116 Fan Michael Lorenzen Shares His Testimony From Broken Home to MLB

Cincinnati Red’s pitcher Michael Lorenzen shared his powerful testimony on the Renewed Strength Fitness channel. Lorenzen is a devout Christian, and a big time lover of Christian hip-hop. He even proudly reps a 116 tattoo on his non-pitching arm.

However, the back story leading to where Lorenzen is today in life could have taken a tragic turn. Luckily, God intervened in a major way and quickly changed the path of destruction Lorenzen was heading down.

Lorenzen grew up in a broken family with both parents being enslaved by drugs and alcohol. His three older brothers would fight, drink, and get in trouble. He was a lot younger than everyone and that was the only “influence” he had on his life.

“My parents would fight every single day,” he shared in the video. “Cops would come to my house almost every single weekend.”

“This is what I thought was right…I was never taught anything about God.”

His older brother got drafted out of high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Following in his brother’s footsteps became Lorenzen’s passion after that. For his brother, it was more about partying, money, and wild experiences. As a young boy still growing up, he found himself looking for that “selfish gain.”

“Get as much as I can as fast as I could.”

When Lorenzen got to high school, his talent for baseball surpassed that of his brother. Except, by that point, his brothers were out, his father was gone, and his mom was always working. “I could literally do whatever I want,” the pitcher said.

Lorenzen began smoking weed and getting drunk while only in 8th grade. He was heading down the same path as his family and nothing was around to stop him.

One day when he was out getting high with his friends on a pier, a man came over and asked the group if they had heard about Jesus.

He had just seen the movie “Passion of the Christ” and believed it all. He believed Jesus was God, but did not go any further than that.

“As this guy was sharing, it was just unbelievably convicting because he broke down that it was just more than ‘believe in a God,’ but you have to serve and live for God,” Lorenzen said. “Even the demons believe in God.”

That bit hit him harder than anything. “Well obviously I’m high on this pier, I’m about to do something after I get off and this guy is sharing about how God died for my sins…”

He continued, “I wasn’t doing anything in my life to show that I did believe in it to show that it meant anything to me.”

The ballplayer said he felt terrible and like a “zero.” His world came crashing down as quick as the high he was on. Lorenzen believes he was the only one that was really impacted by the encounter that day.

Now, he wants to use baseball as his platform to be that man on the pier. The 116 tattoo donned by the Reach Records artists is a reminder to not be ashamed. It is also a talking point for any baseball fan watching Lorenzen pitch to ask, “What does that tattoo on his arm mean?”

To hear the full testimony, check out the video below:

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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