Alan Beck: How Jesus Shows Up
By Amy Boyle
“Whether you’re dirt poor and homeless or wealthy and well-educated” makes no difference to Alan Beck. His posture in shepherding remains steady, as he seeks to reflect God’s “loving and compassionate” heart wherever he goes.
From a young age, Alan carried a desire to help people hear the good news that “Jesus is love.” Over time, his understanding of discipleship has deepened into the conviction that what Jesus stood for was “less about telling people what they’re doing wrong… and more about presenting a hope-filled relationship.” That invitation—to live in the love of Christ—is what Alan extends to those he encounters.
As the owner of a local landscaping business, Alan has discovered countless opportunities to shepherd. He’s hired recovering addicts, offered work to immigrants fearing for their safety, and prayed with employees on the job. To him, the workplace is not just about tasks and profit, but about cultivating a culture where Christ is welcomed. “Christ will show up,” he says, “in any fashion.” Sometimes that has even meant setting aside the work itself to focus on what matters most.
Alan sees shepherding as a way of listening attentively—asking questions, discerning needs, and knowing when to stop or when to say “yes.” Though it doesn’t always look like “work,” he believes it always advances the kingdom.
For Alan, discipleship is not about perfection or complication. It is about reexamining what it means to follow Jesus—loving our neighbor, confessing our need for Christ, and living in the hope of His hand guiding us closer to God and one another. That conviction has shaped his decades of coaching wrestling in Marion’s schools, where he has created space for students to express their emotions, say “I love you,” and live into that love by modeling Christlikeness.
Raised in a Presbyterian church in Marion, Alan never expected to end up at College Wesleyan. But it has been here that God has led and fed him and his family with deeper faith. Through friendships with people like Tim Steenbergh—friends who welcomed him openly and walked with him honestly—CWC has become more than a place to attend services. It has become a community where he belongs.
Whether at home with his wife Christy and their two boys, Nathaniel and Carter, at his business, or on the wrestling mats, Alan’s heart is steady: “to be a little piece of hope” wherever God places him. For him, shepherding is living proof that “Christ will show up… in any fashion.”
For more stories of God’s presence in every vocation, visit discipleshipatwork.com