Daniel Stratton is the Founder and President of ProVision Network www.provisionnetwork.com and the Faith Exchange Fellowship. He is also the Senior Pastor of the Wall Street Church which he founded in the mid 1990’s with his wife Ann Stratton. The ProVision Network is an association which offers networking opportunities for Christian business people as well as providing mentorship programs.
Daniel Stratton was born in Cotton Grove Minnesota. As the oldest of 5 children in a lower middle class home, Daniel was responsible for helping raise his younger siblings. Daniel’s father worked several jobs at one time, and was hardly home. His mother began cleaning houses for money after his father had sustained a debilitating injury while performing industrial work. This experience taught Daniel how to delegate as well as having taught him the thought process of leadership.
Daniel attended public schools throughout his youth and was a good student. In addition to maintaining good grades, he also took part in athletics including football and basketball. He was also active within his high school’s theatre program. Daniel was a leading actor and had won awards for his vocal talent. His involvement in these activities would prove as Daniel’s first “Divine Intervention.”
While still attending high school, Daniel made a film about football. This film was sent to Princeton University by his English teacher, and was later received by the football coach at Yale University. The coach was so impressed by the film that he travelled to Minnesota to meet Daniel. As Daniel kept a very busy schedule including school activities as well as a job, Daniel was hardly ever home. Because of this, the coach found himself speaking with Daniel’s mother on several occasions prior to meeting Daniel. In fact, the coach had traveled to Minnesota 4 or 5 times before he finally met Stratton.
Daniel’s mother and the coach spoke about the possibility of Daniel attending Yale. They both were aware that Daniel was capable of excelling within the Ivy League school despite his family’s meager income. He was a good student as well as a talented athlete. It was Daniel’s vocal awards that set him apart from other students. Eventually Daniel was recruited by Yale to play football and became the first in his family to attend college. Daniel Stratton graduated from Yale University in 1981.
After graduating from Yale University, Daniel headed to New York to pursue theatre. This plan did not come to fruition. Daniel would find himself borrowing money for clothing and taking on a position on Wall Street.
Daniel was recruited by several commodity trading firms and began work with J. Aron as a clerk. J. Aron was a highly competitive commodity trading firm in the 1980’s. This position which started on the main floor of the New York stock exchange, would poise Stratton to start his own business in 1983 by the name of Precious Metals Arbitress Company.
Daniel would spend 18 successful years on Wall Street trading commodities including gold, silver, and sugar, coffee, cocoa as well as stock indexes. His company was able to compete with some of the best traders in some of the fastest markets. Trading simultaneously in both Chicago and New York, Daniel’s company once made half a million dollars in one day’s trades. As a top trader o the New York Stock Exchange, Daniel secured seats on several commodity committees, as well as the New York mercantile exchange.
It was on the floor of the stock exchange that Daniel slowly began his ministry. After having met his wife Ann in 1984, Daniel realized that the crazy fast paced life was not the path he was intended to live. He quit going out to bars with his friends and avoided commonplace stock exchange activities such as fantasy football. Instead, Daniel would choose to read the Bible at work. This raised many questions from his peers. Questions and comments regarding his behavior led Daniel to place a basket on his desk to field them. Stratton realized he could not trade and talk at the same time, but he was open to any questions they may have had. He then informed his peers that he would answer all questions within the basket in letter form on a weekly basis. What began as a weekly letter, evolved into a newsletter which Daniel named “The Safe Exchange.”
The Safe Exchange contained answers to his peers’ questions, scripture, and current events. Within a year, Daniel’s newsletter went from 20-30 copies to over a 1000 with the help of fellow born again Christian Frank DeRossi. Soon, Daniel began teaching Bible study at the demand of peers. This would serve as the beginning of Daniel’s ministry.
Daniel left his successful career on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991 to start his church, although he had been performing ministry services in lower Manhattan for nearly 10 years. The church’s original location was unfortunately destroyed in the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. Since then, the church has been hosted in 25 different locations. Daniel and Ann Stratton’s church has not missed a service despite the re-locations. The mission of the church is “ to vanquish the root of all evil-the love of all money, to stand triumphant in fear, to declare victory over grief as the city heals, to declare the only peace that lasts, and to declare and demonstrate to New York City that love never fails.”
Stratton has penned 2 novels, “We Win-Let’s Play”, and “Divine ProVision”. He has appeared on TBN, the Fox Business Channel, CBN with Pat Robertson, and on Promise land TV with Mike Simons. His ministries and church are growing rapidly. Daniel Stratton is an inspiration to many Christian business people across the world.