About The Founder  

 

Dan Beard was born September 15, 1956 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was raised in Mantua, Ohio until age 12, when his family moved to Oklahoma City. Until this time, Dan had basically been a model student, but, at age 13, he began to make some poor choices. Not knowing until approximately thirty years later that he had Bipolar Disorder, which includes symptoms of drastic mood changes and risk-taking behavior, he experimented with alcohol, marijuana and other drugs, compulsive gambling and occasional criminal behavior. Although he was raised in a Christian home, by age 17 Dan was an avowed atheist, and believed that his luck was so bad that, if God did exist, He must be unfair. Through his mother's prayers, however, one night Dan simply asked "If there is a God, show me what You want me to do." The next day, Dan became ill and, instead of running with his friends, he saw Billy Graham on television, and went to bed. That night, the answer came, as Dan sensed God calling him to Himself, and to a ministry. At that moment, the addictions were broken.