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incredible determination. “It didn’t keep my father from doing anything that needed to be done,” said Mike. As a young boy, Dickey went to President Franklin Roosevelt’s therapeutic center at Warm Springs, Georgia. He still remembers screaming in pain when his legs were dipped in hot wax as part of his treatment. The President, who had contracted polio in 1921 at the age of 39, shared the same birthday, January 30th, as Dickey. Once while undergoing treatment at the center on his birthday, Roosevelt brought Mike’s father a birthday cake.

As a young teen, Thursday nights were a time for gathering with friends. Sometimes that meant Bible study. Other times it would just be a time of singing. Although it was never advertised, word got around. Visiting speakers came to the Collins’ farm in Cobbtown from all over the world. Mike’s mama, Nell, would put them up in the guest room and serve them the best homemade cooking they had ever eaten. On more than one occasion, a visiting speaker would tell Mike that he had a “calling” on his life. His response was to hide out somewhere the next time that particular guest dropped by. After graduating from high school, Mike continued to run from himself. His idea of a “calling” was that God was going to be unhappy with him unless he became a preacher. He began an apprenticeship program tying rods of rebar at the Savannah River Site. In 1987 he and his brother decided to go into trucking because, “Everybody said you can buy a big truck and get rich,” said Mike. After a year or two they each took a truck and went out on their own to simply try to survive. By the beginning of the nineties, Mike was sick of his life. He was living alone in his grandmother’s old home place and his trucking business was about to go under. Mike knew he had made some bad

decisions in his life, and much of the hardship he had brought on himself. Then four people entered Mike’s life. Each one became an integral part of a continual transformation. First, Mike began doing work as a contract hauler for Donald Davis Logging Company out of Swainsboro. “Mr. Davis knew how to work men and make production,” said Mike. He expected his men to work for their pay. For ten years Mike hauled logs for Donald Davis Logging, which is unheard of in the trucking business. As he watched Mr. Davis with his employees, Mike developed greater understanding of what it took to run a successful business. Even today Mike can recognize things he says or does that refect Mr. Davis’s infuence. The second was Rodney Lloyd, a minister in Statesboro. Rodney helped Mike to see that God never intended for him to be something other than himself. Mike’s gifting was in his work and that was as much a calling as preaching ever could be. Mike is the message that is often lacking and in great need today. His message speaks of day in and day out faithfulness, perseverance, and hope. In the long hours he spent in the cab of a truck, Mike would sometimes become tormented by thoughts of failure. Rodney encouraged him to take responsibility for his thoughts and to actively work to change and control them. For Mike, hope became a mental discipline.

The third thing that happened was Donna. Meeting Donna would alter his world in every way. In 1999, Mike called Donna up and asked if he could come to her house. When he got there he sat down in a chair and said, “I’m going to marry you.” Donna had been uncertain up to that time as to what she wanted to do with her life. She had fnally decided to move to Scotland for two years for mission work but hadn’t felt at peace. “Okay,” she answered.

“What are we going to do now?” They married in November and a year later William was born. In 2003, their daughter, Julie, was born. Donna is an integral part of Mike’s business. In addition to housekeeping, yard cleaning, paperwork and payroll for fourteen employees, Donna also homeschools. The fourth thing occurred near the end of 1999 when Mike became reacquainted with Clint Williams. He remembered seeing Clint from time to time at his parents weekly meetings when he was a child. He was surprised to learn that Clint was a “biovocational” pastor and business owner. Mike and his family knew this was where they belonged. His relationship with Clint is not only a great friendship but also an invaluable source of encouragement, advice when needed, and wisdom. “I thought all those years before was wasted time,” said Mike. But everything was important. He has experienced the greatest fulfllment through his relationships as a husband, father, and in his work. “I have found my calling,” said Mike. And in 2005, the work he was called to became biomass harvesting.

Mike had been in business for himself since 1989 but in 2005, the business incorporated as M. W. Collins, Inc. and he bought a grinder, the frst piece of equipment he would need for biomass harvesting. Kendall Energy Consulting, LLC, a consulting company out of Oregon that has been in the consulting business for thirty years, evaluated Mike’s business to determine if he was eligible for government grant money. The results verifed that M. W. Collins, Inc. was producing the biomass for enough renewable electric energy for 3,000 homes per year. The net carbon dioxide emissions reductions, assuming the wood fuel displaced natural gas fuel demand, would be some 57,300 tons per year (Kendall Energy Consulting, LLC).