Pastor Mark's Whole Story
Addicted at 13
Jesus was working in my life and drawing me near to him long before I ever accepted and received Him into my heart as my
personal Lord and Savior. You see, I was addicted to heroin at the young age of 13 and for many years there wasn't a day
that would go by that I wasn't sticking needles into my veins. I was being raised in a good home with a mother and father
who showed me love. They did all they possibly could throughout the years to save me from the road I was heading down. But
I rejected all their loving attempts. There were many occasions that I was forced by the law to go "cold turkey"
while being locked up in some form of institution, juvenile home or many a county jail - all across this vast country, as
far as the east is from the west and the north is from the south. For too long in my life I was known only by a number
instead of a name. By the age of 13, out there on the road, I was rebelling against all authority whether it be the
authority of my parents or the judicial system.
A Hardened Heart
Every time I was locked down I knew the day was coming when I would be right back out there running the streets and defying
that same authority. When that day came, no matter if I was locked down for 30 days, 60 days, 6 months or a year, and those
jail house doors were opened wide I would walk back out to freedom once again. Like in times past, my first stop was always
the residence of the dope man. Year after year, this same pattern took control of my life. I was not only in bondage to the
drugs and the alcohol, but I was also in bondage to the lifestyle. The more I yielded to it, the more my flesh desired it.
Throughout these long and rebellious years of my life in this world of sin, the colder and harder my heart became.
A Merciful God
Each time I went to jail, our merciful God would send a servant of the Lord to minister the gospel to me. Of course, I would
always respond to the salvation message - until I was once again released. I know today that there is more to salvation than
just a simple sinner's prayer. I would always run from my problems and try to escape into whatever means. But, you see, the
problem was that I always took Mad Dog / Mark with me so the problem was always there. I knew what Hell was like. I had grown
accustom through out those years to living there. I had separated myself from everything familiar. My life was cold and I wore
a mask just to get by. I had to be this tough guy who knew everything. I used my coldness and hard heart to control others and
situations. But, a merciful God knew my heart. He knew my bitterness and inner rage and He also knew my sorrows and pain. He
saw my tears even when I tried so hard to hide them. He heard my cries even when I tried to control them. While locked behind
those cold steel bars, He saw past my prison clothes, my ID number, the mask I wore, right into my heart... and He knew my
every thought. On many occasions He attempted to reassure me that no sin is so great that it can separate me from His love.
God Sent a Faithful Man
On March 30th, 1987, at the age of 30, I ended up in a cold and damp county jail in the state of Florida facing 30 years in a
Florida State Maximum Security Prison. It is only by the grace of God I am a free man today. While I was awaiting trial for my
charges, all I could think about was escaping. It must have been pretty obvious to the sheriff because I was not allowed to see
daylight, or the moon and the stars, for the next 9 months of my life. I had forgotten just how beautiful those God given gifts
truly were! There was this guy who used to come to the jail every Sunday by the name of Larry. And I mean this man was a true
servant of Jesus Christ. He was more faithful to his ministry than anybody I had ever met in my past jail house history. For
the first 3 or 4 months, while I was incarcerated in the Franklin County Jail, every time I saw Larry coming I would cover my
head and pretend to be asleep. Or I would turn the little TV they allowed me to have up so I could not hear him speaking to me.
A Captive Audience a Message of Freedom!
Then one Sunday, the deputy opened up my cell door and locked this man in with me. He walked straight into my cell with a spirit of
boldness. A boldness that could only have come from God, because I was like a wild man. My nickname, "Mad Dog", was
appropriate in every aspect of my existence, because my life portrayed it. My hair was down to my waist and my beard extended
past my belt buckle. You could say that I looked like someone out of the Manson family. This man of God came boldly in and sat
down on my bunk, told me his name was Larry. He then proceeded to extend forth his hand in friendship and in love. I took it
in mine and shook the hand of the man who gave me more than I could ever thank him for. He carried this large print Bible and
asked me if he could read something to me. Well, by this time, I was talking to the cockroaches and sometimes I believed they
were talking back. I talked to the walls because I felt they would listen and this was because I didn't have anyone left in my
life that cared enough or could come to visit me. I said, "Sure you can read to me." I will never forget the scripture
he turned to in John 8:32 "You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free." Those words jumped right off
the page at me, and at this time in my crazy and messed up life, I knew right then and there that freedom was what I wanted.
Not just freedom but, "true freedom in Christ Jesus." Larry left that day, and later that evening I got down on my
knees... on that wet and cold jail house floor I asked Jesus, as never before, to come into my heart and change me into His
image. I cried for what seemed like forever and told Him that night this time I truly meant it, and that I truly wanted to
change. I no longer wanted to be this Mad Dog that people of the world talked about and called me.
Time Well Spent with God
God in all His wisdom and mercy knew if the State of Florida were to let me out of there at that time I wouldn't make it back out
there in the streets without picking up my drug of choice and old lifestyle again. God in all His wisdom and mercy knew that in no
time I would be running that same race of self-destruction. My 30 year sentence in that Florida State Maximum Security Prison was
thrown out and 9 months after awaiting trial I was sentenced to a mandatory 3 years instead. Through this time God made it possible
for me to sit under the teaching of many different denominations known to the body of Christ. I was so hungry for the Word that I was
in a different Bible Study 5 nights out of the week, and in self-help programs like A.A. and N.A. The Holy Spirit took this time given
of God, and used it to teach and train me for those next 3 awesome years.
God Given Priviledge
The mind works in mysterious ways and even under the leading of the Holy Spirit the thoughts of escape periodically ran through my head.
