Daniel Olivieri was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who, as a Cuban refugee with three children, felt trapped in her abusive marriage. His dad would quote scripture when he was sober but become violent when drunk. Daniel lived in constant fear.

Around the age of eight, Daniel made a vow that he would free his mom from the abuse. His plan was to get lots of money to take care of her, which led him to start selling drugs in the fifth grade.

During this dark time in Daniel’s life, God sent a special school teacher, Ms. Lee, who began investing in Daniel, even though he was a tough case.

At fourteen he was on trial for attempted murder. At seventeen he was nearly killed by law enforcement. By eighteen he had been through every juvenile program his county had to offer. Ms. Lee attended every trial, visited every time he went to jail, and even took Daniel into her home.

When Daniel was facing a ten-year prison sentence, Ms. Lee spoke with the judge, who knew Daniel from several previous cases. The judge told Daniel, “I’m going to put you in juvenile prison one last time, but this is the last thing I can do for you. If you don’t figure this out, you’re going to end up dead or in prison for the rest of your life. This is your last shot.”

When Daniel got out of prison, Ms. Lee’s husband, Brian, began patiently mentoring Daniel; they met regularly for years. Daniel slowly began to shed his street life. He started a successful business and even began attending church, but he wasn’t surrendering to God.

When Brian passed away from complications after a stroke, Ms. Lee helped pass the torch of mentoring Daniel to a friend named Dave.

Daniel began meeting with Dave, mostly to avoid disappointing Ms. Lee. Dave asked Daniel for a job. Daniel reluctantly offered him a part-time job for terrible pay, hoping he would turn it down. Dave said the offer was perfect, and the two began working together.

A previous attendee of the Kingdom Leadership Workshop bought tickets for Daniel and Dave to attend the February 2021 event.

When the two men arrived at the workshop, Dave got just inside the door when he told Daniel, “The Spirit is here.”

On day one of the workshop, Rick Betenbough tearfully shared with the audience that he’d been praying for everyone in attendance to have their hearts changed. Although that made no sense to Daniel, he recognized that throughout the day God was revealing Himself in a new way.

He found the “Hearing from God” breakout session especially powerful. After writing a letter from God to himself, Daniel was, in his own words, “wrecked.”

The next morning as Daniel took a shower, the Lord asked him, “Are you going to follow Me, or not?” In that moment, a lifetime of others’ prayers and patient ministry culminated in Daniel knowing God was real and that he was finally ready, so he accepted Christ as his Savior. He came out of the bathroom and told Dave, “Hey, I think I just gave my life to Jesus.”

Dave laughed and said, “Very good. Let’s get to work.”

During the rest of the Kingdom Leadership Workshop, Rick continued to speak to Daniel. Rick wrote him a letter encouraging him to shed an orphan mentality and embrace relationship with his Heavenly Father. Rick’s words were overwhelming confirmation for Daniel that God was with him.

Karina, Daniel’s wife, described what she saw when Daniel came home from the workshop:

“I could see the change in his eyes and feel it in his touch. He was so alive.”

– Karina Olivieri

Karina came to Christ three months later.

Dave’s wife baptized Karina, and Ms. Lee baptized Daniel.

Daniel and Dave then began to transform Daniel’s company into a Kingdom business. Through this process, they went from more than fifty employees down to a crew of about ten. They lost most of their leadership team. It was a frightening time, but eventually, Daniel began to see fruit in the lives of his employees. Slowly he began to see fruit on the business’s bottom line, as well.

Things were also changing in Daniel’s family. He hadn’t seen his dad for ten years before accepting Christ, but through his transformation, Daniel was able to forgive his dad, and that forgiveness softened his dad’s heart. Daniel’s father even stopped drinking.

The Lord led Daniel and Karina to attend the May 2024 Kingdom Leadership Workshop.

The couple was compelled to share their testimony with Holly Betenbough. They wanted her to know that the Kingdom Leadership Workshop and Rick made an impact beyond what they could see.

“What’s so beautiful about this testimony is the ripple effect,” Karina says. “Daniel gave his life to Christ at the conference, he forgave his father, he broke bondages within, he transformed his business…The ripples just keep going out. What will continue to happen in the days and months and years and generations to come?”

Rick Betenbough never knew Ms. Lee, but he got to partner with her, her husband Brian, Dave, and others to bring Daniel Olivieri into the Kingdom of God.

Through Betenbough Companies, we all did.