About Me
Mike Beckett
Mike Beckett was born and raised in New Jersey. He grew up in the church attending the United Methodist Church in town. As a young boy, Mike developed a yearning to learn about God. When Mike was entering the sixth grade, his parents enrolled him in a local Christian school. It was there that Mike was challenged daily to put his faith in the Lord. One evening, while Mike was in seventh grade attending the local youth group of the church associated with the Christian school he attended, Mike gave his life to the Lord. Mike’s original plan in life was to pursue a career as a major league baseball umpire. Growing up in New Jersey, Mike spent many summers hanging out with family and many of major league baseball’s elite umpires, such as the lates Doug Harvey, John Kibbler, Oggy Donatello and many others. Mike had started umpiring at the age of thirteen and knew that is what he wanted to do for a living. Although the teenage years were filled with the normal challenges that seem to face our youth today, Mike enjoyed the thrill of umpiring a baseball game.
You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come Lord, stir us up and call us back. Kindle and seize us. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run- Augustine of Hippo
When he entered in his senior year of high school, Mike drifted away from the Lord. However, as Mike faced a few personal challenges in his senior year of high school that changed his life, as a result, he recommitted his life to Christ and was never the same again. Mike continued to umpire baseball games. He umpired local little league games, high school, college, and some semi-pro leagues in the New Jersey area, all by the time he was twenty years old. Mike felt the calling of God on his life when he turned twenty. As a result, Mike felt God led him to Bible college, where he pursued a Bachelor’s in Bible, concentration Pastoral Studies. While at Valley Forge, Mike met his wife, and the two got married in July of 1999. After Mike graduated from Bible College, he went on to earn a degree in history and Social Studies Education and a master’s degree in Education.
Over the past twenty years, Mike has served in both ministry and educational roles. He has served as a worship leader, alongside his wife, in several churches over the past twenty years. Mike has also been involved in education, serving as both a high school history teacher and a university professor. Mike has sat on numerous boards in both the education and ministerial avenues. In 2011, Mike received an award for his contributions to global education at the United Nations.
Mike has immersed himself in hands-on teaching and worship ministry from the beginning of his Christian journey. He has received extensive mentoring and discipleship through mature leaders in the body of Christ, which has helped to shape his character, integrity, and solid biblical doctrine. Mike is a gifted musician/songwriter, recording a live worship CD called “Taste and See” in 2003. Several songs Mike and his wife have written are sung regularly in some of the churches they have ministered in over the years. In addition to the musical side, Mike is an adept author. He has co-authored two historical Christian young adult fiction books, and is the author of Christianity at a Crossroads: A Look at Modern American Christianity Through the Eyes of the Seven Churches in Revelation. Mike in his new release book, For Hymn volume 1:Growing Deeper in the Ancient Faith by Studying the Stories, History, and Theology Behind Some of Our Most Cherished Hymns focuses on the theology and stories of some of our most cherished hymns and putting them into a weekly devotional study.
Mike is the founder and Executive Director of Dead Prophet Media and is the host of The Dead Prophet, a dynamic speaker, musician, and advocate for preaching the truth of the Gospel message. Mike serves along side his wife, Shanna, as Associate Pastor of Discipleship and Evangelism in Western, Pennsylvania.