About Dan
Dan Patrick’s journey in ministry began in Lancaster, CA, where, at the age of five, he received Christ as his Savior at Lancaster Baptist Church and was baptized soon afterward. For the next five years, his family actively participated in church ministry, serving on bus routes and helping start a deaf ministry.
When Dan was ten, his family relocated to northern Virginia, where they attended Temple Baptist Church in Herndon, VA (now Dulles, VA). During a mission conference, he surrendered to whatever the Lord wanted him to do. Though initially shy and preferring behind-the-scenes work, he participated in multiple mission trips to Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Navajo in New Mexico during his teenage years.
Despite his youth pastor’s predictions that he would become a preacher, Dan planned to pursue engineering to help missionaries with building projects. After his first semester at Pensacola Christian College as an engineering student, a pivotal moment occurred during an interterm class he attended with his father. Inspired by a lesson about Timothy and overcoming the spirit of fear, Dan realized he had been approaching his calling on his own terms. He changed his major to Bible, allowing the Lord to direct his path. Throughout college, he grew as a leader—participating in door-to-door outreach, serving as a collegian vice president, and traveling with the college’s ensemble.
During one of these college ensemble trips to Wyoming, Dan met Christina, who had grown up on a ranch in a small town. Christina had accepted the Lord as her Savior after attending an evangelistic service in Afton, WY, and was baptized soon after in Jackson Hole, WY—uniquely, in a hot tub, as the baptismal was broken. Growing up in an area where finding a good church was difficult, Christina’s father, a devoted Christian, had helped establish two churches in Star Valley. A few months after Dan and Christina’s initial meeting, when both were back at college, they began dating and married a couple of years later.
Following the advice of experienced pastors, Dan completed his Master of Divinity at Pensacola Theological Seminary while working in the Admissions office and serving as a paid intern at Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church (now North Stone Baptist Church). There, he managed the music ministry and special events. During this time, Christina taught at Pensacola Christian Academy for two years while Dan finished his seminary degree. After graduation, they returned to northern Virginia, where Dan served at his home church as a high school teacher, music instructor, Children’s Church director, and orchestra leader. He was ordained and commissioned for the Lord’s work at Temple Baptist.
The next few years provided significant experience in the difficulties churches face. Dan served as an assistant pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Concord, CA, focusing on youth and music. Despite challenges, including a church-school schism, his ministry there resulted in several young people later attending Bible college. His next role was at Mikado Baptist Church in Macon, GA, where he began as youth pastor but soon took on expanded responsibilities as Family Pastor during a time of significant staff changes.
Following a challenging year of transition, during which he supported his family as a truck driver delivering merchandise across the continent, Dan received a call from Anthony Baptist Church in Jersey Shore, PA. The church had been without a pastor for three years and had only 15 members—everything needed to be built from scratch. Over the course of eleven years, Dan led this church to thrive, developing excellent music, deaf ministries, children’s ministries, and a strong emphasis on evangelism. He also took many church members who rarely left Pennsylvania on mission trips to Germany, Bolivia, the Philippines, Grenada, and Madagascar.
With over 20 years in ministry, Dan is ready to serve as the pacer for pastors of churches with baptistic doctrine and practice across the country. He has experienced firsthand the challenges pastors face daily. He has built ministries from scratch and felt the isolation, scarcity, and overwhelm of pastoral work.
What made the most significant difference in Dan’s ministry was the influence of two men who served as his “pacers”—his former youth pastor and an experienced church planter. Their monthly calls kept him focused, motivated, and able to complete God’s mission.
During those eleven years, Dan watched half a dozen fellow pastors without similar support. He was able to encourage some to return to ministry, but others were so burned out they had to step away. Their communities lost spiritual leadership, their congregations lost direction, and these pastors lost their sense of calling. Dan believes that if more pastors had a pastoral pacer earlier in their ministry, there would be fewer casualties.
There are too many empty pulpits, too many communities without churches, and too many discouraged pastors. Dan’s mission is to be your pacer—helping you stay in the race with renewed passion and multiplied impact.