David Ring

Last updated

David Ring (born 28 October 1953) is a Christian evangelist and motivational speaker who has cerebral palsy. Ring has, since 1973, challenged thousands of people with his signature message: "I have cerebral palsy... What's your problem?" He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and four children.

Contents

Early years

David Ring was born in Jonesboro, the seat of Craighead County in eastern Arkansas, the son of Baptist pastor Oscar Newton Ring. Ring's father died in 1964. Cancer took his mother four years later. Ring was hence an orphan at the age of fourteen. Depressed from the combination of losing his parents and the difficulties of his disability, Ring dropped out of high school. Ring specifically struggled with losing his mother, the only woman he believed would love him. According to Ring, he attempted to commit suicide many times over the course of the following two years due to his depression. [1] With the encouragement of his sister, however, he gave his life to Jesus in 1970 and returned to Liberty High School in Liberty, Missouri, where he graduated in 1971. Ring earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Jewell College in Liberty in 1976, where he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. [2] His new signature message is "I have cerebral palsy, but cerebral palsy don't have me." His now famous catch phrase (concerning Christians who make excuses regarding their faith) is: "I have cerebal palsy and I serve the Lord with all that is within me, what's your excuse?"

Ministry

Ring has been a guest on The Old-Time Gospel Hour , The 700 Club , and at Bill Gaither's Praise Gathering. He has written one book Just As I Am: The Life of David Ring in 1994. [3] Ring describes gospel musician Mike Speck as his "best friend in the whole world". [4] Ring has been featured on broadcasts such as John Hagee’s ministry Cornerstone and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family . [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John the Baptist</span> 1st-century Jewish itinerant preacher

John the Baptist was a Judaean preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early 1st century AD. He is also known as John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist Christian traditions, and Prophet Yahya in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively referred to as John the Baptiser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Falwell</span> American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist (1933–2007)

Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerebral palsy</span> Group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensation, vision, hearing, and speaking. Often, babies with cerebral palsy do not roll over, sit, crawl or walk as early as other children of their age. Other symptoms include seizures and problems with thinking or reasoning, each of which occur in about one-third of people with CP. While symptoms may get more noticeable over the first few years of life, underlying problems do not worsen over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Spurgeon</span> British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an English Particular Baptist preacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benny Hinn</span> American-Canadian evangelist (born 1952)

Toufik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn is a Palestinian Christian televangelist, best known for his regular "Miracle Crusades"—revival meeting or faith healing summits that are usually held in stadiums in major cities, which are later broadcast worldwide on his television program, This Is Your Day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Piper (theologian)</span> American pastor and writer (born 1946)

John Stephen Piper is an American New Testament scholar, Baptist theologian, pastor, and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Piper taught biblical studies at Bethel University for six years (1974–1980), before serving as pastor for preaching and vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church (Converge) in Minneapolis for 33 years (1980–2013).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Warren</span> Christian religious leader

Richard Duane Warren is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament</span> Designations for Jesus used in the New Testament

Two names and a variety of titles are used to refer to Jesus in the New Testament. In Christianity, the two names Jesus and Emmanuel that refer to Jesus in the New Testament have salvific attributes. After the crucifixion of Jesus the early Church did not simply repeat his messages, but focused on him, proclaimed him, and tried to understand and explain his message. One element of the process of understanding and proclaiming Jesus was the attribution of titles to him. Some of the titles that were gradually used in the early Church and then appeared in the New Testament were adopted from the Jewish context of the age, while others were selected to refer to, and underscore the message, mission and teachings of Jesus. In time, some of these titles gathered significant Christological significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Osteen</span> American televangelist and author (born 1963)

Joel Scott Osteen is an American lay preacher, televangelist, businessman and author based in Houston, Texas. Known for his weekly televised services and several best-selling books, Osteen is one of the more prominent figures associated with prosperity theology and a focus of its critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Dyer</span> American writer (1940–2015)

