Travels from: Dallas, TX

Listen to an audio excerpt from Frank's keynote presentation, The Write Goal

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Frank Ball

Frank Ball was the Pastor of Biblical Research and Writing at Anchor Church in Keller, Texas, for three years. After thirty years of research and teaching the life of Christ, he began a twelve-year project to analyze every gospel story about Christ and put the events into chronological order. Ball meticulously considered almost twenty resources, including the Greek and Hebrew texts, the opinions of other Bible writers, and different translations, to make sure his translation was correct. Using the gospel of John as the chronological backbone, he determined an appropriate time setting for every event.

Frank believes there is no greater role model than Jesus. The better we know him, the more we can be like him. “It’s impossible,” he says, “to love someone you don’t know. The Scripture arranged in this easy-to-understand order helps us to know Jesus. It allows us to be more of an ‘eyewitness’ to the events of Christ’s life, and in doing so, to be more like him.”

Frank has always been a great student, especially in math and the sciences, but hated English. He excelled in high school; however, because his family was impoverished, he was unable to attend college. After high school he took a menial job that supported his parents and siblings. In 1968 he married Kay and they had three sons. Kay passed away in 2005. Ball currently lives with his family in Fort Worth, Texas.

When personal computers became available, Frank embraced systems analysis and business administration. He devoured reading material on the high-tech industry and was a successful business executive until he made a commitment to full-time ministry in 2002.

In 1995, despite his dislike of English, Frank believed God was redirecting his life, and he devoted himself to writing—which has, ironically, become his passion. Knowing the challenges he faced without a secondary education, Frank became self-taught by voraciously reading books as if they were college texts. He studied as if he were preparing for tests.

Frank says that this project wasn’t his idea at all. He just had an unexplainable desire to do this chronology, and along the way he realized that God had a plan. Using his Eyewitness Stories version of the Gospels as a foundation, Ball assembled the gospel information, as well as more than two hundred other Bible verses from the Old and New Testaments, to create what he believes is the accurate order of events. Ball believes the combined stories resolve some of the discrepancies that some say exist in the Gospels.

In addition to leading six Christian writers’ groups in the Dallas area, Frank does ghostwriting, has worked as a magazine copyeditor, has written hundreds of articles, and wrote a bimonthly column for The Spirit-Led Writer e-zine. He is also a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences.

Frank wants to get his book, Eyewitness: The Life of Christ Told in One Story into the hands of church members and non-church attenders who do not read the Bible on a regular basis. These people need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To help pastors reach these people with the Gospel message, Frank will give a free copy of Eyewitness (one per pastor/per church) upon request.

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Popular Speaking Topics

Speaking to Churches

Frank's presentations are appropriate for the following categories and events: Business/Corporate Christian Worldview Church Events Presentations/Keynotes Evangelism Leadership Events Inspirational MOPS Events Singles' Events Men's Events Writer's Conferences

Pigs and Pearls
You plan your work and work your plan, but does that mean your plan is sure to work? Your dreams of success are never guaranteed. Or are they? Using personal experience and biblical examples, Frank Ball presents exciting insights to show how expectation, perspiration, and anticipation will either fulfill or destroy your dreams.

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
When tragedy strikes, you ask, “Why?” You pray, but our kind and loving, all-powerful, all-knowing God fails to answer. Why? You’ll be amazed to hear how the commonly assumed answers are wrong and the real reason deserves you full commitment and greatest admiration of God’s plan.

What’s Love Got to Do with It?
More than anything, you want to be loved and appreciated. For some reason, your effort to satisfy that hunger isn’t working. You work hard and no one notices—until you make a mistake. When you reach out to people, they don’t want to be bothered. The answer can be found in the life of Christ, but it’s not where you think it is. If it were, you would have already found it.

Four Men - One Story
The Gospels present an amazing story, but is it true? Did four men of the first century write from eyewitness reports, or did other men write their own fantasies out of religious tradition, centuries later? If intelligent men and women left everything to walk with Jesus, they must have had a very good reason. After considering the evidence, you can know why their discovery was as valuable as life itself.

The Nine We Forgot to Count
Only one of ten lepers said “thank you” for his healing. What happened to the other nine? Frank Ball explains the Ninety / Ten Rule and what gives our efforts the power to change our world.

One Giant Step
When Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel, David hadn’t even been invited to the dinner. From this familiar story, Frank Ball reveals some seldom-observed facts about the steps we must take to achieve the impossible dream.

A Grandmother’s Glory (MOPS Groups)
On a gravestone is written: “She valued her friends like family. Next to God, no one was more important than her kids… until she had grandchildren.” Frank Ball tells the story behind that epitaph and shows how God uses the older generation to bring children closer to him.

Gold Rush
Jesus and his disciples toured the land, teaching and preaching the Kingdom of God. Can the gospel message that made people want to give everything, even their own lives, be summarized into a single nugget of truth? In one six-word sentence, Frank Ball unearths the priceless ore that makes life abundantly satisfying.

Wise Men Bring Gifts
In a country far east of Jerusalem, a young man named Gaspar dreams of being regarded as wise. Will his masters, Melchior and Balthasar, help or hinder his quest and respect his discovery of a new star? Frank Ball comes dressed as Gaspar to tell how he acquired his kingly garb and presented gifts to the young child, Jesus.

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Speaking to Businesses

Going for the Gold
Olymic athletes make a huge sacrifice for the chance of winning. If we don’t believe we have a chance, we won’t try. Do we understand the sacrifices necessary to avoid the feeling that we are underpaid and unappreciated? Frank Ball gives five crucial steps necessary to change an ordinary job into something extraordinary.

Ignorance is Not Bliss
We can be hurt by what we don’t know. Like the invisible part of the iceberg that sank the Titanic, the truth we don’t know will impede our progress if it doesn’t sink our ship. Frank Ball explains the Ninety / Ten Rule and how our efforts have the power to either take us to success or failure.

Truth or Consequences
If we know what people want, we can profit by filling their needs. Store owners, managers, clerks, and customers have different interests. From "it's just a job" to "you won't have a job if you don't do the work" to "do you have a book on how to potty train my child?" when you hear Frank Ball talk about what other people think, you won't know whether to laugh or cry.

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Speaking to Writers

Best Laid Plans
Plan your work. Work your plan. Set goals. We’ve been given a blueprint for success that seldom ever works according to plan. Why? Identify the obstacles and explore the opportunities that will put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Choose the Write Color
Great writing requires more than good grammar. Consider the problems with purple prose, the appropriate use of metaphors, and how to avoid mistakes that make professionals look like amateurs.

Common Problems
Several obstacles hinder every writer's progress and bring a risk of failure. In this keynote presentation, Frank Ball identifies the top three deceptions that must be recognized before we can be successful writers.

Critique Group Dynamics
Learn how to form an effective writer's group, how to get the most from suggestions, and how to give critique.

Five Smooth Stones
How can a relatively inexperienced writer with few credentials face publishing giants without intimidation? Consider why David picked up five stones when he needed only one. Learn essential requirements for reaching your writing goals.

Inspiration and Perspiration
Become a smarter writer who doesn't have to work as hard. Discover what makes writing hard, how to overcome writer's block, and how to keep your passion burning.

Leaves of Gold
A robber breaks into a store only when he is sure to find something of value, and readers plow through paragraphs if they believe their time will be well spent. Learn the importance of the "reader’s take-away" and how to deliver a treasure to your audience.

New Years Revolutions
The greatest insanity is to believe conditions will improve when nothing has changed. Uncover the lies we tell ourselves and find doors of opportunity you never knew were there.

Parchments and Scrolls
How to take our writing from concept to articles to books. Look at three things we know about the Apostle Paul's writing, what an average writer must do to become good, and ten steps for book publishing success.

Writing Devotionals
Learn how to gather ideas and share inspirational thoughts. Learn five reasons why we should write devotionals, ten resources for ideas, and rules for writing.

Write Ideas
Don’t tell me how to write. Show me. Look at hundreds of examples gleaned from writer’s group critiques. As you study the "before" and "after" comparisons, your grammatically correct writing will rise to a higher level of excellence.