Pastor Dan McKnight arrived at Messiah right before Christmas 2023, convinced he “must have been on Santa's "Nice List" to get called to such a wonderful church!” Messiah is the fifth congregation Pastor Dan has served, after interning in Frankfurt, Germany, leading the youth ministry at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Lindenhurst, Illinois, and then planting and leading two churches, Lord of Life (ELCA) in the western Chicago suburbs, and Kaw Prairie Community Church (ELCA-PCUSA) in the Kansas-side suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri.  Pastor Dan is a casual on the outside, serious on the inside leader who’s thrilled to be part of such a faithful, family-focused, and community-serving church as Messiah—and eager to be part of discerning what God’s got planned for the next chapters of Messian's story. He hopes you’ll drop in for worship some Sunday and stick around long enough to introduce yourself.

Pr. Dan and his wife Laura were in the same confirmation class at Epiphany Lutheran in Elmhurst, Illinois and started dating their junior year at York High School. They went to different colleges (Dan to Michigan State and Laura to Valparaiso) and got married while Dan was in seminary and Laura was in grad school at the University of Chicago. Laura currently works remotely as the Grants Manager at Donnelly College in Kansas City, KS, a Catholic college  rated the most ethnically and racially diverse college in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report. Laura and Dan are the proud parents of two 20-something sons, Jeremy and Eli, and the humans of one very old-soul mutt named Tony.  Dan and Laura love to laugh, learn, travel, and read—though for Dan that means blogs and Bibles, and for Laura it’s whatever fiction book she’s got tucked in her purse. Dan's favorite food is sushi and/or French Toast, and his most beloved Jesus parable is the Prodigal Son.

Need to contact Pastor Dan? 

Email: pastor.dan@messiah-wauconda.org        

Office Phone: 847-526-7161