Good News - September 2021

COVER STORY 30 SEPTEMBER 2021 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition Dr. Mike Rozenblum was well established in New Mexico. The owner of several chiropractic clinics, he had a loving wife, healthy children and a dream home, but some- thing was missing. That nagging sense that there had to be more sent Mike and his wife Karen Rozenblum on an adventure that ultimately resulted in them selling it all and mov- ing their family across the country where they believe God was leading them. This journey shifted their focus from physical healing only, to presenting the kind of spiritual well being that only God can provide. Chasing the American dream Born in Venezuela, Mike was raised Jewish. His family moved to South Florida when he was 10 and he had his Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem at 13. After high school he attended Life University, a chiropractic school in Marietta, Georgia, where he met his wife Karen, a nice Catholic girl from Detroit. As newly weds they headed west and opened their first chiropractic clinic in Española, a very small town in northern NewMexico. Karen worked in an established practice to help make ends meet while Mike developed their business and waited tables in the evenings. As their hard work paid off, they opened a second clinic in Santa Fe, began to have children and Karen was able to be a stay-at-home mom. By American standards, they had achieved the American dream. “Our business was going good. Our relationship was good. Our kids were healthy and yet there was this void in our lives,” explained Karen. “We were achieving all this stuff and never satisfied, so we began to think, what is missing?” Mike began travelling all over the world teaching with the prestigious Gonstead Chi- ropractic Seminars with two of his contemporaries from chiropractic school. “We all worked really hard, long hours and ran successful businesses,” said Mike. “But I would tell them, I don’t know why I feel so empty inside. I’m having one or two drinks just to wind down when I get home from work, only to settle down and do it all again the next day.” Mike discovered his contemporaries were “born again believers.” He said, “They ministered to me for three and a half years. They gave me a Bible. They gave me eight tracks. They gave me books, cassettes, and I always told them, enough! I’m not interested in Jesus. He was a nice carpenter, but back off with the whole Jesus thing. And they told me, ‘We’re only trying to share with you the life that you’re missing.’” Finding Shalom Flying into Albuquerque one day after a seminar, Mike decided to go to church at Calvary Chapel of Albuquerque. “I got to this church and it just blew my mind! It was like a mall. I had only seen Catholic Churches or Jewish Synagogues that were small, reverent and kind of quiet. I got to this place and there were kids running around with a skateboard in one hand and a Bible in the other. People were wearing shorts, and some were wearing jeans. I go inside and the pastor says, ‘Shalom!’ I thought he was talking to me. The following week I came back with my wife and within a month we had both given our life to Christ. Little did I know that my wife had been privately and independently praying, so when we came to Christ, we came together, and it was powerful. The scriptures became alive in my mind and the concept of Messiah, which I’d known about my entire life, suddenly became real.” Mike said they had a very radical salvation. “We had lived so long apart from Christ, both of us felt we needed to catch up. For over a year we commuted over 60 miles from Santa Fe just to attend church in Albuquerque. Eventually we sold our home and clinics and moved toAlbuquerque just to be part of the church. We bought a new house and built a new practice down the street from the church. Things were amazing. We grew in favor with God and man. Eventually I was asked to be on the board of Calvary of Albuquerque which was and still is, a great honor.” A spiritual move Years later the Rozenblums encountered a significant trial when their closest family friend, from church, embezzled over a million dollars from them during a business deal. The whole ordeal in the courts took over two years and left them wounded and crushed by the betrayal. “We began to pray for a new song in our hearts,” said Mike, and on a trip to visit family in South Florida they had an encounter with Bob Coy, former pastor of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, that got them praying about a bigger move. Having listened to the church’s radio ministry in New Mexico, they decided to visit Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. “We had a tour of the school in between services, and I was just overwhelmed with a feeling that my children were going to walk the halls of that school,” said Karen, “but I quietly just tucked that away.” Later they ended up in Bob’s office. After bringing greetings from Calvary Albuquerque and Pastor Skip Heitzig in a very brief conversation, Mike said he was surprised when “he said to me, ‘I think you ought to move to South Florida and oversee our men’s ministry.’ It literally was less than five minutes and my response to him was, I don’t know you and I don’t appreciate you talking to me like that. It was intense; it was awesome. Then I looked over at my wife and she was in tears. When I asked her why, she said, ‘I have no idea.’ Something hap- pened that was real and palpable.” Over a year the Rozenblums prayed as a family and considered the move while Mike was in communication with Bob and others in the church. Karen said, “I was thinking, Lord, what are you doing? It seemed like too many moving pieces. We had a home and businesses and kids established and 19 years of life there that was beautiful.” After con- sidering it as a couple, they eventually decided to bring it to their children and met weekly as a family to pray about it. Then Mike said, “through a series of unbelievable real signs the Lord made it clear it was time for us to put our feet in the Jordan and go. We sold a big fancy house in one day. I sold all of my clinics and we came to Florida.” Mike said, “Initially we were on cloud nine. We felt we were in the middle of His will. Our kids were at Calvary ChristianAcademy thriving. I enjoyed being in the ministry and applying my time and effort to further the Kingdom. Then not long after the final completion of the sale of my clinics things changed in Fort Lauderdale and a whole new faith journey began.” Following a trip with Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale to tour the Holy Land of Israel, Mike and Karen returned to the announcement that Pastor Bob Coy had committed a moral failure which removed him from leadership. “After the initial sadness and shock, great men and women began the reconstruction of our church and community…It was a Dr. Mike Rozenblum Shares His Faith Journey of Physical and Spiritual Wellbeing Shelly Pond Good News Editor Dr. Mike Rozenblum and Karen Rozenblum Photo by Justus Martin www.justusmartinphoto.com