✝️ From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Meet Dr. Michael Hauman

Good morning, my brothers! Today, we’re starting something new as we learn and grow in Christ through God’s activity and faithfulness, as seen in the lives of one of you, a member of our brotherhood. This morning, we meet Dr. Mike Hauman, a subscriber who reached out about his story and healthcare ministry, Aslan Health. As Dr. Mike shared his passion for treating health holistically—addressing mind, body, and spirit as one—we knew it providentially aligned with MTM’s mission. Mike’s journey from burnout to breakthrough embodies what many of you have experienced and have shared with me: God often uses our deepest wounds to prepare us for our greatest service to the Kingdom. If you have a story of God’s faithfulness or a gift that could encourage your MTM brothers, please drop me a note. Your story might be exactly what the rest of us need to hear. Let’s go!

This week’s manly topics (6-min read):

🙂 PROFILE We introduce a new feature that we hope will become the first in a series of MTM subscriber profiles. Note that our next digital campfire (Sep. 9) will feature this gent - see details and registration link below the article.
📰  NEWS We move into the third part of our exploration of short-term goal setting and consider how to create the social connections we need to fuel consistency.
 🔥 YOU ARE INVITED Our next MTM Digital Campfire is schedule for Tuesday, September 9, at noon Eastern. See details below the article. View past campfires on our Rumble channel.

PROFILE
From Breakdown to Breakthrough

Mike Hauman grew up in a Toledo, Ohio, household where faith and medicine were family traditions. His parents were high school sweethearts who faithfully attended their Lutheran church every Sunday, taking Mike and his siblings through all the expected milestones: baptism, first communion, catechism classes, and serving as an acolyte. But as Mike puts it, “I was churched and I knew some things, but I wasn’t surrendered to Christ. I had a religion, not a relationship.”

That distinction became crystal clear at age 15 when his closest friends at his Jesuit high school betrayed him, spreading lies as a joke gone wrong, which prompted the social rejection all teenagers fear more than anything. “Overnight, I lost my friends and became a social outsider,” Mike recalls. “At 15, that seems like the end of your life."

In his desperation and looking for direction, Mike pulled a Bible from his desk shelf. As he opened it, something fell out: a pocket-sized Gospel tract entitled “One Way” by famed evangelical publisher Jack Chick. If you grew up in evangelical circles, you’ve probably seen these little booklets with their distinctive cartoons telling the story of salvation in simple, powerful images (like the God-hating construction worker who falls off a steel girder, lands squarely on a sharp steel pipe and goes directly to hell … thanks for all of the nightmares, Jack!)

The tract walked Mike through humanity’s journey from paradise to separation from God to redemption through Christ’s sacrifice. At the end, it posed the question that changed everything: “Will you receive Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior?”

On December 12, 1980, Mike surrendered his life to Christ. “I said at that moment, ‘God, if you really are who you say you are, then show me.’” What happened next started a process of transformation:

“I started at Genesis 1:1, like any good book you read from the front to the back. I read a chapter a day, and within six months, my life was transformed by doing nothing more than reading the word every night before I went to bed.”

The change was so dramatic that by graduation, his classmates voted him “most likely to become a priest”!

Following the Family Calling

Medicine ran deep in Mike’s DNA. His great-grandfather had been a family practice doctor around 1900, followed by his grandfather, who became a general surgeon, then his uncle Robert, also a general surgeon; all practicing in Toledo. “Medicine was just a part of our family,” Mike explains. “We considered it a high calling, not just an occupation. It was one of the best things you could do with your life; to spend yourself in the service of other people, reducing their suffering.”

Mike’s natural sciences aptitude and desire to practice a medical specialty with office-based relationship building and technically challenging surgery led him to Cleveland and the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine, where he completed his four-year degree, and then back to Toledo for a surgical residency. After three years practicing in Cincinnati, he partnered with his best friend from medical school, establishing a private practice in the Cleveland area. It was a friendship that would span four decades and include the joy of watching his partner’s entire family come to faith in Christ.

But success came with a crushing price.

The Breaking Point

Mike assumed the responsibilities of managing partner (HR, accounting, legal, etc.) while maintaining a full patient load and teaching half-time at the medical school in the department of surgery. During that time, a former student and trainee brought a fictitious lawsuit against his practice partner and best friend, who was subsequently dropped by his malpractice insurance carrier. As a result, Mike shouldered all hospital consults, surgeries for the next several years until that situation was resolved. Add four boys under the age of 7 in a cramped 1,600-square-foot house, and the stress load became overwhelming.

“I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia at the Cleveland Clinic,” Mike recalls. “I was miserable, but my doctors didn’t really have answers. Both conditions are stress-induced illnesses. I just burned myself up.”

At the same time, his marriage imploded. He and his wife were deeply involved in their church, where they taught parenting classes, and Mike ran a youth scouting program. His wife had an affair. What followed was a decade-long nightmare of her recurring betrayal, failed counseling, and her repeated deception through multiple extramarital relationships.

"I was trying to honor Christ by honoring the commitment I made to her in marriage. Our children didn’t know everything that was going on … but they were watching me.  I believe with kids, more is caught than taught; they can see hypocrisy.” Mike explains his decision to fight for the marriage. “I just had to do the right thing, honor my vows and commitment. God has never given up on me, even in my rebellion against Him.”

