Bert Bean

In 1997 on a normal Thursday night for most high school students, a young mind begins to wrestle with indecision. The “guys” are gathering like usual in a basement across town - guitars, beer, and pool table ready for the typical gathering. With phone in hand, and an older sister on the line begging for her brother to skip the party and come to “revival”, and a younger sister staring intently at him as if to change his mind with her puppy dog eyes, a surge of resentment and bitterness fill the room. Fortunately, in the midst of chaos and confusion, God is moving.

Bert Bean, only 17 at the time, is guilted into attending church by the intent stare of the younger sister that thinks he “hung the moon”. Her incessant begging drives him to give up his normal Thursday night of music, drinking, and friends to attend this “revival” that seems to be little more than a huge inconvenience. Entering into a small church packed with other teenagers, led to the front and forced into a metal folding chair because the pews are full, Bert encounters “church” for the first time. The guest musician takes the stage without a band and begins to sing with the music tracks . “How lame, and boring” thinks Bert, “I could be playing pool right now.” As a balding man begins to talk about the “great ones”, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Janis Joplin, Bert’s attention is aroused. “If this is church then I am down with it”. Then the realization sets in, the great ones are de. All young, all famous, all dead. There is the mention of Christ. The 17 year old boy had heard of him but thought he was just another great one that was young, famous, and dead. But in one hour, on one night when he should have been drinking, singing, and talking about girls, Bert found out that Christ was still alive, not only alive but had come back to life so that Bert could live “the Life”. A John 10:10 type of life, one that not only has a heartbeat, but that allows that heart to beat wildly to the rhythm of Christ’s drum. Bert received salvation and purpose through a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ on that night, and has never been the same.

Fast forward 10 years and you find Bert Bean, one of the southeast’s forefront student ministers and communicators. God has blessed Bert with the talent to reach the attention-lacking, technologically driven society of today’s teenager with stories, humor, and an amazing insight into God’s word. Involved in revivals, rallies, camps, D-now weekends, and school assemblies, Bert speaks numerous times throughout the year. Bert’s heartfelt desire is to effectively present the Gospel of Christ, using any means necessary to bring students into the presence of a life changing God.