Francis Chan is an American preacher. He is the former teaching pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, CA. He is also the Founder and Chancellor of Eternity Bible College and author of the best-selling book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, and Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. His other works include Erasing Hell, Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples in 2012, and the Basic Series by Francis Chan, a DVD series.

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Chan is a highly sought after speaker at many Christian colleges, major national and international events and conferences. He is also currently active with Children’s Hunger Fund, African Renewal Ministries and World Impact.

Chan frequently talks about ‘What the Bible is really saying’ and really living our lives that way. He is not afraid of confronting lukewarmness.

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He was born in 1967. His mother died giving birth to him. After being raised by his Buddhist grandmother in Hong Kong, Francis came to America at the age of 5. His father remarried, and then his step mother died in a car accident when Francis was 9. Then his father died of cancer when he was 12 years old. The only close relatives he had were his aunt and uncle. But when he was in high school, his aunt and uncle got in a fight, and his uncle shot his wife then killed himself.

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The losses were profound. Chan says physical and verbal affection in his family, particularly from his father, was rare. His only memory of affection from his dad came when Chan and his father were on the way to his stepmother’s funeral, and his father put his arm around him for about 30 seconds.

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Francis Chan has an older sister Grace, older brother Paul and much younger half-sister, Gloria. He had family support from his father’s younger sister and her husband, Marion and William Wong, along with a large extended family and church family. He did not get along well with his father growing up, but says that his fear of his father has helped him understand a level of fear of God. He also stated he didn’t understand the love of God well until he became a father himself.

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Despite a childhood filled with death, Francis Chan did not doubt the love of God. He recalls a childhood filled with church and belief in God. And by junior high school he began to understand what it meant to have a personal relationship with God. In high school, he began living it. By God’s grace and mercy, Francis came to know the Lord in high school in Stockton, Ca.