Dan’s Story: Led by Faith. Guided by Experience. Driven by Christ.

Dan McNerney: From the Global Mission Field to the American Soul

Dan’s journey—from Costa Rica to the Middle East to the North Shore of Chicago—reflects a lifelong call to help people encounter Jesus through Scripture, humility, and cross-cultural connection.

Dan’s calling to frontier mission began unexpectedly—shifting from a career as an agricultural commodities trader after graduating from Yale to serving as a church planter in Costa Rica in the early 1980s. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1985, he earned a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and became an ordained Presbyterian minister. Dan went on to serve the same congregation he grew up in and led numerous short-term mission teams to cross-cultural settings such as Mexico, Central America, and East Africa.

For nearly 30 years, Dan has served with Frontier Fellowship, pioneering mission work in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. His global work has focused on bridge-building efforts with Muslim communities, mobilizing U.S. churches for frontier mission engagement, and mentoring young leaders in cross-cultural ministry. He continues to serve as Senior Associate with Frontier Fellowship, helping guide a team of mission mobilizers worldwide.

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In recent years, Dan has sensed a renewed calling—to minister within the spiritually disoriented, anxiety-ridden, and often morally confused culture of the United States. In response, he founded Encountering the Logos Ministry (ELM). As an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Dan also enjoys providing pastoral care for those in need within the ELM community and as a parachurch organization dedicated to helping local churches with their educational and outreach efforts.

Dan and his wife, Sharon, live in the Chicago area and are the proud parents of five adult children.