This week, we’re talking with Director of Youth Dan Gannon. Dan has been on staff with City Church for seven years and is currently pursuing his doctorate through Fuller Seminary. He has been married to Kimberly since 2009 and they just had their first son, McCann.
What initially drew you to City Church?
It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, 2006. I had graduated from seminary that summer and was living with a friend in SF, checking out churches to worship at.The first time I went to check out City Church, a friend’s mom decided to come with me, it was her first time ever to church--and she loved it, and I loved it. That was huge. I loved the demographic she represented--someone who had never been to church before but was spiritually curious--and loved that she felt comfortable there. The musicians were great at facilitating worship, and the message was delivered from a humble perspective. I grew up Catholic and loved the liturgy, but had done an internship at a Presbyterian church during seminary and grew to love Reformed theology.
What are some of your favorite books and movies?
Working on a doctorate, there’s not a lot of time for pleasure reading. In seminary, I read a book called Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff. Biff was Jesus’s best friend, and it kind of filled in Jesus’s missing years. There was a book called Conversations with Bono and it’s by this French atheist reporter who interviews Bono about all kinds of things, but his faith is certainly a topic of discussion. I felt like I was reading modern-day CS Lewis stuff. The apologetic was very winsome. What’s so Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey was huge, and introduced me to a new way of seeing Jesus.
Movie-wise, I love documentaries, especially ones about punk rock music. It’s the time I grew up in, so I can relate. Shadowlands made me cry hard. I love Good Will Hunting. Blues Brothers is a favorite; it’s got everything--a spiritual side, everything. I love surf movies, too.
How did you start working at CIty Church?
I started working at City Church about four months after I started attending. I had just graduated from seminary with my M.Div, and had done youth work beforehand. A lot of youth groups I had been around before were sort of in the business of sin management, but didn’t necessarily paint a convincing picture of the gospel. The youth group was really small at the time, and I was attracted to the idea of starting one from scratch. If it was awful in five years, that would have been my fault. I can also see today that there’s more of a pattern of families staying in the city, which is amazing. We’re working with urban youth whose families could move out to the suburbs, but several are obviously choosing not to.
Where are you from?
I grew up in Washington State; eastern Washington, in a town called Richland. It’s a very interesting town--part of the Manhattan Project back in World War II. My hometown was responsible for helping to make the plutonium for the first atomic bombs. It was probably the most homogenous place I’ve ever lived in America-- it felt like everyone was middle class, everyone’s parents were educated. Diversity was a value, but it was more of a theory than an experience.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I surf. I have kids and our volunteer leaders over, and play cribbage with Kimberly a fair amount. We enjoy having people over to our house, too. We like having our house full, and loving having people use it. I used to love going to concerts all the time, but I’ve fallen out of that scene over the last few years.
Your family has changed in a pretty big way recently. Can you tell us about that?
My family just got bigger--I have a family! We just had a little boy born October 1st, and it’s very interesting. Kimberly, my wife and I, when we got married we did not have a burning desire to have a child of our own, necessarily. We both love kids, but the romantic idea of having your own kid was kind of lost on us; maybe because we had worked with adolescents for so long and we do not have a handle on the full range of human development. It’s a lot of getting up at odd hours and not sleeping and changing diapers, but I would certainly say that I am starting to believe the hype about kids. It’s really something special. It helps that our kid is cute. I love going home to see him at the end of the day.
What is your favorite part of your job?
It’s to believe in what I do. It’s a luxury to me, to feel called. People can be engaged in ministry in a variety of jobs, but I believe in what I do. Getting to hang out with kids. You can see an impact made in a person’s life--you get to witness things like that in this job. This is my eighth fall at City Church, and I’ve been able to see kids mature and leaders mature over the years.
The people who volunteer in YUTES are some of the best people that City Church has to offer. It’s a demanding ministry, but it’s fun. The mess is good. And I love working with parents who are brave enough to raise their kids here, in the city. They can often feel like they are pioneers in some ways, so I admire people who take the risk of parenting their kids in San Francisco.