By Jay Spenciner

Special to The News

Today, I’m talking with Mike Zullo, minister at the Bridgton Alliance Church in Bridgton, and the chaplain for the Bridgton Fire Department.

JS: Tell me about your childhood and youth.

MZ: Hit me with that one, why don’t you? Youngest of three boys, raised in Trumbull, Conn., kind of a non-spectacular childhood, dabbled in sports. Didn’t do great in school. I grew up in a lower to middle class neighborhood. Very tight-knit community. A lot of immigrants in the neighborhood. We had Italian people, Jewish people, Polish people, mostly Italian and some Irish. It was quite the mix.

JS: Where I grew up in New York City, we had three groups — Irish, Jews and Greek. We all got along fine.

MZ: Yeah, we all got along really well, and we helped each other out as neighbors.

JS: When and why did you decide to go into the ministry?

MZ: As I got older and my parents divorced, my older brother had a lot of friends who did a lot of drugs and partying. So, at a young age, I started to party and drink and get into drugs. And unfortunately, that followed me into my adult life. I got into trouble. I got to the point where I was frustrated, not happy with the direction of my life. I was given the name of a pastor of a church. I went and talked with him. And he led me to the Lord. He basically said that the only way out of my lifestyle was Jesus. I said what have I got to lose? So, I gave my life to Christ and things changed almost instantly. It wasn’t long before I found a good church community and got involved. And that led to a calling in my heart that I just couldn’t deny. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was going to be pastor of a church.

JS: You were raised Catholic, right?

MZ: Yes, I was raised Roman Catholic.

JS: Was it difficult to become a Protestant minister for you?

MZ: Not even a little bit. By the time I got older, my parents were divorced and only my Godmother took me to church, maybe once a month. So, I didn’t have a real solid Roman Catholic upbringing. It was easy to make the jump to the Protestant faith.

JS: How did you end up in Bridgton?

MZ: When I finished my degree, I was told I could throw my hat into the ring anywhere in the United States. My wife and I are both from Connecticut. When we were searching for a position, we did the radius thing. We wanted to stay close to home for family. So, it was between this church, Bridgton Alliance and another church in Brewer, Maine, 2-1/2 hours further north. So, we moved up here just to pastor the church and that was 10 years ago.

JS: You’ve been here 10 years? I was good friends with Ed Boon, your predecessor. He wasn’t my pastor, but we hiked together a few times.

MZ: Ed was here 12 years. Then, the church went probably two years without a pastor as they did their search.

JS: Do you have any children?

MZ: I do, three children — my daughter Jessica, my son Vincent and my son Joseph. Jessica has three children so I have three grandchildren. They live up here on South High Street. Vinny lives in Connecticut and owns his own business, Motion Graphics. Joseph lives in Portland.

JS: Tell us about this car!

MZ: Yah, the car! It’s a ’65 Mustang, poppy red. There’s a history of the car. It was bought in ’67 by my uncle in California. Moved to Connecticut some years later. It was all taken apart in the garage. My brother bought it for $500 in 1980 and he started to rebuild it. I spent the next couple of years putting it back together. And this is what it looks like ever since.

JS: You like driving it. You bring it to the station and you have a big grin on your face.

MZ: I do. It should be driven. I drive it a lot. It’s fun and it’s fast and it’s loud and it smells. Yeah, it’s a nice car. It’s only got 90,000 miles on it.

JS: When did you become the fire department chaplain?

MZ: Do you remember when Steve (Faye) was chief and there was a fatal fire across from the hospital, an apartment building? Steve basically recruited me on the spot because he wanted a chaplain to speak with the family (of the fatality). I sat in the ladder truck for almost three hours. I stayed on as chaplain.

JS: You’re not just a chaplain. You’re also a real firefighter. How come?

MZ: That’s your fault. Yep, one day I was on scene, a car accident, and you said something to the effect of, “You’re kind of useless here without gear, why don’t you join the fire department?” The way you said it was more tactful. And I did join. I have you to thank for that. That was over five years ago.

JS: Can you sign something that I was tactful? I’m not known for my tact! Do you enjoy the fire department like the rest of us?

MZ: I love being on the department. I really do. I’m surprised I didn’t think of it earlier in my life. I love giving back to the community.

JS: You know most of us think of you as one of the guys, not as a holy man. I and a lot of the guys call you Padre (Spanish for father or by extension a priest).

MZ: Steve Faye gave me that name.

JS: The name Padre has stuck and most of us call you that. Are you comfortable with that?

MZ: I am. Actually, I don’t like titles like Reverend. That’s my official title. At church, people out of respect call me Pastor. But quite honestly, outside of church, they just call me Mike. I really like that. I am one of the guys. I’m just a regular person. I think people who are effective in ministry need to be of the people, not above the people.

JS: Where do you see yourself in 10, 20, 30 years?

MZ: Um, good question. Wow, 10 years. Well, we see ourselves here. 10 years from now, I see myself in the same position as now, pastoring the church, still on the department. I honestly don’t expect many changes in the next 10 years. After that, I have to say that I haven’t given it much thought.

JS: Well, you’re still a young kid, not an old goat like me.

MZ: But you’re not a goat.

JS: I’ve been called worse.

MZ: Yah, you and me both.