But, God miraculously turned my situation all the way around. Instead of trying to out run the Florida bloodhounds I was made
a "Dog Boy" and was assigned to training the prison dogs. The Bible tells us when we walk in obedience to the Word of
God that He will give us favor with God and man. I tried God's Word and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it really works.
The State of Florida Prison System would have me play escaped convict. My role was to run straight out of those high prison walls
and into the swamps, the forest and the fields to attempt to hide from the bloodhounds that they sent out to track down and recapture
this escaped convict. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." I was free. I was allowed to run off into
the open places with no gun towers or razor wire fences and I would set in the middle of a field filled with the aroma of wild flowers,
or I loved to climb a tall beautiful green tree with my little pocket Gideon's Bible and read the Word of God until the dogs found me.
You see, I was the only inmate in this 800 Man Maximum Security Prison that was allowed to be taken out of the prison compound to work
with the dogs.
While serving my mandatory 3-year sentence, one of the prison Chaplains got to know me personally. He started
taking me out of the facility on Sunday night to go to churches in the surrounding area and give my testimony. I was freer than ever before
in my entire life. Even behind the high walls that surrounded this maximum security prison Jesus had done just what He said in John
8:36 "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Today He has delivered and restored me from the
years of Heroin addiction and my self-destructive lifestyle. He is restoring me back to the Father. I served out my mandatory 3-year
prison sentence in the state of Florida serving God and studying His Word.
John 10:10 "...I am come that they might have life... "
John 10:10 "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come
that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." My life has been transformed from evil to good
by the power and blood of Jesus Christ. His power came right through prison bars and into my hard heart. 1 John 2:17 " And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." I was born again instantly and
made a new creation in Christ Jesus. My life has never been, and never will be, the same again. I know that I have been commissioned
and sent to preach deliverance to the captives. For the past 12 years, since my release from prison on March 30th, 1990, I have
returned to the state prisons, the county jails and institutions as a Chaplain just like my brother Larry who visited me in Franklin
County Jail. I pray daily to be just like the dedicated man that walked into that prison cell with an unknown stranger and shared the
love of Jesus Christ with him. Shared the love of Christ that set this stranger free. I know that my God is the God of deliverance and
He is the God of restoration. I pray daily to be able to show to others that if they would just open the door of their heart that
transformation in Christ is the answer and not rehabilitation as man sees it. Change must first begin in the heart.
A New Beginning
On November 30th, 1991, I married a lady who had lived a life similar to my own, but not to the great extent that mine had traveled.
Pam had the same vision for her life with Christ. We became one in Him. Our hearts desired to reach out to the lost, the lonely, the
broken and the bruised in this world of sin and despair. We both love ministering the Word and the love of God. But, we also have a
great love for riding our motorcycles along the highways and byways for Jesus that His house may be filled. The word of God states in
Isaiah 40:3 "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God." For our first years together, Pam and I spent the riding season
as "Weekend Warriors." As soon as we
could get on the road after a weeks work we would pack up the motorcycles and head out to wherever we felt He was calling us to go.
Traveling the highways from rally to rally and campground to campground preaching the Word of God, giving testimony and opening up our
campfire to the other bikers that sought refuge from their storms of life. We personally knew through the leading of the Holy Spirit they
were searching but they could not come to the full understanding of what they were searching for. We served the multitudes by keeping the
coffee hot, the campfire burning or by just being that light in this world of vast darkness. We gave them the love of Jesus through our
personal acts of kindness, and with the heart of our Father.
More to Come
God, in all His wisdom and understanding, knew that my life was not where He would yet have me be. When I was released from that
maximum-security prison and I returned back to the state of Michigan I had two visions: First, that I would seek God in all things
and study His Word. So I attended church and gave it my all to complete a Minister's Candidate School of three years. I graduated,
but ended up staying and studying under the leading of the Holy Spirit for another 3 years along side my wife. My second vision was
to get my Master Plumber's license. I daily and diligently sought after both of these two things. As the years proceeded, I
accomplished both. I got that Master's License, then owned and operated my own Plumbing Company that made a good life for my family.
I really had no material needs or desires that could not be fulfilled. God blessed Pam and I abundantly both financially and spiritually.
But, in all that He had continually blessed us with, we knew our lives were now complete in Him.
Me? A Pastor?
One day God, in all His humor, said to me, "Hang on Mark, I have a bigger and better ride for you." On August 2nd, 2001,
I was ordained into the ministry at Faith Baptist Church in Waterford by Pastor Jim Combs. Throughout my life I searched for a
man who would accept me regardless of my past life of sin and disappointment. A man of God who would trust me with his sheep and
open his heart to help me fulfill the desires of my heart to work in full-time ministry for my Lord and my Deliverer. I found such
a man and an entire Pastoral Staff of such people. Today my ministry to God, and my ministry at Faith, is as "Outreach
Pastor." Today, I go into the jails and the prisons. Today, God has blessed me with leading and teaching an Addiction Group
called "Breaking the Bondages." It works with addicts and alcoholics sharing with them, one-on-one, the hope in Christ Jesus.
Today, the Pastoral Staff at Faith Baptist has blessed me with the position of H.I.M. Director. H.I.M. (Hogs In Ministry) is a
motorcycle ministry that reaches out into the community, and the world. It is all God, and to Him I give all the glory and all my love.
Today, I am Mark Daly
When I was 13, and for the next many years to come, my heart was far from God. My heart was filled with anger, bitterness,
resentments, drugs, alcohol and pain. I entered prison that way, and through the labors of one man who extended his hand
out to me in boldness and in love, I left a new creation in Christ. "Mad Dog" was crucified, died and was buried
in the waters of baptism, never to arise again. Today my name is Mark Daly, or should I say Pastor Mark Daly. I thank God
for never giving up on me, because today the peace of God continues to live and reign in my heart.