Rev. Daniel Adolphson is Associate Minister at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the Development Team Leader and Past Moderator of Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance (formerly GLAD Alliance). The Alliance works to set a place at the table for persons of all gender expressions and sexual orientations within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He also serves as a member of The Alliance’s Open & Affirming Ministries Team for the Upper Midwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He holds a Masters of Divinity degree (2014) from Phillips Seminary (Tulsa, Okla.), and holds a Mini-MBA Certificate in NonProfit Organizations from the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business (Minneapolis, Minn., 2007).
Daniel graduated from Liberty High School (Spangle, Wash.), and attended Western Washington University (Bellingham), Grace University (Omaha, Neb.), and Crown College (St. Bonifacius, Minn.), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1992. Daniel brings to his ministry wide experiences in nonprofit administration, tourism & travel management, and K-12 & collegiate education.
Daniel was born in Spokane, Washington and adopted by his late parents, Clarence L. Adolphson and Gloria J. Hines. His family’s faith background is Pentecostal, with its foundation in the Assemblies of God church. They did not go to church growing up, unless it was while on vacation with his grandparents. But, from time to time, due to the influence of Sacred Heart Medical Center where his father worked, he was exposed to Catholicism. During his junior high years, he did a lot of “searching”, going to church with friends in a variety of denominations, and was involved in a Mormon-sponsored Boy Scout troop during that time. Daniel came to faith in 1981 in Spokane, Washington during a special youth service at First Assemblies of God.
He spent most of his time in the evangelical church (the exception being two years in high school, when he was a member of the Mormon church) involved in primarily music and men’s ministry, across several denominations. He always felt closest to God being involved in or leading worship. As time went on, he began to see that there were many issues on which he did not agree with the evangelicals, and his personal struggle with being a gay man in a marriage with a woman began to wear on him. Daniel quit going to church in 2003 when he moved back to Minneapolis from Omaha
From Daniel’s “Showers of Stoles” narrative:
The call to ordained ministry. As I look back, it was a call that has been on my life since I first said “yes” to God as a freshman in high school. I just kept saying no for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons was that a gay man couldn’t be a minister, according to my conservative bible college professors and pastors during that period of my life.
In 2004, God got really serious, or maybe I started listening better. The first time was around the communion table at Lake Harriet Christian Church, where I heard the message of extravagant welcome, that all are welcome around the table, period, end of sentence. God accepted me as I was, and, in fact, loved me because of it. In that sacred moment, I heard God’s call to return to ministry, that God wasn’t done with me yet.
On October 15, 2008, a crisp fall day at West Des Moines Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the people of the Upper Midwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) overwhelmingly voted to allow ordination of all of God’s children, lifted a 20+ year ban on such ordinations. That day, God tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me of the call, and in 2010, I started my seminary education.
On February 28, 2015, Daniel was the first openly LGBTQ+ person ordained in the Upper Midwest Region of the Christian Church since the lifting of the ordination ban in 2008.
In July of 2015, Daniel found his birth family and in finding his birth mother, Dr. Anna V. Wilson (retired Associate Professor of Cultural and Curriculum Studies, College of Educational Studies, Affiliate Faculty, LGBT Studies, Chapman University, Orange, Calif.), discovered that the trailblazer gene doesn’t fall far from the tree. She was the first openly lesbian professor hired by Chapman University (a Disciples of Christ institution) when she started teaching there in 2004!
Dan sings with VocalPoint Chorus, a choir that educates and donates 100% of performance-driven donations to a worthy cause that will make a dramatic impact in everyday lives. He is married to Keith Seifert and loves to bike, hike, travel, good wine and cheese, and is a total bus geek.
(This biographical statement provided by Daniel Adolphson.)
Biography Date: August, 2018
“Rev. Daniel Adolphson | Profile”, LGBTQ Religious Archives Network, accessed April 19, 2024, https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/profiles/daniel-adolphson.