Anne Reed
AFA Journal staff writer
February 2015 – Growing up with an alcohol and drug addicted mother, hopelessness blurred little Danny’s ability to see anything beyond the dysfunctional state in which he and his siblings lived. His future seemed bleak, with little possibility of doing anything worthwhile in his life.
But as Dan Celia entered adulthood, he became obsessed with proving himself. “My whole life revolved around succeeding,” Dan told AFA Journal. “Money was my god, and that was what I worshipped and cared about more than anything.”
Consumed by greed
Dan married his wife Yvonne in 1980, and he soon became a sought-after consultant and CEO of his own financial business who managed hundreds of millions of dollars. But that still wasn’t enough. Greed consumed him.
He observed the greener lawns of financial companies securing lucrative contracts simply because of ethnic minority ownership. He snatched up the opportunity by bringing in a Korean partner. Ironically, his ticket to wealth and success threw him into a tailspin of betrayal and loss that landed him in a seven-year court battle. This partner of promise pulled his fortune out from under him. In the process, Dan conceded, “I lost my god.”
Convicted by the gospel
While at a very low point in his life, Dan attended a luncheon where he heard the testimony of Dr. Ben Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon who had made the seemingly impossible journey from an impoverished inner-city childhood sullied by anger and uncertainty to a life of faith and life-saving ingenuity. Dan didn’t know any Christians at the time, and Carson’s words were foreign, yet gripping and powerfully persistent.
“Then Charles Stanley found me on the radio,” said Dan. “He spoke directly to me. In a very broken state, I pulled the car over and accepted Christ.”
Life renewed
Life changed dramatically. His passions began to move toward Christ, and Christian radio provided the answers he needed. “I was mentored by Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, Chuck Swindoll – by the radio,” he said. “I wanted what all of those discipling me said I could have. I wanted more and more of it.”
After five years of praying fervently for Yvonne’s salvation, he was challenged by something he heard on the radio. He called Yvonne right away and insisted she meet him at a local bagel shop they frequented. He shared the gospel with her and told her about a reservation he had just made for them – a marriage conference in Reston, Virginia.
“She was mad as a hornet,” he recalled. “She said, ‘If I have to pray or do anything – I can’t believe you did this!’”
He reminisced, beaming with joy, “She accepted Christ there – that was where she accepted Christ.”
Double-edged sword
Yvonne’s childhood had been full of love, acceptance, comfort, and regular church attendance. While she relished the newfound peace and love of Christ she was experiencing, the other side of the sword brought difficulty. Facing her family was a struggle as she began to part from the church of her family’s tradition.
“I was so engrained in the legalistic part of church that when I went to a non-denominational church, it was a bit of a struggle [initially],” said Yvonne. “Then, it was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced. When we first started going to a Bible-teaching church, we would walk out and wonder why everybody wasn’t jumping in the air and thinking this was the best thing they had heard in their life.”
What really matters
While Dan and Yvonne both faced challenges adjusting to family relationships in their new life in Christ, multiple members of their extended families have accepted the Lord over the years. And both of their daughters were saved soon after Yvonne.
“My daughter Ann and I went on our first mission trip together – that was just amazing,” said Yvonne. “I would say one of the biggest blessings in our life is that our grandchildren are Christians.”
Dan’s pre-salvation idea of success would have followed through in his desires and expectations for his children and grandchildren, but that focus has shifted: “We have an opportunity to disciple them and be an example to them,” he said. “Now we are praying they would go on the mission field – that God would use them in that way.”
A calling revealed
Wanting desperately to be used by God and to do his part in preparing himself, Dan attended seminary. He loved the idea of drawing closer to God by getting to know His nature even better through study.
After about five years of praying for God to use him, he was asked to do a radio program once a week on a local Philadelphia Christian station. He agreed, but he didn’t particularly enjoy it.
Then one day while praying, something suddenly occurred to him. He couldn’t always recall the details of the Scripture he had read that morning, but he could remember things he considered useless information flowing through his brain – what some company stock had sold for 10 years before, or what coffee futures were, etc.
Prior to that moment, Dan had never thought about a role in kingdom work that would involve finances. This revelation led him to the ministry of Financial Issues and a daily biblically based radio program produced by American Family Radio. (See below.)
“I always think about how God gave him the talents he has,” said Yvonne. “And I say to him all the time, ‘You’re not just teaching a room full of people – you are teaching all over the whole country.’ What more of an answer to prayer could that be?”
Dan’s attitude about money and success bears no resemblance to his worldly ideas of old. “I could care less about anything material. It’s just not on my radar anymore,” he said. “I care about the love of my wife, what she has been to me, and what she has made me; and I care about my children and grandchildren.” 
Dan Celia is President/CEO of Financial Issues Stewardship Ministries and host of the popular Financial Issues radio show on American Family Radio. Financial Issues airs weekdays at 8 a.m. on American Family Radio or afr.net. His book, The Fear of Money, is available at afastore.net.
Website: financialissues.org
