Ken Bevel

Ken Bevel is a part-time actor and a pastor in the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. He has been serving there since the year 2007. As an actor, Bevel has starred in two Christian-themed movies: Fireproof and Courageous. Before becoming a pastor and an actor, he served in the United States Marine Corps.

Hailing from Jacksonville, Florida, Ken Bevel had a tough upbringing. His father, who was a worker in a steel plant, developed an addicted to drugs and alcohol as Ken started growing older. His mother was a devoted Christian, who would regularly visit the church with her son but couldn’t control her husband’s issues. The fact that his father was an addict led Ken to gravitate towards a life of addiction, and he ended up being around people who could have indirectly landed him in jail. Seeing the direction he was heading in, one of his uncles suggested that he sign up for the Marine Corps. When he first joined the Marines, the disciplined lifestyle helped him greatly. However, he ended up indulging in drug use when he was off duty and away from that style of living. This almost led to him being dismissed. It was only when faced with the threat of a court martial that he found religion and turned his life around.

He is extremely well educated and held a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Memphis as well as an MBA degree in Logistics Managing from the Naval Postgraduate School. His stint in the Marine Corps wasn’t a short one; in fact, it lasted all of twenty years. During this period, he was sent for duty to both Afghanistan and Iraq. Following his retirement from the Marine Corps, he chose to become a minister in the Sherwood Baptist Church.

It was when he joined the Church that he first got exposure to acting. In 2008, he worked in the Christian film Fireproof as a firefighter by the name of Michael Simmons. In 2011, he starred in another Christian film titled Courageous, playing Nathan Hayes, a police officer. Both films weren’t received very well by critics, although Courageous received appreciation by moviegoers. However, both did very well in box office collections. Fireproof grossed around $33 million and was the best earning independent film of 2008. Courageous was made on a budget of $2 million but ended up raking in nearly $36 million.