He recalls a particularly low moment pushing his lawnmower around the backyard, processing the cascading devastation with barely enough strength to push ahead. For an entire hour, he could only repeat one thing: “Jesus loves me … this I know.” The truth of that simple children’s song became his lifeline. “That was all I had. That was it. But that was all I truly needed. I trusted Him, whatever the outcome, my life is His story of redemption.”

In 2013, his wife left for good, moving in with a boyfriend. The court granted Mike full custody of his sons, a privilege and legacy he can not overstate.

From Survival to Service

Those dark years taught Mike something the Cleveland Clinic couldn’t: healing involves far more than surgery and drugs. His medical education had not covered a root cause perspective to chronic illness.  The pharmaceutical-first approach that dominated his training felt incomplete for the complex challenges he and his patients faced every day.

He began experimenting with his own health, discovering how certain foods triggered inflammation and brain fog, while others promoted healing. When he started recommending anti-inflammatory supplements instead of just NSAIDs for patients with joint pain, he watched their conditions improve.

But Mike wanted to do more than just suggest alternatives. He wanted to provide his patients with direct access to professional-grade supplements and the guidance needed to use them effectively.

So, in 2022, at age 57, he founded Aslan Health.

A Different Kind of Medicine

Aslan Health reflects everything Mike learned through his journey from burnout to breakthrough. Named after C.S. Lewis's Christ-figure from Narnia, the platform offers what Mike calls “ whole person optimization” healthcare that addresses thought life, nutrition, supplementation, physical activity, and spiritual health as an integrated whole.

“The thoughts you entertain matter. What you put into your mouth matters. What you do with your body matters. What your heart pursues matters—all of those things together make up who you become,” Mike explains. “It's my Christian worldview that helped me to see the bigger picture of health and wellbeing more than a purely biological view ever could.”

He recently added a community element to Aslan Health, hosted on the Circle platform.  This includes Mike’s Energy Restoration Roadmap, a 12-week curriculum that guides participants through revealing their stress profile, resetting foundational habits, and renewing their resilience, all from a Christ-honoring perspective. For those needing deeper support, Mike offers additional coaching with functional lab testing and supplement protocols inside the course.

But perhaps most importantly, Aslan Health includes a community element, something Mike learned the hard way during his years of isolation and struggle. Christian men do not need to battle alone.

Standing in the Gap

Mike’s story embodies something many MTM readers understand: God often uses our deepest wounds to prepare us for our greatest ministry. The chronic fatigue that once threatened to end his service became the catalyst for discovering integrative approaches that now help others. The marriage betrayal that nearly destroyed him taught him about the power of truthful, Bible-based affirmations in healing our deepest wounds.

“You are a steward of all things that God has provided and given to you; this includes your physical body,” Mike tells his patients. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you. You are His ambassador.”

At 60, Mike isn’t winding down. He’s ramping up. He sees Aslan Health as his ministry to men and women who, like him, have discovered that conventional medicine alone isn’t enough. They need an approach that honors God’s design: body, soul, and spirit.

That 15-year-old boy who found hope in a Jack Chick tract has become a 60-year-old physician offering hope and help to others. The simple truth that sustained him through his darkest hour (“Jesus loves me, this I know”) now energizes a wellness ministry that treats people as whole beings created in God’s image. 

And how about you? What trial or dark hour has God brought you through that you can use to strengthen your brothers in Christ? As Winston Churchill famously said: “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.”

Continue the conversation by sitting in on our next digital campfire (Zoom get-together) - see details below👇 👇👇

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THIS JUST IN
📣 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WEB 📣

Training
“For physical training is of some value …” 1 Timothy 4:8

The Science of Short-Term Success 🧵 3/4 Leverage Social Connections (Missed part one or part two? Scroll to each issue’s “Training” section, read and then return here.) Men over 50 who train with partners achieve 80% better exercise adherence than those going it alone. But finding that partner is a daunting challenge for older guys like us. The research reveals a clear path forward. This truth will help: Men bond “side-by-side” through shared activities, not face-to-face conversations. Your church, gym or community center/YMCA are good places to bump into other guys at similar life stages and values who are likely looking for training partners, too. The short-term goal you set (see part two) can serve as the perfect invitation: “I'm training for [insert event] in October. Want to join me?” Maybe its just, “I’m trying to build a new exercise habit of getting to the gym three days a week and I know I will be more consistent if I have a training partner.” Or, schedule a few sessions with a personal trainer at your gym and then ask if he or she knows of any guys looking for training partners. Joining a SilverSneakers class is also an easy way to make connections. The beauty of this approach: meaningful camaraderie develops naturally in the midst of the shared challenge and achievement.

Gear
“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21

You already know music can transform drudgery to delight … and sometimes that is what exercise feels like. Let’s take a look at the top music streaming options so you can make an informed decisions as to which will energize your fitness activities. Spotify leads with 100+ million song library and over 7 million podcasts (the largest catalog, ideal for sermons or health episodes), at $11.99/month (family: $19.99). Apple Music matches the music catalog size plus 2.7 million podcasts (via Apple Podcasts app), priced at $10.99/month (family: $16.99). Amazon Music also offers 100+ million tracks; their podcast shows number in the low millions). Amazon is often bundled for Prime users at $10.99/month (family: $19.99). Pandora, with a smaller library of 30-40 million songs but strong radio-style discovery; much smaller podcast inventory; starts at $10.99/month (family: $17.99). Most have free ad-supported tiers, but paid banishes the ads and enables downloads so you can listen offline. Spotify is currently offering three months free (then, $12/month after; until September 22, 2025). Apple is offering one month free (then $11/month after).