Born and raised in Southern California, Dean lost his father at the age of one. As he was moving into the sixth grade, gang violence began to invade the area motivating his mom to move Dean and his older brother to the Sacramento area. Struggling throughout middle and high school, Dean entered his young adult years believing that life is pain and pain is life until he had given up on all hope for a bright future. He got caught up in the things he thought would bring happiness back into his life; making money, attaining possessions, and gaining the acceptance of others.

 

On October 20, 2004, Dean walked into a church for the first time. He did not have a church upbringing, had never heard the Gospel, and did not know what Jesus had done for Him.. Dean was completely void of God. Yet on that night the heard the Gospel for the first time in his life, at the age of 27, and responded by standing up and making a journey to an altar where he spoke to God for the first time in his life asking, "God if you're real, please do something with my life." Dean instantly heard God's voice saying, "One day you are going to travel the nation impacting the lives of others."

Now Dean Johnson is the founder of Victory 4 Youth and has been motivating people of all ages since 2004, bringing a message of hope and positive self-esteem to over 250,000 young people each year in high school and junior high school assemblies across the nation. He has had the privilege of being a part of the Oakland A's chapel team for 10 years along with motivating MLB teams such as the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and many others. Dean has ministered in churches, camps, prisons, locker rooms, and open-air outreaches nationally and internationally. It took 27 years for someone to share the Gospel with him and so it is Dean's greatest desire to spend his life doing his part to share it with others.