Bio

Hi. My name is Dan. Well, my real name is Daniel, but everyone calls me Dan. I call myself Dan, too. I started calling myself Dan when I was in elementary school, I think because I thought it sounded cooler than Daniel. My third grade teacher wrote Danny on my desk, and for some reason I didn’t like it. I don’t mind it so much these days.

I began playing the piano when I was six. As far as I can remember, I’ve always loved music. Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth by Rich Mullins was the first Christian cassette I ever owned. My mom bought it for me. Man, Rich could play the hammered dulcimer. I love that instrument. And could he write a song! God used him a lot down here. I pray He’ll use me like that, too.

I learned the trumpet in fifth grade and took on the title, “Band Geek,” which I still wear proudly to this day. But it wasn’t until I was fifteen that I got my first guitar: a used, black and white Squire. It had a screw for a strap peg. I remember driving over to Louisville with my dad to pick it up the day I turned fifteen. I had a bright, neon-yellow strap for it. Oh yeah.

That’s when I started to write songs. I don’t really know why, or where they came from…I just started doing it. And ever since, God has continued pouring them into my heart and brain. They just come. Sometimes I sit down and make an effort to write a song, but usually I don’t really have anything to do with it. It’s just God doing His thing.

I’m happy to be a part of what He’s doing on this planet, of what He’s doing in people’s hearts. That’s all that will really last anyway. He’s taken me around the world. I love going to the airport. I love being on a plane. We live close to the airport and I love seeing the planes landing. I’ve led a handful of people in worship, and I’ve led a myriad of people in worship. I am humbled to do both, and enjoy them both a lot.

One of my favorite things in life is seeing people encounter the Living God. I can see it on their faces, I can hear it in their eyes. And I love when God uses me to facilitate that encounter. Priceless. I get to do that on a weekly basis at my home church, and I am grateful.

I am a songwriter, a musician, and a worship leader. I am a runner. I am a thinker and a prayer. I am a son and brother. I am a father, and a husband. And I am a child of the King.