Daniel Day

Daniel Day was a guest speaker in our class on 9/11/12.

            Daniel Day graduated from Bible College in Missouri, where he met and married his wife, as well as had his first experiences leading a youth ministry.  From there he secured a youth pastor position at a church in El Paso, Texas. It was at this position that he learned most about working in the ministry and about himself.

            Some of the things that he learned included:

·      You can’t start doing 100 things well, you’ve got to do a few things well until you’re ready for more. If you can’t do it excellently, don’t  do it.

·      Not everyone you’re on staff with is your friend. You’ve got to learn to work with people who don’t like you, even if they don’t have a good reason not to like you.  Think of them as sandpaper refining you.

·      It’s about your call, not about who’s there. 

·      “You leave a place in peace and you will arrive in peace at your next assignment. If you leave in chaos, you’ll arrive in chaos.”

The senior pastor of that church eventually became one of Daniel’s biggest and most influential mentors.

            When Dan felt that it was time to move on, he traveled around to many places.  He and his wife felt called to plant a multicultural church in a city on the East Coast- between Delaware and New York. They visited more places than they has thought they would, but he said, “The type of ministry you’re going to bring won’t fit everywhere. It’s okay to travel around and check out different options.”

When they found Wilmington, Delaware, they learned that it had never had an urban A/G church. He said, “When you delight yourself in the Lord (living a life of prayer and worship), the desires of your heart will be the desires God has placed there.” They found exactly what they wanted.

            They began to go through the steps of planting a church. Because of leaving Texas on good terms, his old church supported him both spiritually and monetarily, which was a huge blessing.

            The church is called Skyepoint Church because they want everything they do to point to the Lord.

            “In the ministry, you work on commission. Your church grows, so does your income.”  Amazingly enough, even when it’s down to the wire, “winning the lost is your motivation.”

Daniel’s focus is reaching the lost in their neighborhood, so he and his wife have neighbors over for dinner all the time. “Never underestimate the power of food. Everyone who ever come to the church has come over to our house for dinner.” I think that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but the point was made- building relationships is what draws people.

            Skyepoint also does a lot of outreaches in the community, like sports weekends, free food days, and seasonal things like Easter egg hunts. 

Daniel made a point to share that if you’re going to be in ministry, you’d better know you’re called; delighting in the Lord, even though it’s hard.