International (MNN) — What does it take for the Lord to get your attention?
Dave McIntyre, better known as “Mac”, is the new International Director for Set Free Ministries. A few years ago, the Lord removed many of Mac’s life accomplishments so He could deal with underlying issues. Today, Mac helps broken people find the freedom only Christ can offer.
“The Lord has taken me full circle,” Mac says.
“I feel like the Lord took everything away, broke me down to nothing, so He could rebuild me into the current position I’m in.”
Starving, yet free
God took Mac through an “impromptu” freedom appointment while he was competing on the hit show, Alone. Edited for space, Mac describes his experience below:
“I had just been through a really rough time in my life. I was a missionary for 15 years in Brazil, and that ended when my wife decided to divorce me and I ended up losing my career in missions. I ended up working here in Michigan, inspecting foreclosed homes; that company folded, and I was out of a job. That’s when Alone approached me to be on the show.
David “Mac” McIntyre, International Director
(Photo courtesy of Set Free Ministries)
“By the time I got to the island, I was completely reduced to nothing. My car had been totaled; I’d spent all my money on gear for the show. I remember about six days in on the island just praying, ‘Lord, you have taken everything away from me and exiled me to a rock on the north end of nowhere. The only thing I have left to lose is my life or my health.’ I was okay with it because I knew that He had taken me there.
“He proceeded to starve me down; I lost 35 pounds in that first month. He took away the last of my strength, and I remember one day coming out and seeing the gill net I had set up to catch fish. [It] was completely collapsed on the beach and [had] tied itself into knots in the surf. I was super frustrated and at the end of my rope… as I started untangling this [gill] net… [it was like a] light went off: ‘Dude, this is your life.’ I had been a missionary, a Christian school teacher. I was working for the Lord, and it all just crashed and burned. It was all taken away from me. It was the first time He [brought] me to a point where I was able to confront myself and my own failings. I had a lot to confess… things I had to deal with … I confessed these things, repented of them; and He forgave me, and I received that grace.
“After a while, there were no more things to deal with, and it was like He gave me [a] five-minute breather. All of a sudden, I started remembering things done to us as a family; some really horrible things, I mean things people go to prison for. These faces started coming up and one by one, I had to forgive them because I had just been forgiven. I had to feel that pain and a lot of rage all over again and give that over to Him… I had this leave it in his hands. After I got through all those people, I was light as a feather emotionally, spiritually.
“Here I am in the north end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, starving to death, but I felt great. I felt wonderful, and [then] the Lord turned the food back on. I started catching fish and catching crabs… and by the end of day 66, I was actually regaining weight that I lost. I wasn’t up to my pre-trip weight, but I was certainly turning the corner on survival.
“They (the film crew) came out for a medical check and as they’re doing this short interview with me, I turn around and my daughter was standing there. She said, ‘You did it, dad! You’ve won!’ So that was me winning season two of Alone … and that worked into my current position now as International Director at Set Free Ministries.”
Listen to the full interview to hear Mac describe his experience in greater detail.
Find your place in the story
After approximately six months of training and other introductory work, Mac is now starting to meet with Set Free’s partners and field directors. “It’s a wonderful thing to see here and abroad – the effect that freedom has on people. It really is a motivator to dive into this headlong; I want this for other people internationally,” Mac says.
Use the prompts listed alongside this article to pray for Mac as he plans for the future. Contact Set Free here for more ways to support this ministry.
“I’m always looking for people that want to train people working in spiritually dark places. That’s the way I see us moving forward internationally,” Mac says.
Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Kyle Glenn/Unsplash.
