Pastor and motivational speaker Joel Osteen recently spoke about the inspiring faith journey of Ben Tankard to his 50,000 member Lakewood Church congregation and a TV/streaming audience of over 20 million.

Tankard, a good friend of Osteen, grew up in poverty and in a drug infested slum. He was a gift basketball player, however, and musician early on. After an NBA career ending injury, Tankard became a dog catcher to make ends meet until he got his break in selling music. Since then, Tankard has become the “Godfather” of gospel jazz by selling millions of records and earning multiple Grammy, Stellar, and Dove awards and nominations.

The gold and platinum producer is also now a motivational speaker for the NBA. In addition, he is now a pastor, author, pilot and reality TV dad for his hit show “The Tankards.”

In addition to sharing Tankard’s story to the masses, Osteen posted about him on Facebook. In a post, Osteen writes “My friend, Ben Tankard, is an amazing minister, full of life, joy and wisdom. Every time I’m around him, he brings a smile to my face. I hope you’ll check out his new book. It will challenge you to become all God created you to be.”

His highly anticipated new CD release “Cantankerous” is riding the charts and available everywhere gospel and jazz music is sold.