An early promotional picture of Tim's Brother, WB Ward
Tim's love of magic began very early in his life, and was shaped largely by looking up to his older brother, W.B. Ward. W.B., known to Tim as "Bill", always seemed to have amazing experiences despite having to live in low income housing. When he was about 6, Tim got his first taste of being a performer when his brother arranged for both of them to dress up as clowns and be on TV for the annual Jerry Lewis telethon.
At the age of 7, Tim received his first magic kit for Christmas (yes, from his brother). Little did they know how much this would impact his life. W.B., who was a very accomplished magician himself, allowed Tim to watch him practice and gave his younger sibling a lot of advice and encouragement to look at magic as more than just a trick.
Because of the inspiration of his brother, Tim got the courage to look past the restrictions that most people put on themselves when they grow up poor, and was able to experience a lot of great things like serving in the United States Army, getting to travel (foreign and domestic), playing two years of semi-pro football, jumping out of air planes, and even becoming a professional wrestler known as The Shadow which he did full time for a little over 7 years until he had to retire early due to injuries. Even through all of this, he kept his love for magic and continued to work on this in his spare time and perform for family and friends. Even though he grew up in the church, he began to realize that
This was Tim as "The Shadow"
there was something missing in his life and developed a new desire to begin a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. It was then that he decided to create a theme for his show which he called "Out of the Shadow" which has a double meaning for Tim. First, it represents a message that comes directly out of his own life experiences. The other message, which is far more important, is about how God seeks to deliver each of us out of our "shadow" where we can live in the light and fellowship directly with Him. Tim knows that its only because of God's grace that he is saved and has one verse that he keeps listed on all of his business cards. Its from Matthew 19:26 that says, "With God, all things are possible."