A little lengthy, but the details are important.
Dan was born June 26th, 1977 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Dean and Glorianne Schultz. At the age of 8 Dan was encouraged to begin studying music by his Grandpa Teeter who was a fulltime successful musician and teacher himself, and with that encouragement and the help of Dan’s parents, the violinist was born. Dan Studied classical violin for 5 years and enjoyed it, but his teacher, Concert Violinist and National Symphony member Mrs. Rebecca Jenkins was less than impressed that Dan was always changing the music or bored with the original melodies, phrasing, or just structure of the songs altogether. After many competitions and community opportunities, Dan knew he loved music but was unsure of continuing on with the violin.
The Schultz family moved to Annapolis Maryland in order to begin the initiative of planting a church in the downtown area and Dan began attending Annapolis Area Christian School in the 5th grade. It was during this time Dan began expanding his musical tastes while still playing the violin, and following a little more after his older brother Jeff who was ultra cool, played trumpet in the marching band at school, played the piano, had all the popular friends, and also seemed to have all the attention of the girls. There was one particular friend, John, who Jeff spent a good majority of his time with, that had begun playing the guitar. One day he brought his electric guitar and amp over to the house, plugged it in, played a power chord and a song from White Lion, and Dan was forever changed. It was in that instant Dan knew the guitar was for him. For Dan’s 13th birthday his dad purchased him a 6 string palmer acoustic guitar which was his real first guitar, and Dan played it for hours every day learning every song and guitar part for bands like Van Halen, White Lion, INXS, White Cross, Petra, Believer, White Heart, Bloodgood, Stryper and more. Dan was hooked. If the guitar was screaming, Dan loved it.
Dan was in Annapolis until his 9th grade year when the Schultz family moved to Gainesville Florida, and Dan began attending F. W. Buchholz High School. More importantly, Dan was attending North Central Baptist Church and was playing violin with the Sunday morning orchestra, but a friend had invited him to a concert at The Rock of Gainesville, and it was none other than White Cross with the amazing Rex Carroll on guitar. Dan was all in. As a side note, it was the same friend, Cori, who introduced Dan to Melissa Yates, who just 7 years later would become his wife. The concert was over and Dan liked the environment and people at the Rock of Gainesville so he began attending services there and requesting to play guitar with their praise and worship band for the youth group. The leadership at the Rock saw potential in Dan, but also knew that being on stage was a huge responsibility, so Dan’s parents and the church began walking him through a process to prepare him for this desire. Although it was time consuming and patience was running out, eventually, Dan began playing for the youth group and was slowly getting requested to play for the bigger church services with the better players. Adrian Dunne, who was the church drummer and another worship leader, really saw potential in Dan and began giving him more opportunities to excel on his guitar. He would play Dave Weckl, Larry Carlton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and even some of his own recordings with his European band “Oops” to try and broaden Dan’s musical taste and appreciate more than just rock. It worked. Dan began developing a love for the whole band, not just guitars. It was really during this period that Dan learned about worship from both the church, but also his Dad, who traveled the country teaching on worship and equipping people with the ability to strengthen their personal worship time. Even though worship was implemented in the church setting, it was the home setting that was the real training ground for who Dan would become as a worshipper and musician.
Dan was married to his high school sweetheart Melissa on March 28, 1998, and in 2001 moved to Ashburn Virginia to go work for a company called Crosswalk.com. While Dan was in Northern Virginia he began attending Frontline, which was a contemporary service extension of Mclean Bible Church geared towards professional 20s and 30s. While Dan was at McLean his passion for worship and desire to begin singing and working on his vocal abilities came alive, so he auditioned for their worship program and began serving. Dan was only in Northern Virginia for about 18 months and after Crosswalk was sold to Salem Radio, Dan moved to the Richmond area and settled in Midlothian VA where he currently resides. Dan connected with a team of people in the area that had a heart to put a church in the city that would impact outside its doors and spread change outward like waves from an epicenter. The name of that church is Commonwealth Chapel and Dan has been involved in that initiative for almost 6 years now, currently serving as their worship leader and development team member.
Dan is a worshipper first, and musician second. He desires to maintain his local church involvement, but have a larger presence with music reaching out to the entire church. He is appreciative of everyone who is touched by his gifts, and appreciates your support.