David George Ball Visits Good Shepherd
February 19, 2012
The son of a missionary and a Baptist minister, seventeen-year-old immigrant David George Ball was following his destiny to become a pastor. He had always dreamed of making a difference in people’s lives. But when he met the relatively unknown Martin Luther King, Jr., the course of Ball’s life changed forever.
In this memoir, A Marked Heart, Ball narrates his journey, beginning with growing up in wartime England; immigrating to the United States in 1954 to take the pastors’ course at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute: attending Yale University as a scholarship student; and, most importantly, meeting Martin Luther King. Later he worked on Wall Street as a lawyer, started a family, championed the 401(k) plan, and served as assistant secretary of labor.
A Marked Heart describes how Ball’s encounter with King inspired the rest of his life’s work, and it provides a multifaceted look at his immigration, education, family relationships, career, and his commitment to public service. Though Ball never became a minister, his story communicates how prayer and trust in God guided his life.
