Deann’ Bear’ Dirkx was adopted and came to the United States from Pusan (now Busan), South Korea, in 1965. She grew up on a farm taking care of sheep, walking in the beanfields, and mowing lawns for her neighbor and her home. Bear attended Minnesota School for the Deaf and graduated in 1981 and went on to five different colleges and did not complete her B.A. degree. After those years of a rollercoaster life until then, she found her relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in 2008, and God qualified the call in her life to become an Evangelist. Bear attended North Central University in Minneapolis in the Spring of 2009 and then transferred to the Valley Forge Christian College (today’s University of Valley Forge) in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, in 2011. She finally obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Deaf Pastoral Studies in May 2012, the same time she received licensure to preach until 2021, she became ordained. Bear has been doing ministry with older people and patients (Deaf and Hearing) in retirement centers, nursing homes, hospital visits, and hospice visits. Bear also visits Deaf inmates in State Corrections Facilities in different states via videophones. Bear volunteered as a Deaf greeter for the 2nd time at the 2022 God Loves You! Tour of Franklin Graham at Rochester, Minnesota. Bear is also a Visiting Pastor for a few churches in the Midwest and travels as a Speaker to different places. Bear now serves as a Public Relations/Corresponding Secretary of the Deaf Holy Spirit Conference 2023 – Minnesota.
Dirkx founded God’s Barn Ministries, a FB virtual church site on Facebook, in August 2020. She has over 1K-2K followers and about 5K views when giving sermons on LIVE. The purpose of God’s Barn is a Christ-Centered church, a Body of Christ, to reach out to the world to know the Gospel. Dirkx obtained her ordination credentials recently in April 2021. Bear’s hobbies are being with her loving companions, Sunny (her cat) and Babe (her dog), photography, bird watching, creating flyers for several churches, checking into new restaurants, traveling, being a comedian to people, and being a servant for Jesus Christ. Her theme for the MADWR 2023 is “Spiritual Tune-Up” with various Biblical verses.