New Pastor at St. Paul United Church of Christ

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By Emily McAfee

For 25 years, Pastor Dan Moore has preached in many states, including Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri, and Ohio.

Moore, age 51, has been selected to serve as the new pastor for St. Paul United Church of Christ, which is located in Kahoka.

Pastor Dan and his wife Denise currently live in Fort Madison, but they are in the process of moving to Kahoka. The couple have a daughter named April, who also lives in Fort Madison.

Dan grew up outside of New Haven, Connecticut where he lived with his parents, Robert and Phyllis Moore.

When Dan started college, he did not know he wanted to be a pastor, but he got the calling to do so when he took a break.

“I’m probably the last generation that could afford to pay for college as they went. I ran out of money about three and a half years into college and I took a year off. It was during that year off that I really felt called to ministry,” Pastor Dan said.

Dan talked to some of his friends in the ministry and they directed him to finish his bachelor’s degree. One day, on his way back from college, Dan stopped by the seminary in Pennsylvania and decided to apply to the school there.

Pastor Dan attended seminary school at the Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. He completed a 3-year master’s degree program there and he graduated in 1997. He was also ordained later that year.

Pastor Dan met his wife Denise at the school and they were later married at the seminary.

In 2001, Pastor Dan came to Iowa and he preached at a few churches. He started preaching at St. Paul UCC in September of 2020 on a Sunday to Sunday basis, which turned into a full-time position.

“I was doing what they call supply preaching, filling in for ministers when they are on vacation, and I got a phone call to come down to preach here one Sunday. That went well, and they asked me to come back the next Sunday. It was a call out of the blue and I came down and I really loved the congregation. They were so warm and friendly and mission focused, so when they asked if I could serve out for a year while they did a search for a new pastor, I said not a problem,” Pastor Dan stated.

He commuted from Fort Madison to Kahoka and eventually St. Paul decided to ask him to interview for the full-time position. Pastor Dan was hired as the new pastor for the church in February of 2022.

There are many aspects that Pastor Dan enjoys about his work.

“I like the challenge of having to preach every Sunday. I enjoy the research and the writing and trying to figure out what it is the Bible is trying to say to people today. I enjoy working with people trying to make the world a little bit of a better place,” he stated.

To try and help the world become a better place, St. Paul UCC participates in local and worldwide ministries