Pastor Mike came to a revelation of the reality of Jesus Christ in 1971 at 18 years old, as he left his home in R. City CA and was swept into the Jesus Movement, at Shiloh Revival Youth Center House in Corvallis, OR. (http://one-way.org/jesusmovement/index.html ). Upon receiving Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, Mike Cantwell sold out to preach the Gospel and baptize all whose lives were turned to Christ, in the ocean in Half Moon Bay. He was a man of the Spirit who preached with fire in his heart!
After marrying his loving wife Marie Cantwell at 20 years old, they received the blessing of three wonderful sons (Timothy, Joshua and Benjamin) by the time he was 25.
By 1980, a Redwood City Bible Study he started was busting at the seams, and the people were asking him to become their Pastor. After a time of seeking God’s will, Mike Cantwell turned down the invitation and opted to go off to Bible College to prepare himself for what God had called him to do.
At the age of 30, he packed up his family to attend Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, OK. (http://www.rbtc.org/) Upon their return, Pastor Dick Bernal of Jubilee Christian Center ( http://jubilee.org/) brought him on Staff as Youth Pastor for 9 years of radical service to Youth. His influence lives on in countless lives touched by his caring, passionate and radical life!
In the Fall of 1994 he and his family were released to begin their own ministry, being blessed financially beyond measure, by Jubilee, to insure the proper support to begin God’s work in Redwood City.
On the first Sunday of February 1995, Pastor Mike, along with his dear family, planted “Jubilee North” in Redwood City CA, at the American Legion Bldg. on El Camino Real.
By 1996, Jubilee North became Harvest Christian Center of Redwood City! The words escape us to describe the LIFE we all experienced in those days…a taste of Heaven on earth! So many of the Youth became ministers themselves, as we currently have spiritual sons and daughters all over the world, preaching and teaching the commandments of JESUS to the glory of God! SHINE ON!!!
On August 24th 2004, Pastor Mike’s youngest son, Benji Cantwell (www.benjicantwell.org ), died in a motorcycle accident. It was indeed the trial of trials for a sold-out father who would have given his life a million times over for his sons. An experience that would impact his life and ministry into a season of personal trial by fire. The very foundation upon which the church was built began to shake…the winds blew…lightning flashed…the floods came in and our merciful covenant God met him right at the point of his greatest despair. There is no doubt that pain, as God’s megaphone, has revolutionized Pastor Mike’s life for the good; he now understands why, the old Christian doctrine of being made ‘perfect through suffering’, is not just words.
Today, without a doubt, Pastor Mike will tell you personally that God is good and his mercies endure forever!!! It is his personal conviction that the Bible doesn’t need adjusting, and God’s plan of His church comes from Him and not us.
In the fall of 2009, our Lord surprised him with a beautiful 10,000 square feet building and an opportunity to get a fresh start at our new location 2798 Bay Rd. in Redwood City…”Undeserved…yet so free…so unearned…what You did for me!” -I’m Happy written by Tim Cantwell.
Pastor Mike Cantwell is one of those “All-American Ordinary Heroes”, an individual whose life has been tried and tested …yet proven true. Today, revival continues to stir deeply in his heart; you will find him seeking God’s face at prayer meetings, so ever cautious to position himself, right where God wants him to be…doing what God wants him to do…no more…no less…whether people understand or not ~Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!
The Best is yet to come –Pastor Mike Cantwell