Our Founder
From Pain to Purpose
The story of David Vincent, founder and CEO of Warriors Center.
Short on Time?
David’s Story in 45 Seconds
From facing 15 years in prison to leading a recovery ministry across two states.
Watch the short version here, then read on for the full story, or scroll to the bottom to hear David tell it himself in a full-length podcast conversation.
Raised by the Streets of Memphis
A Boy Nobody Expected Much From
David Vincent was born in Memphis in 1968. His father walked away before David was old enough to remember him.
His mother was barely more than a child herself when he was born, and for years she moved from car to couch to couch. She eventually married a violent, abusive man who beat David, choked him, and told him over and over that he was trash and would end up in prison.
His mother also taught him to steal. His earliest memories are of shoplifting beside her. He was arrested for the first time at 6, broke into his first house at 9, and by 11 was drinking and using whatever drugs came his way to numb the pain. He was angry, alone, and constantly in trouble. Churches asked that he not come back. Other kids were told to stay away from him.
Fourteen to Twenty-Eight
Arrested Every Year of His Life
For a short time, a high school basketball coach gave David something he had never had: a grown man who believed in him.
David played his heart out for that coach, led the city of Memphis in scoring his senior year, and went on to play small-college basketball. He married at 19 and became the father of three daughters. But the anger never left, and neither did the stealing.
From age 14 to 28, David was arrested every single year. By 22 he was wanted in four states. He eventually faced 18 felony charges, including burglary and grand larceny, across five counties in Tennessee and Mississippi, and the prospect of 15 years behind bars. His wife divorced him. A man he had looked up to came to the jail and told him through the glass that he was praying David would go away for a long time and never see his daughters again.
On the floor of a county jail cell, David prayed the most honest prayer of his life. He asked God for mercy, and he made a promise: if God would give him another chance, he would spend the rest of his life helping people.
“If you’re real, please help me.”
David Vincent
Behind bars, David read the New Testament six times and memorized 120 Bible verses. One passage became his life verse: Jeremiah 29:11-13, God’s promise of “a hope and a future” to anyone who seeks Him with all their heart.
Starting Over With Six Dollars
A Second Chance, and a Father
One by one, the charges against him were resolved in ways David still calls miracles. About a year later, he walked out with $6 in his pocket.
He had no home and no one waiting for him. He spent his last money on breakfast at a Burger King, slept in an abandoned house for a few days, then rented a room and found work at a restaurant. He also started going to church.
Three weeks later, he met a man there named David. As they talked, the pieces came together: the man was his biological father, a former truck driver who had turned his own life around five years earlier. His one prayer in sobriety had been for God to give him his son back.
It was not an easy reunion, and they had hard conversations about the years David grew up without him. But his father helped him get a better place to live, a truck, and a lawnmower, and David started a lawn business. His father passed away in 2017. David says plainly that he would not have made it without him.
The Calling
Twelve Men in His Home
A few years into his new life, David had stability, mentors, and his daughters back. He also felt empty, until he went back to the streets to help.
With a few friends, he began going out twice a week to feed and befriend people living homeless in Memphis. One couple living behind a store stayed on his heart, and he told God he would not rest until they were off the streets. Six months later they moved into his home while he helped them get back on their feet.
A year after that, a dozen formerly homeless men were living in David’s house. In 1999, that home became Warriors Center.
That early mercy still shapes the ministry. Residents who leave are welcome to return. One man came back nine times, stayed longer each time, and graduated. David’s explanation is simple: he received so much undeserved grace that he has no choice but to give it away.
“Every time I’m dealing with somebody, I see myself in them.”
David Vincent
A Father Again
After his life changed, David won joint custody of his three daughters and raised them himself. All three earned college degrees, and the youngest is training to become a pilot.
Warriors Center Today
One Home Became a Network
What began in David’s house now serves men, women, and veterans through five centers in Tennessee and Mississippi.
Many of the people who lead and serve at Warriors Center today came through the program themselves. Like David, they know the way out because they have walked it.
Hear It From David
From 18 Felonies to Freedom and Purpose
David shares his full story with John O’Leary on the Live Inspired Podcast, episode 760.
Video courtesy of John O’Leary’s Live Inspired Podcast.
Hear more: David’s Celebrate Recovery testimony (2015, 32 minutes) →
The Next Chapter
The Promise Continues
David asks to be remembered as a man who went from pain to purpose. Operation Believe Memphis is the next step in keeping the promise he made on that jail cell floor, expanding recovery so more men, women, and families in Memphis can find the same second chance.