M. R. DeHaan

[3] DeHaan established a country practice in Byron Center, Michigan, about fourteen miles east of his hometown.

Although he had been reared in a devout home and was a regular churchgoer, DeHaan acquired "a rather stout appetite for alcohol" during his years of medical practice.

In October 1921 he suffered a violent reaction to an injection of horse serum and hovered in critical condition at a Grand Rapids hospital, where he later wrote he "was born again of the Spirit".

In the early spring of 1922, he returned home one day from house calls and told his wife, "I can't go on any longer.

[9] When he recovered, DeHaan began teaching Bible classes in weekday sessions, sometimes to a thousand listeners at a time.

Two national networks picked up the Radio Bible Class program, and its coverage grew to 600 stations around the world by the time of DeHaan's death.

[10] DeHaan was not only an able Bible teacher but an astute businessman whom other broadcasters consulted to make their own operations more efficient.

[11] After Radio Bible Class dedicated a new building in 1958, DeHaan told an associate, "This thing is scaring me more than ever.

[17] DeHaan reveled in simple hobbies such as vegetable gardening, fly fishing, beekeeping, and investigating abandoned houses.

In February 1965, he experienced severe chest pains while preaching at Moody Bible Institute, and that proved to be his last public appearance.