From a Baptist teenager campaigning door-to-door for Barry Goldwater, to holding national office in the Southern Baptist Convention and serving in the Reagan Administration, attorney Alan Sears eventually made an unexpected and grace-filled journey “across the Tiber” to the Catholic faith nearly forty years ago.

Along the way, Alan listened for God’s call in both his professional and personal life. That call led him to found Alliance Defending Freedom, building it from a simple dream—and just $4,700—into what is now the world’s largest religious civil-liberties legal organization.

Today, ADF attorneys advocate for religious freedom at the United Nations and on five continents, including numerous victories at the United States Supreme Court and 40+ wins before the European Court of Human Rights.

Yet Alan will be the first to say that these accomplishments are not his alone, but the fruit of faith, prayer, and perseverance. In recognition of this work, Alan and his wife Paula, his partner in both life and mission, were invested as Knight and Dame of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great, the highest honor bestowed by the Holy See upon laypersons.

Alan’s patron saint is Saint Joan of Arc, a reminder that God often calls ordinary people to courageous witness. His life-theme verse comes from John 15:5:
“For without Me, you can do nothing.”