Speaker & Author
Your story does not
disqualify you.
It is the point.
Delton de Armas challenges audiences to recycle their pain. To see their hardest seasons not as something to just survive, but as something God can use to help someone else.
Book Delton
“Delton’s ease in front of an audience and natural storytelling style moved us to laughter and to tears.”
Todd Hamilton | Pastor, Elevation Church, Flower Mound TXAbout Delton
Finance professional. Author. Storyteller. Reluctant headline-maker.
My name is Delton de Armas. I serve as the senior leader of both Inspiring Churches and Qavah Ministries. Over the years I have worked in leadership with organizations as large as 4,000 employees and as small as, well, just me. Most recently I have focused on coaching and back office support for churches and nonprofits. Pastors hold a particular place in my heart.
My name showed up in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Huffington Post. That was never the plan. But God had one. What God did with that season is what I now call recycling my pain: taking the hardest chapters of a life and turning them into something that helps someone else get through theirs. My wife Pam, along with our daughter and two sons, were my very own temporary widows and orphans, now gloriously reunited as a family after a 47-month separation. We walked every step of that story together, and God continues to use that experience for our good and his glory.
I am the author of Thrive: From the Inside Out, Mo-Mentum Principles, The Backoffice Blueprint, and The Thing That Matters. Pam and I now live in Ocala, FL.
Watch Delton Speak
See it before you book it.
Three examples in a range of formats and settings. What you see is what you get.
What Delton Speaks On
Many messages. One voice.
If we were having coffee and you asked me what I speak on, here is the honest answer. I do not have a catalog of messages. I have a body of experience, a few themes I keep returning to, and the ability to find the version of those themes that fits your room.
The first time I spoke at Elevation Church in Flower Mound, it happened because a guy from my Crossfit gym saw a video I posted on Facebook and shared it. The pastor saw it on his friend’s feed and reached out. He was in the middle of a gratitude series and thought it might fit his congregation that November. I listened, then I crafted something specific for his people, and spoke directly to them. That is how this tends to work for me, and honestly, I prefer it that way.
A few themes I tend to return to, and the kinds of questions they tend to open up:
Redemption & Resilience
I spent four years in federal prison for what the judge called something I should have known. Out of that season came a principle I now build most of what I do around: if we are willing to be used by God, he can recycle our pain. Whatever wreckage you carry into the room, that is the material he is working with. This comes out differently in every setting, sometimes tender, sometimes funny in ways people do not expect, sometimes both in the same breath. The questions it tends to answer: Why is this happening to me? What do I do with this? Is there anything good left in me to give? People are still talking about it on the drive home.
Faith & Finance
With thirty years of financial leadership in ministry and corporate settings, and a federal conviction for what fear and silence cost me, I have a particular angle on stewardship that most financial training never touches. In prison, a chaplain taught me that fear is not just a feeling. It is a sin. Self-preservation. Edging God out. I know exactly what that looks like in a leader: scared of rocking the boat, scared of contradicting a boss, afraid of losing a job you love with people you love in a town you love. Left unchecked, that fear becomes the blind spot that costs you everything. The questions this tends to open up: Where is fear quietly running my decisions? What am I not saying that I should be saying?
Leadership & Calling
I have spent more than thirty years in organizational leadership across corporate, ministry, and nonprofit settings. The questions I find leaders carrying tend to sound like this: Am I still called to this, or am I just afraid to leave? Have I confused my ambition with God’s will? Do the people I lead actually trust me, or are they just managed by me? These are the questions people carry at 2am and rarely say out loud. I have lived most of them. I have not always answered them well. That, it turns out, is exactly why this works.
Families of the Incarcerated
If I asked your congregation how many of them have an immediate family member who has been incarcerated, what do you think they would say? One in twenty? One in ten? According to USA Today, the actual number is nearly one in two. 47%. Approximately 113 million Americans have had an immediate family member spend time behind bars. That is not a fringe issue. That is your congregation. Qavah Ministries, which Pam and I co-founded, exists to inspire, equip, and mobilize the church around the families left behind when a loved one is incarcerated. We call them temporary widows and orphans. Part testimony, part challenge, and part practical roadmap for churches ready to do something about it. It is a story you cannot un-hear. And it will change how your church sees its own neighborhood. And how it sees itself.
Working with students or youth leaders? I am comfortable in front of student audiences and happy to adapt my core topics, including resilience, financial literacy, and calling, for younger crowds. My middle-grade novel The Thing That Matters can serve as a take-home resource for those events. Ask about it when you reach out.
What Others Say
Words from the rooms he has been in.
“Delton’s ease in front of an audience and natural storytelling style moved us to laughter and to tears.”
“Whether one-on-one, one-on-a-hundred, or one-on-a-thousand, Delton is a communicator.”
“You are making an excellent decision in considering Delton. Don’t hesitate. He will add value in whatever role you trust him with.”
Published Books
Delton’s books make great event take-homes.
A memoir of 47 months in federal prison, told honestly across three phases: Surrender, Survive, and Thrive. The book behind the Redemption and Resilience talk. Study Guide available as a companion for small groups or retreat follow-up.
Memoir · Study Guide Available
A business parable that follows a young entrepreneur and his Uncle Mo through the fundamentals of business finance, using cycling as the central metaphor. Practical and readable for anyone managing a budget.
Business Parable
Co-authored with his good friend Adam J. Moffitt. A practical operational guide for nonprofit and ministry leaders built around five foundational pillars. The companion resource to the Faith and Finance speaking lane.
Leadership · Finance
A middle-grade novel following nine students who each represent one of the nine Enneagram types as they learn to collaborate on a school project. Written for pre-teens but honest enough for the adults who work with them.
Middle Grade · EnneagramBulk copies are available for most events. Ask about pricing when you reach out. View the full author page on Amazon or at deltondearmas.com.
Availability
What to know before you reach out.
Delton is based in Ocala, FL and is available for local, regional, and national engagements. He is comfortable with a wide range of formats and event sizes, from a Sunday morning main stage to a small leadership workshop. Honorarium varies by event type and context. Contact to discuss.
Delton is available for
Events of all sizes and formats.
- Church services (all sizes)
- Leadership retreats and staff development days
- Elder, deacon, and board meetings
- Men’s, women’s, and family events
- Denominational and conference settings
- Finance and stewardship workshops
- Youth ministry and middle school events
- International engagements (bilingual Spanish/English available)
Book Delton
Your audience deserves a speaker who has actually lived it.
Delton does not speak from a distance. He speaks from inside the story, and it shows. If you are looking for someone who will show up prepared, connect with your audience, and leave them with something they will carry home, fill out the form and let’s find out if it’s a good fit.
The more specific you can be about your audience and your objectives, the better he can tell you whether he is the right person for your event.