He Wheels a 10‑Foot Cross to Grieving Towns — The Story of Dan Beazley

Dan Beazley, a Michigan real estate broker, hauls a 10‑foot cedar cross across the United States to stand with communities in the immediate aftermath of disasters, accidents and acts of violence. He says the cross is meant to be a visible sign of hope and a catalyst for conversation, prayer and healing in the darkest moments.

What He Does

Beazley built the cross over six months during the pandemic. It is roughly 10 feet tall, weighs about 65 pounds and rests on a wheeled base so he can roll it without damaging the wood. Since launching his ministry in 2021, he says he has made 73 trips to 33 states — from Detroit (about a half‑hour from his home) to Lahaina, Maui — bringing the cross to vigils, memorials and public spaces.

Where He’s Been

This year alone, Beazley says he visited a string of communities, including New Orleans after the Bourbon Street terror attack on New Year’s Day; Washington, D.C., after a collision between a commercial airliner and a military helicopter; Florida State University after a school shooting in April; Kerr County, Texas, following devastating flash flooding in July; New York after a July shooting at the NFL’s Midtown headquarters; Minneapolis after a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School; Arizona for a memorial following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk; and Providence, Rhode Island, after a shooting at Brown University.

How It Began

Raised Catholic, Beazley says he once viewed public displays of faith skeptically. Seven years ago, after his wife encouraged him to attend a nondenominational church, he experienced a powerful spiritual awakening during a Good Friday service. Later, watching a livestream of a man in Georgia carrying a cross through his town, Beazley felt instant clarity that he was meant to do the same. He obtained plans from that man and built his own cedar cross.

Impact and Encounters

Early efforts in Detroit surprised him: strangers approached, conversations opened and, he says, some people responded with prayer. His work drew wider attention after he took the cross to a vigil following the Oxford High School shooting in November 2021. Photos in news coverage prompted messages and invitations from across the country. "He asks me to be a lampstand," Beazley told CNN. "The cross is the lamp, but he asks me to be a lampstand — just to hold it up in the darkness."

Practical Challenges and Personal Sacrifice

Beazley funds most travel himself, usually drives the cross in the bed of his Ford F‑150 and often sleeps in his truck when hotels are unavailable or too distant from a site. He has flown only once, to Lahaina after the 2023 wildfires, because he believes driving also reaches people who see the cross during the journey. The round‑the‑clock work can be taxing, and he says discernment and humility guide when he chooses to go.

“God just asked me why I was taking the cross… if I was taking it for people to see the cross, or for people to see me with the cross.” — Dan Beazley

Purpose and Perspective

Beazley says communities in the wake of tragedy often ask why such events happened and how to rebuild. Over time, he believes he has learned what helps a community heal: focusing on love, unity and rebuilding social ties rather than blame. He frames the cross as a beginning — a visible reminder that people can come together and grow even after profound loss.

Reporting note: CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to earlier coverage referenced in this story.

Beazley speaks with students December 15 while holding his cross in front of the Barus & Holley engineering building at Brown University, where students were shot, in Providence, Rhode Island. - Taylor Coester/Reuters

Beazley holds the cross outside Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, ahead of Tyre Nichols' funeral on February 1, 2023. Nichols died after he was repeatedly punched and kicked by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop and brief foot chase. - Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images

Beazley stands with the cross near the site of the shooting and fire at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, on September 29. - Emily Elconin/Getty Images

Beazley walks with his cross around Oyster Bay RV Park on San Carlos Island near Fort Myers Beach, Florida, after Hurricane Ian, on October 1, 2022. - Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Beazley walks up the bank of the Guadalupe River while carrying his cross on July 8 in Ingram, Texas, after heavy rainfall caused fatal flooding along the river in central Texas. - Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

Maggie Mae Roddy, left, prays with Beazley at the makeshift memorial for Charlie Kirk outside the headquarters of Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, on September 19 in Phoenix. - Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Beazley's cross lies in his pickup at a memorial for Corey Comperatore, the former volunteer fire chief killed during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a campaign rally, in Freeport, Pennsylvania, on July 18, 2024. - Carlos Osorio/Reuters

Beazley prays on the bank of the Guadalupe River while holding the cross July 8 in Ingram, Texas, after heavy flooding led to multiple fatalities. - Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

Beazley holds the cross next to a memorial for Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, outside the Capitol building in St. Paul on June 18, 2025. The Hortmans were shot and killed at their home in what the governor called a "politically motivated assassination." State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were wounded in a separate incident. - Stephen Maturen/Getty Images