By Mike Hazlip—
Andray Mikayelyan, who opened Benji’s Woodfire Pizza on Auburn Boulevard earlier this month, says his life growing up in Citrus Heights was once filled with anger, brokenness and trouble-making.
“I was raised without my dad growing up as a teenager,” Mikayelyan said. “He went to prison, and I went down a dark path growing up in Citrus Heights, actually getting kicked out of every school from Mesa, Sylvan, and Carriage — and just a broken boy, angry, without his dad.”
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However, that’s all changed for the 34-year-old entrepreneur, who now views his mission in life to be reaching youth growing up in similar circumstances as himself.
After growing up in the restaurant industry, Mikayelyan said the last thing he wanted was to start his own establishment. But he now sees the business as part of God’s calling on his life.
“I just never wanted the restaurant lifestyle because I know that it costs a lot,” Mikayelyan said. “So I didn’t want to pay that cost, but when God gave me a vision for eternal purposes, that’s when I took the assignment. The first year, I fought with God because I did not like standing in front of a thousand-degree oven in 100-degree weather.”
Mikayelyan said the name “Benji’s” refers to a biblical name that means “son of my right hand.” It is also the name of his youngest son, and he plans to use some of the proceeds from the business to fund a ministry for fatherless boys.
“When I accepted God as my as my heavenly Father, and not having my father in my life, I felt as if I was the son again,” he said. “That really transformed my life, set me free from ten years of prison time. I got saved by his grace and I felt like I was a son again.”
In a video posted to the business’ YouTube channel, Mikayelyan outlines some of the problems he sees as part of a fatherless generation. He said he was involved in criminal activity and drugs by the age of 13 in an effort to suppress the anger he felt growing up without a father.
At 25, Mikayelan said he was in an “altercation” that landed him in the hospital with head injuries, broken bones, and internal bleeding. It was in that hospital bed where he says he encountered God.
“That was the first time I actually heard God’s voice, and that was Him saying He saved me for a purpose,” Mikayelyan said. “That was when God came into my life and said I can give you that power that will set you free.”
Previously a high school dropout, Mikayelyan eventually attended William Jessup University, something he called a miracle in itself. Writing a paper on the statistics of fatherless children inspired him to help the youth that he said are repeating the same mistakes he has made in his life.
“This gave me the purpose and passion to my life, and God told me that ‘I’m calling you to be a father to the fatherless,’” he said. “Knowing that I didn’t have a dad in my life, how am I supposed to be a father to this next generation, but God transformed my life in His grace and mercy, and I’m seeing that change in me daily.”
Mikayelyan hopes the restaurant will help raise the capital for The Father’s Lighthouse, a home for fatherless boys. He is currently looking for a location to build the organization, saying he hopes to house “as many fatherless boys as possible.” He said he wants to avoid using government funds in his faith-based ministry.
“We want to incorporate the love of Christ and biblical values into raising this next generation, because that’s what transformed my life in a good way,” he said. “It actually saved my marriage. It saved me, [so I can be] a father to my kids, saved my life.”
