One October morning in 2006, a woman and her six children were forced to witness an attack on their husband and father. His assailants tried to force him to deny Jesus but he refused. He continued to proclaim Christ as Lord and died praying for his family. The family is determined to follow Christ, even in their grief.
From the moment Dr. De Haan founded RBC Ministries, he believed he could trust God to set the pace of growth. Though he occasionally made financial needs known in newsletters, he vowed not to let "needs" get in the way of "message" or to use proceeds to develop an elaborate superstructure. And he said that if enough support didn't come in, he'd take it as the Lord's signal to close up shop. When Richard De Haan became the leader of RBC, he accepted the principles developed by his father. To avoid overspending, he directed the ministry to "live within its means." To avoid waste, he emphasized the sacrifice each gift represents. And to make RBC accessible to all, he chose to distribute booklets without charge to anyone who requested them. Today, under the leadership of Mart De Haan, those original principles still hold true.