Know Your Neighbor: Michael Blacker, Pastor/Counselor

Through most of his twenties Michael Blacker was addicted to marijuana. If he tried to stop, Blacker would suffer the extreme effects of withdrawal.

About a decade into his addiction Blacker had a terrifying dream. He rested his head on the pillow one night and heard a voice telling him “You’re going to die, you’re going to die. You better do something about it.”

“I would hear that voice and it would scare me so much, to the point where because I was scared somebody invited me to church,” Blacker recalled. “I went in desperation needing help.”

The house of worship that the friend asked him to accompany him to was the World Evangelism Bible Church, a nondenominational Christian congregation in Danbury. Blacker said during a prayer on his first trip there his hands began to feel hot. The pastor said if anyone had that sensation to step forward.

Blacker approached haltingly. The pastor then asked anyone who needed healing to also come up. About 10 people came forward, including the assistant pastor.

Blacker said he couldn’t believe that the church’s clergy was asking him to provide healing when he was the one who attended in search of help. But he liked what he felt.

“Something just came over me and there was such a change in my body,” Blacker said. “I don’t know how to describe it. I started praying. Words began coming out of me. I don’t know where they came from but I’m praying for people and I started feeling in the presence of God a different dimension. My whole body was like lifted up.”

The decision to go to church that day helped Blacker set his life course. Church elders asked him to visit parishioners in area hospitals where he would pray for the sick.

About five years ago after attending a chaplaincy program and then seminary, Blacker, 53, became a pastor and now leads the church’s Connecticut congregation. He serves in ministry, still visiting the sick and those in drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, providing counseling and speaking publicly – he’s fluent in Spanish and Portuguese – about the power of prayer and the miracles they produce.

One such miracle, he said, was within three weeks after his initial trip to the church he never returned to drugs. That was more than 20 years ago.

“For the first time in a long time my eyes were clear, everything was gone,” said Blacker, who previously owned his own painting and wallpaper business. “I’d been apparently healed, so I never went back to the drugs. I never thought about it.”

During his years in ministry and visiting patients in hospitals, Blacker said he has seen his share of miracles, which he has outlined in a book he wrote earlier this year called “Miraculous Prayers: Home to Get Your Miracle From God.”

Growing up in Bedford, Blacker, a Fox Lane High School graduate, may have been one of the last people anyone would think of as a future clergy member. He said he grew up a shy, introverted youngster whose family attended an Episcopalian congregation. But he found church boring and didn’t want to be involved.

In high school, Blacker started drinking. He went to college – and dropped out – and soon replaced alcohol with marijuana. He infuriated his father who cut off all financial help.

Perhaps Blacker’s first exposure to the power of prayer came from his paternal grandmother. During his darkest days, which included run-ins with the police, he would periodically visit her in Florida. Blacker would see her pray daily in her house. But it was his grandmother’s unconditional love struck a chord in him.

“She always bought me clothes and never said anything except that I’m praying for you,” Blacker remembered.

Blacker, who is single and plans to finish his college degree, said getting himself clean and finding a purpose repaired his relationship with parents. His message of hope and prayer during interfaith counseling sessions has also endeared him to people of other faiths.

Blacker said he is thrilled that he has been able to use his gifts to help people as he was helped more than 20 years ago. He’s certain that it’s in God’s hands.

“When I wake up in the morning and feel tired or overwhelmed by life’s challenges I wonder why I have that gift,” Blacker said. “The Bible says that when you are in your mother’s womb God knows you and ordained you. He had a plan for your life.”

To learn more about the World Evangelism Bible Church or to contact Pastor Michael Blacker, visit www.webicamerica.org or call 914-299-6254.