ORU Graduate Darrin Person Helps Clients Overcome Their Fears
by Deborah Laker
Fear can be a paralyzing condition, but ORU alumnus Darrin Person is helping people overcome fear’s stranglehold on their lives. Through Person to Person Counseling, Darrin and his wife, Iris, support at-risk individuals and families through their journey of healing and their freedom from fear.
“As adults, as we grow up and we have fear and failure, fear of being rejected, fear of success, fear of death. Fear becomes the Boogieman that restricts us and that limits us in our life,” said Person.
Person hosts seminars and workshops where he shares his story of being liberated from his own Boogieman, a liberation that centers on God. Person, as a Spirit-empowered leader, helps people conquer fear, anxiety, and depression, utilizing biblical principles he developed and strengthened during his time at ORU.
Journey to ORU
Person’s journey to ORU began at seventeen years old when he drove from Bakersville, California, to attend the Azusa Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As he drove past ORU’s Praying Hands and onto campus, Person was enchanted by the university’s Christian environment.
“I remember thinking, ‘Maybe one day I’ll come here,’ but I never really took it to heart,” Person said.
For two years, he attended a college in California. During that time, Person and his high school sweetheart, Iris, dreamed of studying psychology at a university where they would also grow spiritually. To make that dream a reality, they both applied to ORU.
“Once we were both accepted, I packed my Ford Escort to the roof. We drove all the way from Bakersfield, California, to Oral Roberts University where the journey started,” Person recalled.
From Spirit-Empowered Graduate to Counselor
After graduating from ORU with a psychology degree, Person worked at Tulsa’s Laureate Psychiatric Clinic as a psych tech. During his time there, he recalls one of his co-workers saying, “If Jesus was a worker today, he would be a social worker.”
This conversation sparked Person’s interest in social work, and after marrying Iris in 1998, Person returned home and entered the social work program at California State University, Fresno. After graduating with his master’s in 2000, Person set out to achieve a high school dream—opening a counseling center.
“When I was 16 or 17,” Person said, “I remember telling Iris, ‘One day we’ll start our own counseling center and we'll call it Person to Person.’”
Helping Others Conquer Fear and Pain
Today, Person to Person Counseling provides counseling services to disadvantaged individuals and families. Apart from one-on-one sessions, Person to Person also organizes seminars and workshops on marriage, boundaries, and anxiety. Person’s passion for restoring families comes from having overcome obstacles in his own childhood.
“Most people in social work or psychology, somewhere down the road, either knew somebody who needed help, or they needed help themselves,” Person said. “I come from a family where my father left when I was one. He ended up being on drugs. God can use us through our own pain and hurt and experience to be able to help others.”
Through Person to Person Counseling, Person and his wife blend their education in psychology and social work with biblical teachings to guide others through a journey to healing. An important part of this journey is overcoming fear. To overcome fear, Person advises people to practice biblically-based solutions and strategies. Specifically, he points to the life of the ultimate Boogieman killer in scripture, King David.
“When David faced Goliath,” Person said. “he didn’t run from Goliath. He ran to him. My hope is that people will not run away from their fears but run to them.”
Darrin Person is also a published author and serves as the Associate Pastor of Praise Church in Clovis, California, where he shares life-changing lessons to overcome fear, paralysis, and helplessness. Person and his wife, Iris, have two children, Darrin Jr. and their daughter Amiris.