Worship Leader Nathan Dannison leads our worship service once a month on selected Sundays. He embodies the mission and vision of the Potter’s House and passionately leads us in thought provoking and soul sustaining sermons. He is a recent graduate of M.Div. program at Chicago Theological Seminary.
He also currently serves as the Interim Pastor at Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Prior to this he spent a year working as a community organizer at ISAAC in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Previously, he worked in Grand Rapids, Michigan as the Director of Outreach Ministries at First (Park) Congregational Church, UCC. During his tenure at Park Church, Nathan has worked under the guidance of Rev. Todd Petty to develop new mission programming to assist the urban poor in downtown Grand Rapids. Park Church is located in the heart of the city, just blocks away from the Heartside District, home to the majority of Grand Rapids’ missions, free kitchens and clinics. Over the course of the past three years, Park Church has initiated a monthly community breakfast and a weekly winter day shelter. The day shelter, or “Friday Matinée,” as it is known in the city, serves between 500 and 600 meals each week during the winter season. Park Church also sponsors several Mobile Food Pantries, in conjunction with West Michigan Second Harvest Gleaners, distributing over 12,000 lbs. of food each month to needy families throughout the area. Recently, Park Church has added an English as a Second Language class to its outreach ministries, assisting hundreds of immigrants and refugees by offering classes at the church four days a week. Nathan also serves as the primary liturgist on Sundays and oversees the Monday night Taize prayer service. He completed his M.Div. at Chicago Theological Seminary.
Nathan completed his graduate field study with United Church Outreach Ministry, an assistance center located in Southwest Grand Rapids serving the area’s predominantly Hispanic population. During his internship, he worked with the Park Church mission team and the staff of UCOM to develop a summer day camp for needy children throughout Grand Rapids. Over 260 children had an opportunity to visit Lake Michigan and learn about its fascinating ecology while visiting the beach – many for the first time in their lives. Several other urban outreach programs were developed during his internship at UCOM, including an electric wheelchair donation program and a computer repair and distribution program for school children in Southwest Grand Rapids.
In the summer of 2008 he traveled to Lander, Wyoming to attend the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician program. From there he continued on to Bethlehem, Palestine and built a playground and community center with the organization Playgrounds for Palestine while working as an ambulance medic with the Red Crescent Society.
He received his BA from Western Michigan University and is a native of Caledonia, Michigan. In his spare time he works as a blacksmith / educator at Blandford Nature Center and plays fiddle in a bluegrass band.
Nathan Dannison
