Dan Bailey

Dan serves as Emmanuel’s Pastor of Worship and Media Arts. For as long as he can remember, Dan has been moved by music and inspired by the role it plays in drawing us nearer to God. At a young age, he learned to play alto saxophone to accompany himself on piano. In 2001, he attended the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, earning a degree in Vocal Performance while leading worship at a local church.

After finishing his studies at Wheaton, Dan married his high school sweetheart and fellow Wheaton graduate, Katie, on June 25, 2005. Together, they have been blessed with four children: Felicity, Moriah, Ephraim, and Zina. To this day, Dan wonders how he convinced Katie to be his wife — either way, he’s happy she did.

From 2007 to 2013, Dan served at a church in the suburbs of Chicago, first as Children’s Director and later as the Pastor of Worship. In 2009, he finished his second degree at Wheaton, a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Studies.

In 2013, Dan, Katie and Felicity packed their bags and moved to Africa where they worked in a community center while learning the local language and building relationships. In 2017, after fulfilling their term and welcoming two more children to the family, Dan and Katie felt stirred by God to reengage in ministry stateside, specifically with a passion to inspire congregations to worship God creatively. After finding their home at Emanuel, Dan and his family could not be happier to be part of such a wonderful Baptist Church in Kansas City. In 2019, the Bailey family grew once more with the addition of a fourth child, Zina.

In his free time, Dan enjoys reading, bird watching, playing and composing music, solitary nature walks, trying new restaurants, laughing, playing as a family, and taking his girls (especially his wife, Katie) out on dates.