By Teena Myers

Dean encountered God in a powerful experience during his junior year of high school at a church retreat. “I can’t think about it right now or I will start crying,” said Dean. “I have always had a heart for God. My commitment to him never wavered, but there was just something about that time. I don’t really understand it.”

Soon after that experience, Dean read a biography about Saint Francis of Assisi. The saint’s boldness and love left a permanent impression on his life. During the Crusades, Francis walked across enemy lines to request a meeting with the Khalif. A dream the Khalif had the night before Francis arrived spared him from death and opened the door for the meeting. The love that lived in Francis impressed the Khalif. He gave him a ram’s horn, which gave Francis the right to go wherever he wanted in the Khalif’s kingdom without harm.

The following year, Dean had another powerful experience with God during his school’s annual retreat and felt a call to ministry. But his love for sports initially trumped his decision to become a priest. He attended Auburn University to play baseball instead of going to seminary. He met Father Francis, who lived in Assisi, Italy, at the university’s Catholic student community. The Italian priest made a lasting impression on Dean. “Father Francis’s love transcended barriers. He easily connected with people of other faiths like Muslims and Jews,” said Dean.  

His love for sports failed to quench the call to ministry. When he told Father Francis about his decision to become a priest, he invited Dean to spend the summer with him in Assisi before going to seminary. Dean loved watching the rhythm of the priest’s life and his devotion to the Lord. Francis taught Dean about scripture, the church, and Jesus. Dean’s deep hunger to understand scripture prompted a visit to Israel and other places mentioned in the Bible. While he sat alone in the Garden of Gethsemane Church at the foot of the Mount of Olives, he heard God call his name.

Dean returned to Louisiana and enrolled in a seminary. He loved the monks and valued their teachings about contemplative prayer. Then he enrolled in Notre Dame Seminary for his graduate work, a turbulent time of spiritual wrestling. He knew aspects of a priest’s lifestyle were not for him and felt his call to priesthood slipping away, but his call to ministry remained strong.

At the end of his second year, he felt like a lost puppy, and took a year off. He returned as a lay student to get his master’s degree but felt uncomfortable. No longer preparing for the priesthood, he became the seminarian dating a girl.

“I loved theology and didn’t like it,” said Dean. “I loved learning about God, but at the same time, my passion and love for the Lord was less when I left than it was at the beginning. There was something about my studies that raised the intellect higher than the heart, and because of that, the intellect and knowledge became more important than the relationship of the heart. Christianity is a love story. It’s not a theological treatise. It’s a relationship. I lost the relationship in my pursuit of knowledge.”

After graduation, Dean continued to read the Bible and pray but was no longer active in the Catholic Church. He married, they adopted a child, and he graduated from the University of New Orleans with a master in counseling, which became his ministry and a successful business, until he added a partner.

Severing his partnership moved him to a new office in New Orleans. He had worked from his office for a short time when he felt an urgency to leave the city. He moved his family to Daphne, Alabama, bought a house, and opened a new practice. One year later, Hurricane Katrina buried his former office under twelve feet of water.

Even though Dean remained devoted to God, he had stopped attending church. His wife suggested they return to church for the sake of their son. Dean knew she was right, but he was unwilling to return to church out of obligation. They searched for a church where they could grow and offer something. They had visited several churches before they walked into a Methodist Church and felt at home. They loved the worship, the messages preached, and the people. The pastor began referring people to Dean for counseling. His positive impact on the people he counseled prompted the pastor to offer him a staff position in pastoral care.

The Methodist church exposed Dean to the ministry of Oral Roberts, an evangelist and faith healer. Reading Roberts’ autobiography, Expect a Miracle, opened him to a spiritual dimension he had only read about in the Bible, most of which he did not believe was possible anymore. The autobiography gave Dean a thirst to know more, just as the biography about Saint Frances of Assisi had. Dean wrote a letter of thanks to Oral Roberts for exposing him to a deeper understanding of God. He was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter from Oral Robert’s secretary inviting him to meet with the famous preacher.

Roberts, semi-retired from ministry, only met with ministers. Two years before Roberts died in 2009, Dean joined a group of ministers for a private meeting in Roberts’ home.

“We walked into the room. It was electric. The power of God was so present. He was bold and loving and so strong and so sure of himself in terms of the work of the Lord.  At one point, he said ‘I can continue teaching, but the anointing is so strong I can lay my hands on each of you.’ He prayed for each of us and then continued teaching for several hours.”

Dean returned home, knowing he needed more training. His wife joined him in a prayer for guidance, “Lord, we will go anywhere in the world to be trained.” A month later, he heard Dr. Leroy Thompson speak on a Kenneth Copeland broadcast. As Dean listened to the teaching, he heard, “That’s your spiritual father.” Dean began reading books by Thompson and following his ministry. Soon after making the commitment to go “anywhere in the world to be trained,” Dean heard God say, “Resign your job and attend Thompson’s church.” 

Dean’s family attended a service at Thompson’s church. In the middle of the message, Thompson said, “Somebody will get a house today” then returned to his message. That afternoon, they placed a bid on a house in bankruptcy. Dean knew he would have a problem if he won the bid. He lived in a nice golfing community, but the house next door to his had been on the market for months with no takers. Dean prayed, “Lord, if this is you, I need you to sell my house in Alabama.”

Dean won the bid on the house in Louisiana. He put a For Sale by Owner sign in his yard and hoped for a quick sell. The next day, a woman bought his house for significantly more than he paid for it. They moved to Louisiana with a comfortable cushion to reestablish their counseling business.

Dean enrolled in the church’s ministry school and served wherever needed as they waited for God’s direction. He found that direction when he attended his thirty-year high school reunion. As he interacted with friends, compassion rose in his heart. In that moment, he knew God had called him to New Orleans. He moved his family to New Orleans, established a counseling center and started a church, knowing he had found his place of ministry.

© Teena Myers 2024