Don was raised in a Christian home in the mid-west and heard the gospel many times before he was called to saving faith in 1997. God’s call led Don to begin using his background as an engineer and business executive in a “second career” of Christian ministry. He began as the Director of a Christian nonprofit in San Jose, then, after ordination in 2003, he served as a pastor and music minister in a Bay Area church. Before coming to CFF in March 2010, Don was the senior pastor of a church in western Sonoma County.
In his role as an elder and ordained pastor, Don oversees our music, men’s, and Home Fellowship ministries. He holds degrees in Christian counseling and Expository preaching from Trinity Seminary and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in apologetics, the study of the defense of Christianity. Don also serves on the board of The White Horse Inn, a reformed ministry organization founded by Dr. Michael Horton in 1990.
Don is passionate about equipping others to defend the truth and to share the hope of historical Christianity through his preaching and teaching ministry. When forced to select a favorite scripture, he settled on Romans 1:16-17.
Don and his wife Wendy have three grown children and three grandchildren. With the kids now raising families of their own, the horses, sheep, goats and other assorted animals of the Strand zoo are gone. Don and Wendy now enjoy time together with hiking, motorcycling, reading, and hosting others in their home in west Sonoma County.