Feeling the call of God to pastoral ministry, Dan graduated from High School and entered Grace Bible Institute in Long Beach, graduating with a Bachelors in Bible, then went on to Talbot School of Theology (Biola University) receiving a Masters of Divinity degree. Dan was a singles pastor in Grace Bible Church in Mission Viejo for a number of years while he was attending seminary.  Upon graduation, Dan started Foothills Evangelical Free Church in Rancho Santa Margarita, California with his wife and two other couples. For the next 13 years, the church grew. After several years of prayer, Dan followed the leading of God to move into a full time Christian writing and speaking ministry, resigning from his church in July of 2000 and moving to the Central Coast. Two years later he again followed God's leading into a new pastoral role at Shoreline Community Church in Santa Barbara. An award winning writer, Dan's articles have appeared in Reader's Digest, FamilyFun, A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, and a Reader's Digest anthology, entitled,Life Touched with Wonder.

Dan was a frequent contributor to Moody Magazine, and writes on assignment for ten Christian magazines and ministries. He has also written articles, specialty books and a series of Bible Study guides for the Old Testament. His work has appeared regularly in over 30 different Christian magazines and periodicals, in many different countries and languages. He was also a contributor to The Church Leader's Answer Book.  After the September 11th tragedy, Dan was commissioned to write an article for an evangelistic booklet to be distributed in New York called Remembrance: Fallen but not forgotten. His article was entitled "It only takes a Moment." This booklet became the program for the Firefighter memorial in Yankee Stadium and is now distributed in many places. Over 5 million of these booklets were published in many different languages to date.