EARLY YEARS
Born in central Florida into deep poverty, Pastor Duane felt the call of God early in his life. Saved at the age of seven, he had a hunger and thirst to grow in Christ. So much so that he packed a bag and with tears announced to his family that he was leaving to follow God! The church he attended taught the Gospel to the best of their ability, but he felt a lack and a hunger for more.
Good grades in school were hard to come by due to a struggle with dyslexia (which was later healed by the reading of the Word). His life changed after his brother was killed in a car accident and he began a season of wandering in the wilderness. He discovered his senior year in high school that he had a notable talent for tennis and poured himself into it. He was able to attend college on a tennis scholarship. But still he didn’t have the answers he had been desperately looking for.
MEETING SUE
Pastor Duane was giving tennis lessons on the courts of the apartment complex where Sue was living. It was during this time that God opened the opportunity for Sue to minister to him God’s lovingkindness and His true character. It was then Pastor Duane had a powerful open vision of the cross and himself in Christ. This vision created a new beginning for him where he lost his passion for tennis and kindled in him a fire for all the things of God.
DUANE SHERIFF MINISTRIES
Dropping out of college his senior year, Pastor Duane married Sue and moved to Oklahoma to attend Rhema Bible College. Following his time at Rhema, they moved to Atoka, Oklahoma to start Duane Sheriff Ministries. The early years of ministry were not easy, but God was faithful to provide not only the necessities of life but the people and opportunities to establish his ministry, many of whom are still with him today. It was during these early years of ministry after a prayer session, that he decided to give away his messages. Since 1983, Duane Sheriff Ministries has distributed nearly 60 million free messages worldwide.
VICTORY LIFE CHURCH
In 1987 Pastor Duane became the Senior Lead Pastor at Victory Life Church in Durant, OK. Under his leadership it grew from a doublewide trailer to being a multi-site / online church that has reached thousands across the globe.
In 2020 Pastor Duane passed the leadership of Victory Life Church to his son and currently serves as a Senior Elder and one of the lead communicators. An author, internationally known speaker and teacher, Pastor Duane continues to reach the lost with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ through Duane Sheriff Ministries, fulfilling the mandate to make disciples of all nations. He lives by his life mission To Help People Grow in Christ.
DUANE’S FAMILY
Pastor Duane and Sue Sheriff have four children, two sons-in-law, two daughters-in-law, and eleven beautiful grandchildren. All their children are in love with Jesus and actively involved in Duane’s ministry. Their oldest son, Jeremy, serves as an Elder in the church and oversees Victory Life Academy. Jacob is the Senior Lead Pastor of Victory Life Church. Angelica, affectionately called “Jelly” is on staff at DSM producing Pastor Duane’s messages. Shekinah is not employed by the ministry, but faithfully serves in various roles at the church and the Academy.
VICTORY LIFE CHURCH
Victory Life Church was founded by Tom Johnson in 1985 and in 1987 Pastor Duane became the Lead Pastor of the church which, at that time, was meeting in a double-wide trailer. Pastor Duane had agreed to become Lead Pastor of the church on a temporary basis and had no intention of staying in Durant long-term. God, however, had other plans and as Duane began to pour his heart and life into the church, it began to grow exponentially. By 1999, Victory Life had grown to over 1500 congregants and in that same year the church became a multi-campus ministry with the addition of a church location in Hugo, OK.
Today, Victory Life has expanded to 11 physical locations in 3 different states as well as a global community that extends across the globe. In 2020, Pastor Duane passed the leadership of the church down to his son Jacob but still serves as a Senior Elder and one of the lead communicators.
OUR MISSION
WE EXIST TO HELP PEOPLE GROW IN CHRIST.
WE BELIEVE…
1. The Bible is the inspired and only infallible and authoritative written Word of God.
2. There is one God, eternally existent in three persons God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
3. In the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His personal future return to this earth to take His bride, the Church.
4. Man, is a created being, made in the likeness and image of God. Through Adam’s transgression and fall, sin came into the world. The only means of being cleansed from sin is through faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
5. The Baptism by the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 2:4, is given to believers who ask for it. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a gift from God. This experience is accompanied by the evidence of speaking in other tongues as the Holy Spirit gives utterance.
6. The resurrection of all people. The one who dies in his sin without Christ is hopelessly and eternally lost, therefore has no further opportunity of hearing the Gospel or for repentance. The one who dies in Christ has everlasting life spent in the presence of God.
7. In Water Baptism by immersion and a direct commandment of our Lord, and is for believers only.
8. In the doctrine of sanctification as a definite yet progressive work of grace.
9. In healing for the physical ills of the human body and is wrought by the power of God through the prayer of faith and by the laying on of hands.
10. A simple belief that power or anointing or any other necessary quality can be transmitted from one person to another through laying on of hands.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
1. 2 Timothy 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Peter 1:21
2. Philippians 2:6, Matthew 3:16-17, John 14:28, John 16:28, John 1:14, John 1:1, John 1:18, John 10:30, John 15:26, John 14:26, 1 John 5:7
3. Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-35
4. Romans 5:12, Romans 3:23, Romans 3:3-9, 1 John 3:8, Galatians 3:13-14, Ephesians 2:8, 2 Corinthians 7:10, 1 John 5:12, John 3:3-5, Titus 3:5 Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:15
5. Matthew 3:11, John 14:16-17, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:38-39, Acts 19:1-7, Acts 2:4, Zechariah 4:6
6. Acts 1:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
7. Matthew 28:19, Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12, Acts 8:36-39
8. Hebrews 12:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 2 Peter 3:18, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Philippians 3:12-14
9. Mark 16:18, James 5:14-20, 1 Peter 2:24, Matthew 8:17, Is. 53:4-5
10. Mark 10:13-16, Mark 5:22, Mark 5:28-31, Acts28:8, Acts 19:11-12, Acts 6:2-6, Acts 8:16-18, 1 Timothy 4:14
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