The story of Jan van Leeuwen
The world was my oyster
“Good afternoon, ma’am”
Today I’m meeting with Jan van Leeuwen, a man of the town squares, of the Veluwe. Not the Veluwe of dense forests and heathlands, but the Veluwe of Putten, of Ermelo, of Apeldoorn. The squares where ordinary people go about their daily lives. And there he stands, Jan. A bit of a lone warrior, sometimes with a companion, but always with that microphone in one hand and the Bible in the other.
He’s not a screamer, not a man who shoves his faith down your throat. Rather, he’s a man who bears witness, a witness of love. His great love, that is Jesus. If you walk by, he speaks to you, personally, almost intimately. “Good morning, sir, I hope you’re doing well. Jesus loves you.” Or: “Good afternoon, ma’am, I’m glad you’re listening for a moment. Jesus loves you.”
The way he says it, you feel he means it. That it comes straight from his heart. A heart overflowing with love, both for the people he meets and for his God. And now, today, I get to talk with him. A man with a heart, for people, for Jesus.
From prosperity to truth
In an age where success is often measured by material wealth, Jan van Leeuwen tells a story that turns these worldly values on their head. His life is one of profound transformation: from a prosperous entrepreneur to a man who found his calling in serving the most vulnerable in society.
The entrepreneur
Jan was a born businessman. By the time he was eighteen, he had his truck driver’s license, drove a BMW, and had the gift of ‘making money out of almost nothing.’ When he was laid off at twenty-three, he started his own fruit business at the market. Four stores soon followed, and Jan became a champion in his field in the province of Gelderland.
“I had power in my hands,” he recalls. “The world was my oyster. Money was everything—you could buy anything, couldn’t you? I went on holidays, travelled, later even bought a Porsche. Everyone wanted to take a ride in my car at least once.” The nightlife, the attention, the admiration—Jan enjoyed everything his success brought him. Coming from a Calvinist background, he saw his prosperity as a blessing. In his church, money had never been a problem. “The more conservative the church, the richer the people are. The bigger the cars,” he observes soberly.
The fairytale marriage and the shadow
Jan married a woman he was ‘crazy about.’ “Head over heels in love,” as he describes it. A fairytale marriage where only one thing was missing: after three years, still no children. For five years, Jan and his wife prayed for a child every night.
Then Janick was born—severely disabled, with a life expectancy of just one week. It was a turning point that made Jan question everything he thought he knew about God and life.
The struggle with faith
Jan’s youth was steeped in religious expectations he could never live up to. Anemia made it difficult for him to study, which led to poor grades in psalm lessons and problems with his confession of faith. At twenty-three, driving his truck from Twello to Apeldoorn, he cried out: “Lord God, please pass me by, because I can’t meet your demands.”
The answer that came was surprising:
“Jan, those aren’t My demands, but the demands of your church.”
This moment changed his life. He understood that ‘come as you are’ meant more than just the words of a song—it stood for a genuine acceptance of imperfection.
The discovery of true love
His severely disabled son, Janick, became his teacher. “‘Born for My glory,'” Jan heard God say in the hospital. The child whom the world considered ‘worthless’ showed him what true love meant.
“My son had no intellect, but he did have the wisdom that is hidden from the wise and the learned,” Jan says. “This child made it visible. His childlike faith, the love he had, his laughter—then you really saw a smile from the Lord.”
For seventeen years, Jan’s wife cared for their son every day, sometimes spending hours on a single meal or medication. When Janick died, more was lost than just a son: the marriage did not survive the grief. Five years ago, Jan and his wife separated.
The call to the streets
These experiences shaped Jan into the street evangelist he is today. He feels called to the most vulnerable, the outcasts—exactly as Jesus did.
“Jesus says: ‘I have come for the weak, not for the strong,'” Jan explains. “Where the world looks away, that’s exactly where I look.”
His evangelistic work takes him to tattoo parlors, to the homeless, to markets—anywhere there are people shunned by others. “If there is a weak person in your midst, you should place them in the middle of the church, because they are a blessing to the entire congregation,” he quotes as his guiding principle.
Resistance and perseverance
The path of a street evangelist is not easy. Jan was chased away from markets, received threats—there was even a note on his door saying someone wanted to kill him. Churches rejected him because he was ’too sinful.’
But even in this, he found strength. “The more struggle, the greater the victory. The weaker I am, the more beautiful the words become,” he has learned. His reaction to rejection is characteristic: “God, I know I’m sinful. They don’t have to tell me that. But You said You came for sinners, and a sinner I am.”
Acceptance and forgiveness
The deepest insight Jan has gained is the acceptance of his own imperfection. “If I don’t accept that this is my life, I can’t receive forgiveness either,” he reflects. “Whoever breaks one law has broken the whole law. So I’m a murderer too, I’m an adulterer too. I have also done everything that was forbidden. But if I don’t experience this, why would I bring a sinner to Jesus?”
A life of service
Today, Jan leads a small community where the weak and the simple find a home. People who might not fit in elsewhere find acceptance with him. He adapts his sermons to the level of his listeners, provides coffee and cookies, and creates an environment where everyone is welcome.
His message is simple but powerful: God loves the weak, the outcasts, those overlooked by the world. In his own pain and losses, he has discovered this truth, and now he shares it with others who, like him, struggle with the discrepancy between worldly expectations and divine grace.
Jan’s story is one of humility, of letting go of his own strength and trusting in something greater. From prosperity to truth—a journey that has ultimately brought him more richness than all his previous successes combined.
@Wim van Putten