Wayne Walter Dyer was an American self-help author and a motivational speaker. Dyer completed a Ed.D. in guidance and counseling at Wayne State University in 1970. Early in his career, he worked as a high school guidance counselor, and went on to run a successful private therapy practice. He became a popular professor of counselor education at St. John's University, where he was approached by a literary agent to put his ideas into book form. The result was his first book, Your Erroneous Zones (1976), one of the best-selling books of all time, with an estimated 100 million copies sold to date. This launched Dyer's career as a motivational speaker and self-help author, during which he published 20 more best-selling books and produced a number of popular specials for PBS. Influenced by thinkers such as Abraham Maslow and Albert Ellis, Dyer's early work focused on psychological themes such as motivation, self actualization and assertiveness. By the 1990s, the focus of his work had shifted to spirituality. Inspired by Swami Muktananda and New Thought, he promoted themes such as the "power of intention," collaborated with alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra on a number of projects, and was a frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geri Jewell</span> American actress

Geraldine Ann "Geri" Jewell is an American actress, stand-up comedian, diversity consultant, and motivational speaker, noted for roles on the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life and the mid-2000s western Deadwood. She is known as being one of the first people on a TV sitcom with cerebral palsy, and she has helped advocate for the disabled throughout her career. She has also been an advocate for the LGBTQ community since publicly coming out as lesbian in her 2011 autobiography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Mohler</span> American evangelical theologian (born 1959)

Richard Albert Mohler Jr. is an American evangelical theologian, the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and host of the podcast The Briefing, where he daily analyzes the news and recent events from an evangelical perspective. He has been described as "one of America's most influential evangelicals".

The Martins are a Christian music vocal trio composed of three siblings: Joyce Martin Sanders, Jonathan Martin, and Judy Martin Hess.

The conditional preservation of the saints, or conditional perseverance of the saints, or commonly conditional security, is the Arminian Christian belief that believers are kept safe by God in their saving relationship with him upon the condition of a persevering faith in Christ. Arminians find the Scriptures describing both the initial act of faith in Christ, "whereby the relationship is effected", and the persevering faith in him "whereby the relationship is sustained." The relationship of "the believer to Christ is never a static relationship existing as the irrevocable consequence of a past decision, act, or experience." Rather, it is a living union "proceeding upon a living faith in a living Savior." This living union is captured in the simple command by Christ, "Remain in me, and I in you".

John Bertram Phillips or J. B. Phillips was an English Bible translator, author and Anglican clergyman. He is most noted for his The New Testament in Modern English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinner's prayer</span> Evangelical Christian term referring to any prayer of repentance

The Sinner's prayer is an evangelical Christian term referring to any prayer of repentance, prayed by individuals who feel sin in their lives and have the desire to form or renew a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is a popular prayer in evangelical circles. It is not intended as liturgical like a creed or a confiteor said or chanted within the Catholic Mass, but rather, is intended to be an act of initial conversion to Christianity; at the same time, it is roughly analogous to the Catholic Act of Contrition, though the theology behind each is markedly different, due to the intrinsically different views of salvation between Catholicism and Protestantism. While some Christians see reciting the sinner's prayer as the moment defining one's salvation, others see it as a beginning step of one's lifelong faith journey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Dever</span> American theologian

Mark E. Dever is a theologian and the senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and the president of 9Marks, a Christian ministry he co-founded "in an effort to build biblically faithful churches in America. Dever also taught for the faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and also served for two years as an associate pastor of Eden Baptist Church in Cambridge."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell D. Moore</span> American evangelical theologian

Russell D. Moore is an American theologian, ethicist, and preacher. In June 2021, he became the director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today, and on August 4, 2022, was announced as the magazine's incoming Editor-in-Chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trip Lee</span> American rapper from Texas

William Lee Barefield III, better known by his stage name Trip Lee, is an American Christian rapper and singer. Signed to Reach Records, he has recorded both as a solo artist and as a founding member of the 116 Clique. Originally from Dallas, Texas, he serves as a young adult pastor at Concord Church. His third album, Between Two Worlds (2010), was nominated for two Dove Awards and won the Stellar Award for Best Hip Hop Album in 2011.

Tony Wood is an American songwriter working primarily in the contemporary Christian music (CCM) genre. He has received five Gospel Music Association Dove Awards for songwriting.

References

  1. Sermon delivered 5-5-2013 in Gainesville, FL at North Central Baptist Church. www.gatorchurch.org
  2. David Ring to Speak at Arbor Baptist Church
  3. Ring, David; Gilbert, Lela (1996). Just as I Am: The Life of David Ring. ISBN   0-8024-1733-7.
  4. "David Ring Biographical Timeline". Archived from the original on 2007-01-02. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
  5. Premiere Speakers Bureau, David Ring, "I have Cerebral Palsy – What’s Your Problem?" Archived November 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine