More About Me


 
My Life Verse:                                                                                
 "I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- His good, pleasing and perfect will. " (Romans 12:1-2)


 About Me- My History and Ministry

I am Daniel Shipton.  I was born and raised in Northern Michigan, in a fairly devout Christian home.  Both of my parents served as deacon and deaconess of the local Baptist church we attended.  Both of my parents had been raised, as children in Wesleyan theological backgrounds before finding their place in the church where I grew up.  I spent a lot of time in children's programs in the nearby Wesleyan church, where my grandmother and aunt attended.

I fully accepted Christ in my heart at the age of sixteen.  I struggled with accepting the call that God was placing on my life, to go into ministry.  After marrying my wife at the age of 20, and settling down a bit we began to attend the Wesleyan church she had grown up in.  We soon were helping the youth pastor with the teens.  We soon found the youth pastor was moving to finish his training and we were asked to take on the role of youth leaders for the church.  During this time I and my wife fully gave ourselves to the call into ministerial life.

We moved our family to Central Indiana when I was twenty-five to study for ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University.  We continued for our fist two years assisting in two different youth ministries, and finishing my last two years in my first solo-pastorate in a small independent Methodist church, in rural Indiana.  A year out of college we moved to attempt a church plant in Marquette, Michigan.  We experienced a lot of turn over due to the economy and the college transitional movement, and after rebuilding the core four times we moved on.  We spent four years in a small town near Traverse City, Michigan.

Since 2006 my wife and I have ministered in Clifton, Illinois, a small farming town just south of Kankakee.  My wife received her own ordination with the Wesleyan Church in 2013, which officially acknowledges the fact that she has been a partner  in ministry with me since we began this ministry journey.  In 2009 I returned to school through Asbury Theological Seminary, and received my Masters of Divinity degree in 2013.  The experience has helped me to deepen my relationship with God, to sharpen my ministry skills, and to improve my life greatly.

We have experienced a great deal of life in ministry life, which has made me who I am and to help others in their own journey.  In my growing years, and in my ministry I have been through many great times of ministry, watching God move in tremendous ways.  I have also experienced church splits, and recovery times.  We have watched pastors drive churches through great pain in their moral failures, and helped to work through needed healing.  It has been a privilege to serve local churches, to help many people to grow in their spiritual lives, and to help some along in their own ministerial journey.
We pray that God will continue to use our ministry for His purpose until He sees fit to move our lives out of this world and into His eternal rest. 

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