Guest Speaker: Mike Neglia
Yesterday we had the pleasure of hearing from Mike Neglia, a missionary and pastor in Ireland. Having attended Bible college together, Char and Mike are dear friends. Char wrote a little bit about him so you all can know more about this person who spoke at Refuge and the work that the Lord has called him to. Char writes…
My dear friend Mike Neglia, who has been a missionary and pastor for the past 15 years, taught yesterday. Mike is not only a good preacher and pastor but he is someone who has a genuine desire to follow and emulate Jesus. He is a friend whom I greatly respect and love.
Here are a few things you might want to know about Mike:
- Mike has been married to his wife Rachel for 13 years.
- They have two children. Their son Eoin is 11 years old and their daughter Rosie is 2.
- He has been a Christian for 17 years
- He has been in Pastoral ministry for 13 years
Ministry experience: After graduating Bible college in Siegen, Germany in the summer of 2002, Mike flew to London, then hitchhiked across the UK and over to Ireland and finished up in the city of Cork. He helped out with a Calvary Chapel Cork for a few weeks of summer outreaches and intended on leaving, but the pastor asked him to stay on “for a little bit longer.”
He stayed in Cork as a full-time missionary youth outreach coordinator/assistant for more than two years. In 2005 the pastor felt called by the Lord to go elsewhere (New Zealand) and asked if Rachel and Mike would consider staying on and taking over the church. Mike’s first Sunday morning as pastor was October 18, 2005, preaching to a congregation of four people.
When asked what the greatest life lesson the Lord has taught him recently, Mike answered, “The Lord is continually teaching me the same two lessons over and over again. First, that I am a great sinner, that my nature, my proclivities, my preferences are all tainted by sin. As an earlier confession of faith puts it, ‘even my good deeds are accompanied by many weaknesses and imperfections.’ This is something that I must be reminded about regularly since I am so quick to pat myself on the back or to take pride in a season of fruitfulness or outward success.
The second life lesson that the Lord continually teaches me is that He is a great Savior. He loved me when I was His enemy and He went on a costly rescue mission to bring me to Himself. He has forgiven me of ALL of my sins, fully, freely and forever. He has sent His own Holy Spirit to dwell in me and He leads me in paths of righteousness. His love for me is total, constant and completely unmerited. I know these are ‘basic’ truths that we are all familiar with already, but for me I find myself being reminded of them afresh all the time”