On the edge of a police barricade near the church where four people were killed in a shooting and fire in Grand Blanc on Sept. 28, Dan Beazley stands for hours holding a 10-foot wooden cross near a makeshift memorial of flowers.
A real estate broker from Northville, around an hour’s drive from Grand Blanc, Beazley takes the cross around the country to locations that have just experienced a catastrophic event.
He titled his mission, “The Message of the Cross.”
As part of the Great Commission outlined in the Bible, Jesus told his disciples to go out into the world and preach the gospel, Beazley pointed out to The Epoch Times on Sept. 30.
“That is what I’m called to do,” he said.
On Sept. 28, Thomas Jacob Sanford allegedly drove a truck into a chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Grand Blanc before opening fire and setting the structure on fire during the Sunday service.
Ten people were shot, two fatally, in the attack, according to police. Two other bodies were later found in the rubble. Sanford was shot and killed by officers not long after they arrived on scene, authorities said.
A few days after the tragedy, Beazley held the 65-pound cross crafted out of cedar a few yards away from the barricade, with the charred church in the background. He said “the Lord has asked me to be a lampstand in times like these.”
“Members of the church and the community have thanked me for bringing the cross. For some, it might be the beginning of their faith. For those who have known the Lord for years, it’s a reminder that He has not left them,” Beazley said.
Usually, Beazley sets up the cross in a highly visible place when he travels, then carries it over his shoulder while walking.
Beazley said he’s walked hundreds of miles with the cross.
The image attracts a crowd. Some approach him out of curiosity, wanting to know his story. Others ask to touch the cross and pray.
“I’m here to talk to those who want to talk, and pray with those who want prayer. The cross alone says more than I ever could,” he said.
When more than 100,000 people descended upon Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21 for conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s memorial, Beazley was among them, holding the cross.
A week later, the shooting and fire happened at the church an hour from Beazley’s home. He has stood near the church at the edge of the police barricade several times since that day.
In the spring of 2020, when he was at home during the COVID pandemic, Beazley asked God to reveal his life’s purpose. He prayed and waited.
“The Lord spoke to me with a clear message that he was preparing a special mission for me. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He told me that He had been preparing me my whole life for what was about to come. I couldn’t imagine what would happen next,” Beazley said.
At the end of 2020, Beazley said that he received an answer.
His wife showed him a Facebook video of a Georgia man carrying a large cross.
Beazley was emotionally moved.
“It was a live feed of evangelist Joel Crumpton walking down a street with a large wooden cross and ministering to people along the way. I knew instantly that this was what the Lord was calling me to do,” Beazley said.
Beazley said he contacted Crumpton, who provided insight and instruction about building the cross and what to expect when witnessing. Construction on the cross started in June 2021 and took one month to complete.
It includes padding on the crux for his shoulder and wheels on the bottom for easier transporting.
Originally, he planned to take the cross to events around metropolitan Detroit. The plan changed after he attended a vigil for four victims of a mass shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit in November 2021.
“The presence of the cross there provided comfort to people. It showed them that Jesus loves them and had not forgotten about them. It gave them hope. That is especially needed anywhere after a tragedy,” Beazley said.
Since he constructed the cross, Beazley has taken it to Uvalde, Texas after the fatal Robb Elementary school shooting in 2022, other mass shootings, tornadoes in Kentucky and Louisiana, floods in eastern Kentucky, fires in Hawaii, and funerals of fallen law enforcement officers nationwide, along with other events.
“I’m prepared to go wherever and whenever the Lord calls me to go,” Beazley said.
After spending hours on Sept. 30 near the church shooting site, Beazley loaded the cross in his truck and drove a few miles away to a vigil held at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital, where most of the victims were treated.
At the vigil, Ed Chandler spotted the cross and walked up to Beazley. The two men chatted for 15 minutes and prayed.
Chandler pastors Life Launch, a non-denominational church in nearby Lapeer, and drives a school bus in Grand Blanc. His wife, Carla, works for Henry Ford Genesys Hospital as an admin for surgical services.
Last Sunday morning, Chandler was delivering his sermon when his wife walked up the aisle and to the pulpit, and showed him the news about the shooting on her cellphone.
He told the congregation what was happening. “We have to pray. There is a church right here being attacked now,” Chandler recounted about what he said.
Everyone in the church started praying, he added.
Tears in his eyes, Chandler told The Epoch Times what it meant to him when he first saw Beazley and the cross at the vigil.
“My dad was a pastor, and I was always shy. When I became a Christian, I was looking for ways that I could show my Christianity. And my dad always told me, ‘Son, it’s just by your actions, your words.’ That is true, but especially now, more is needed. Boldness and courage are needed about showing Christ’s love.” Chandler explained.
“I’m overwhelmed with emotion seeing him here with this large cross showing the love of Jesus. That’s what the cross represents. It’s important to speak Biblical truth and show it outside the four walls of the sanctuary. This man is showing a lot of courage, and that’s what we need,” Chandler added, looking at Beazley.
Carrying a 65-pound cedar cross and holding it for hours can be physically challenging, Beazley admits. “But it doesn’t remotely compare to the sacrifice Jesus made for us when he carried the cross with all the pain inflicted upon him, and then died on it for us,” he said.
Beazley laments the current societal state when safety is not ensured within the four walls of a church sanctuary, but he said events like the Charlie Kirk assassination and the Sept. 28 shooting and fire in Grand Blanc have strengthened his commitment to openly expressing his faith.
“We are seeing a national revival since the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Millions are going back to church. Millions are getting saved. That brings more spiritual warfare, more hatred against Christians. Those who hate us want us in our homes. They want the churches empty. If we stay in fear, the devil wins. We must continue living our lives and not live in fear,” Beazley said.
“If this was my last day of living, I know that I would have died for speaking the truth in the Lord’s name and standing up for Biblical principles,” Beazley added. “It might seem like something simple—a man holding a cross—but the cross is powerful and has meaning, especially when a community is hurting.”