An entrepreneur and real estate developer, Austin, TX, resident Gary Bradley completed his first major real estate project, Rob Roy, in 1977. Beyond his work, Gary Bradley supported the work of Dr. Gerald Mann, to whom he contributed 60 acres of land on the Lake Austin shore in Austin, TX, in 1980.
Dr. Gerald Mann was the second of three children born in a small Houston community. He accepted the call of Christ at the age of 21 after attending a sermon conducted by a “hollering” preacher. He often spoke of this period fondly as his “abduction.”
Based at Riverbend, Dr. Mann rarely engaged in the fire and brimstone method of preaching, and he held the belief that even those sent to Hell in the afterlife had another chance of redemption.
His 18-minute sermons, which he believed were short enough to maintain the average American’s attention, attracted nationwide viewership through television broadcasts. Dr. Mann made it a point not to ask viewers to send donations, separating his ministry from what he called the “holler for dollar boys.”
Dr. Gerald Mann passed away in 2015 due to complications caused by Parkinson’s disease.
