Daniel Abou-zeid was born in Geelong and grew up in a highly dysfunctional home. His father had emigrated from Lebanon and was a third-generation compulsive gambler. Before Daniel was 12, his father had gambled away thirty homes. Daniel’s childhood was very scary, as he was constantly surrounded by compulsive gamblers, drug addicts and (in his words) 'really abusive, scary, Arabic guys'. Even though he was still a child, Dan had a lot of anger, hatred and rage in his heart. At around 12, Dan met a new friend at a local park. This boy’s mum was a Christian and started to take Dan under her wing and talk to him about Christianity. This caused him to open up to the things of God and ultimately led to him inviting Christ into his life. While there were some instant changes in his life (for example, he stopped swearing), he still held much anger toward his parents. Ultimately, God dealt with him on this issue, and he started to show his parents love and saw them both come to faith in Christ. Dan has been in ministry for much of his adult life. He has pastored in Adelaide, Ipswich and Geelong. He is married to Michelle and together, they have five boys.