About Tim

Tim Van Gelder was born July 22, 1962 in Sacramento, CA. Tim was the youngest of 4 children and his parents were non-practicing Catholics. Tim never went to church but always believed that there was a God and that God would help him if he needed it.

Tim was bulled and even physically abused by his siblings and other children at an early age so Tim grew up defending himself. In the 6th grade Tim saw his 1st Bruce Lee movie and started take karate lessons. The fighting continued through High School and beyond. Tim met a beautiful Mexican girl out of High School and they dated for 4 years and were married in a Catholic church. Tim is still married and in love to the same woman. They have 2 adult children. At the age of 21 in 1983 Tim applied for the California Department of Corrections as a Prison Guard. Tim was one of the youngest guards hired and witnessed many stabbings, several murders and even saved 2 inmate’s lives in the course of his duties. Tim did not know God during this time, but God used this environment to train Tim to be hyper sensitive to his surroundings.

After 15 years as a guard Tim was 36 years old and he left the department of corrections and went back to work, repossessing cars. Tim started asking God to help him locate the cars he was looking for and God showed up. Tim has very unique stories of stealing/repossessing cars with God’s help. At the age of 38 years old Tim started selling Real Estate and was excelling quickly while experiencing favor. Tim still did not know God but he was searching for ways to handle his anger when things were out of his control or did not go well. Within 2 years Tim opened his own Real Estate Brokerage in Sacramento County and was very driven to open additional offices. God was setting Tim up for an encounter. Tim was trying different forms of meditation to deal with the stress of Real Estate, when one of Tim’s closets friends and employee (Jake) told Tim that Jesus could help Tim with his anger. Tim thought his friend was crazy but something started to change. In 2006 Tim’s business was growing rapidly but so were the problems/stress. Tim started consistently reading a Bible with Jake and about 3 weeks later Tim found himself in his living room at 2:00am all alone crying out to God. Tim describes this crying out to God as the Doubting Thomas Prayer. God did not delay and Tim’s encounter with Jesus is amazing.

Immediately Tim went to work the following day and told everybody that he met Jesus. A year later Tim got the idea for the Proverb Cookie Pan and with great zeal Tim started trying to bake cookies and design a baking pan that would hold the dough in the shape of a cross with a hole in the top. Tim’s love for Jesus is well known by his friends and family. Tim has many unique stories of encounters with God. From prison guard to cookie baker, only God could do that.