As the teenage son of an aviation tycoon, young Doug could have had anything money could buy, yet he couldn’t find true peace and happiness. A troubled youth, he fought at school, entertained suicidal fantasies, and eventually ran away from home when he was just 15 years old.

Disgusted with life and convinced it had no meaning, Doug was determined to experience life with reckless abandon. He turned to drugs, committed crimes, and spent time in jail, while also living on high adventure from stormy seas to blistering deserts. But years later, a remote cave high in the mountains above Palm Springs became his home. And even though his father owned a yacht, a jet, and a Rolls-Royce, Doug ended up scavenging for food in garbage bins.

The happiness Doug searched for continued to elude him for years—until the day he found a dust-covered Bible someone left in his cave. As he read, he believed in and accepted Christ as his Savior. .

Today, Pastor Doug Batchelor is an energetic speaker with an unusual ability to communicate not only to church-oriented people but also to those who aren’t religious. His spontaneous, lively humor and down-to-earth approach to living the Christian life engages and brings hope and meaning to hearts from every kind of background.