Pastor Dan came to Colonial Hills UMC in the summer of 2021 after serving 4 years as the senior pastor at Gruene UMC. Pastor Dan has been in ministry since 2005, when he served as youth director at FUMC in Sequin while attending Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Since his ordination, he has served at UMCs in Buda, Manchaca, San Saba, and in San Antonio at Northern Hills.

Dan’s path to ministry goes like this: He grew up in Winston Salem, North Carolina, graduated from Appalachian State University in 1997 and then “chased the dream of being a singer- songwriter all the way to Austin, Texas.” In the spring of 2005, a musician friend sponsored Dan on a Walk to Emmaus retreat. Although Dan had grown up in the church and watched his grandfather serve as a UM pastor, “the retreat really rekindled a fire in my heart and reconnected me to my roots,” he said. “I found myself by a river praying, ‘Here I am Lord! What do you want me to do?” Within a few weeks, he was offered the chance to serve as Director of Youth Ministries at FUMC in Seguin. He was about to start the job when he met his future wife, Maria, at a coffee shop in San Marcos. That fall he entered seminary and married Maria in January 2007.

Pastor Dan and Maria, are raising three children: Lyla, Jonah and Jesse (and not to be forgotten, their Maltipoo, Ringo).