around the city of Buffalo, featuring some of my friends in the CHH community around the US and Canada. Our first couple of events started slowly and gained momentum as we continued to promote it.

Within a few months of starting this event, in August 2011, they asked me to take over the Youth Group so the Youth Pastor could take time off to get surgery done. Little did I know I would serve the whole year in leading that ministry as the Youth Leader. At the same time, I also joined the Worship Team as a Drummer, where I have been ever since. I also create our presence on social media, creating our first Facebook page. That task has extended into several social media accounts, and eventually, in 2018, launched the livestreaming on Facebook and the YouTube channel. So, currently, I serve as drummer and Social Media Content Manager. In 2022, I created a new webseries called “The Bread Unlimited Podcast” (a spin off from a pilot program started during the 2020 lockdown). Previously, I was hosting my own podcast from home when Lead Pastor Michael Stratton asked me to create one for the church.

As 2014 arrived, I was on a new path of filmmaking, having worked on some films as an actor, producer, and director, as well as, a stage actor. After many year in prayer, I launched a new event called the Great Lakes Christian Film Festival, hosting the first two in August 2015 and August 2016 at the Bread of Life Church. We hosted the next four at the venue formerly known as the Millennium Hotel. We hosted our 2021 event in East Aurora, then again returned to the Bread for the last two festivals. This year, in 2024, marks the 10th anniversary of the film fest, and plan to host it once again at the Bread of Life.

In addition to this festival, we have also produced a short film at the church in the Winter of 2020, called Absolution, starring a local celebrities Jason John Beebe and Mercedes E Wilson.

In the Summer of 2022, I began leading our Wednesday morning Bible Study, by accident. I had no intention of being in this kind of position, but, after a few weeks of me joining the group, I was asked to take it over. I had no plan but to just read the Bible, line upon line, and discussing it – a format that I was most comfortable with. The first sessions in the Fall of 2022, it was primarily me and one other gentleman in the Bible Study, with a few others joining us sporadically throughout the season. It was great that I had the time to do so, and not get discouraged with low attendance. We grew again to a core team of about six people, with a spurt of more people visiting periodically. We also added one person via Facebook messenger to our attendees in 2024.

After the first year faithfully serving almost every Wednesday morning, on July 15, 2023, I had a heart attack, and was out of commission for the months of July and August of 2023. I recovered gracefully, but was hungry for the Word of God. I returned to Bible Study by September, and began my periodic preaching of messages God has given me. Most of my titles are things “of God,” such as, “The Rest of God“, “The Kingdom of God” and “The Will of God.” My most recent messages are “The Voice of God” Part 1 and “The Voice of God” Part 2. Part 1 is a recap on the latest venture: My Pakistan Mission Trip. Part 2 is the continuation of the message on hearing God’s voice.

Pakistan Recap video: