7 Questions with Danny Strange

Danny Strange is a Christ follower, husband, father and pastor. Danny grew up in the East Bay and ministers at the church where he met Jesus. Danny is married to Jessica and they have six amazing children. Danny is currently the Executive Pastor at 3Crosses Church in Castro Valley. Danny has a passion to help see more people enter a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Danny and I met at Hume Lake back in 2005 or 2006 while we were both serving as Student Ministry Pastors. We went to the camp the same week of summer for years and formed a great friendship outside of the week of camp. When I moved to the Bay Area in 2012 we began hanging out more regularly and eventually formed a pastors group together. Each year we meet with a great group of guys for 48-72 hours and talk about the great things the Lord is doing, share our hearts and pray for each other. I'm stoked Danny answered these questions and think you're going to love learning from him.

1. You’ve served at your church for almost two decades, how has longevity helped you in ministry? 

It's been an awesome blessing to serve in the same church for 18 years now. There's something about being an insider that is super helpful in ministry. It's so fun to know our church's history, legacy, core values (and most of all, our people) at a really deep level.

2. Doing ministry in the Bay Area is fast paced, what is a piece of advice you would give to someone who is thinking about moving there? 

Choose not to get sucked into the fast-paced life. Refuse to put your kids in 5 different sports. Guard your workweek. Go home on time. Honor the Sabbath. Build rhythms for your ministry and your family that trump the rhythm of society around you.

3. You’ve served in a variety of capacities at your church, tell us more about your new role. 

I've been serving as Executive Pastor for the past nine months or so. My role, in a nutshell, is to add value to our church ministry. This can happen through strategic initiatives, fixing problems or helping our staff stay on the same page.

4. Headlines seem to be full with pastors who’s marriages are falling apart. I know that you and Jessica have a great marriage. What is one thing you do to keep your marriage strong and fresh?

Our favorite thing to revitalize our marriage is getting away for a full week every year with no kids. It's the best. We vacation with our kids too, and take smaller trips, but the seven days we spend in Mexico every October is the best.

5. There are many men who don’t have a life outside their work and family. What is one hobby you enjoy doing and that fills you up?

I love travel and exploring. Every year I try to head out of town numerous times with various groups: Myself alone with God, Tahoe with friends, retreats with other Pastors, Mexico with my wife, various trips with my whole family.

6. You recently adopted two amazing girls, how has that changed your family dynamics and given you a glimpse into the heart of God? 

Adoption is a crazy party. Our house is loud and fun and exhausting and we're always cleaning up after someone. Although it's amazing to add some females to the mix (we have four biological boys), the girls have also added a ton of value in their extrovert-ness. Thanks to the twins, our boys are learning how to show emotion and how to come out of their shell from time to time. Sure, adoption reflects what God did for us in adopting us into His family, but for us, adoption has helped us see the messy chaos that is the church in our own home.

7. If you could give your 20 year old self one piece of advice what would if be?

Don't spend so much time dreaming about the future that you miss out on experiencing life in the moment.

The Prodigal God- Book Review

Book Title- The Prodigal God


Author- Timothy Keller

Publisher- Riverhead Books

Pages- 152

Quotable- "Even though both sons are wrong, however, the father cares for them and invites them both back into his love and feast."

This book was recommended to me last December by Kelsey Patterson. Kelsey and I were talking about summer camp at Mount Hermon. She was filling me in on the theme and direction where we would be going. It was all in broad strokes but I could tell the direction she was heading was from God. She began explaining the theme to me and I was getting more excited.
For summer we would be going through Luke 15.

At this point she recommended this book to me. I picked it up and started reading it a few months later. This is a book that grabbed my attention quickly. Timothy is a wonderful writer, I wish I could say I've read more of his books but have only read a few others. His writing style is engaging and easy to track with. He doesn't preach on Luke 15 but helps the reader see how God is actually the prodigal in the story. It is God who doesn't act in the way we would expect, not the son.

Timothy provides great insight into Middle Eastern culture to help the reader understand how amazing it is that God would run to His children. He also explains how both of the sons in Luke 15 are lost, not only the younger son. The older brother is lost too.

Before I give the entire book away I invite you to read it. It's not super long but well worth the read. It will help you understand the character of God more; which I think is something we're loosing in our day and age.

Mount Hermon Q&A 2017

Last week I had the joy of being at Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon is a wonderful camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The location is beautiful, the staff is awesome and it’s a place where God is at work.

For the week I was speaking at Pondy we taught on Luke 15. The theme was awesome and you can see some of it here. While at Mount Hermon there are two days where students can sign up for different activities. Some of these include: jazzercise, laser tag, high ropes, pool time or Q&A with the speaker. In the past I’ve been a part of this but had only a handful of students show up. This year I had close to forty students involved in both days (Tuesday had a higher attendance than Thursday).

After the session I wrote down some of the questions I was asked and wanted to share them here:

What is the meaning of your tattoos
This question came up in both sessions. I took the time to talk through each of my tattoos and the meaning. I pointed out the handprint tattoos for my kids. I showed the heart tattoo for my wife. I talked about the significance of having Isaiah 52:7 on my feet and more.

Who is your favorite character in the Bible
I love Peter. I love how Peter follows Jesus that day on the shore. I love the questions he asks. I also love how he denies Jesus, is restored on the same shore where he was called and then becomes of the main leaders of the early church. I can relate to Peter and his passion. I can relate to coming to Christ at an early age and following Him.

What is your favorite story in the Bible; Old Testament and New Testament?
My favorite Old Testament story: I went with two. I love the story of Joseph. There is so much redemption and forgiveness in there. I also love the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo. I love how these guys stand for God in the face of death.

In the New Testament I love the story of Peter walking on the water. He is freaked out when he sees Jesus walking on the water, in the storm, and then asks Jesus to call him out on the water. Peter is walking on water until he sees the wind. I shared how things in our life go great until we take our eyes off the Lord.

Top three favorite worship songs
What a Beautiful Name- Hillsong Worship


No Longer Slaves- Bethel Music


Your Great Name- The Eagle and Child


Who are your favorite bands
Hillsong Worship
The Eagle and Child
For All Seasons

What is the best thing that happened in your life? 
Next to meeting Jesus, the best thing to happen to me was meeting my wife. Charity is such an encouragement in my life. She laughs with me, supports me and prays so much for me. (A follow up to this was to tell the story of our engagement)

What is your favorite Bible verse?
Romans 8:31
This was the first Bible verse I memorized after fully surrendering my life to Christ. It reminds me that no matter what is happening that God is for me!

If you could be stuck in a movie what movie would it be?
I went with Frozen. I wanted to go with Talledaga Nights but figured there was no chance I could snowboard in that movie.

How did you choose your children’s names?
We went with Sophie because it means wisdom.
Leah means “delicate eyes”.
Isaiah is Charity’s favorite male name. She always wanted to name her son this.
All of the names are Biblical. Sophie is in the Greek Bible while Leah and Isaiah are both Old Testament names.

This is just a sample of what came my way. Overall it was a great success and time with the students. Obviously some students had more questions than others but I think it helped them to get to know me more.

Mount Hermon Summer 2016- Day One

(Family packed and ready to drive)

It's Tuesday morning and we're loving our time here at Mount Hermon. The kids are doing well. Isaiah is napping right now and Charity is really enjoying it up here. Our morning's are starting early and the nights are long but it's so rad being here!

I'm going to do my best to give a recap of the day before. This post will actually cover Sunday night and Monday since we arrived later Sunday. Upon arrival we got landed in our housing then headed up to Ponderosa. I immediately connected with Matt who had been awesome! It's been really fun to see how much our kids are enjoying this experience!

(The girls)

The theme this summer is Through the Woods and we're studying Romans 8. Each night I'll be preaching on a handful of verses from Romans 8 and at the end of the week we will have covered the entire chapter. I really love how Mount Hermon is tackling some tough passages in Scripture and helping to shape this generation of believers! Sunday night we had forum and it was an introduction for me. I shared my life story in 4 minutes and then we opened it up for some Q&A time. I was super surprised at some of the questions:

• What do your tattoos say?
• What is your greatest regret in life?
• What is your favorite color?
• What is your favorite sports team?
• What is your most embarrassing moment?

After forum I kept the girls around to hang out. We've met some great counselors who are really loving our kids this week! 

Monday morning came early after a late night but we had a good time as a family at breakfast. The girls checked in to their first morning of day camp and we kept Isaiah with us. Most of the afternoon was spent around the pool. Sophie passed the swim test but decided not to jump off the diving board. I was hoping she would but a three foot board is scary when it's just a little smaller than you!

Monday night we had a great forum. I started out with Romans 8:1-13 and talked about how our sin, flesh and the law can't separate us from God's love. I talked about the Prodigal Son to help illustrate this point and even used a blow up crocodile to help show how we don't have to be afraid of sin (not that we need to participate in sin, we just don't have to fear it). Overall it was a great first day! 

Don't Baptize Students at Camp!

With summer in full swing and thousands of churches heading off to camp lives are going to be changed.  Students are signing up for camp the first day of registration, they are inviting their friends to come to a life changing experience and they are excited for what God is going to do.  Leaders are taking time off of work to pack a bag, sleep in an uncomfortable bed, eat some decent food and expecting God to move in students lives.  Parents have saved all year, they are writing checks, signing paperwork and doing late night trips to Target to make sure their child has everything they need for camp.  Youth pastors have worked hard, created videos to promo camp, invited students who are far from Jesus and are praying for God to move this summer.

It happens all too often.  Camp is going great.  The message from the speaker hits home in a students life.  There is a lake and someone just read Matthew 28:19-20.  Unfortunately, this summer, a youth pastor will take an unforgettable moment away from a parent.  A well intentioned leader will thoughtlessly tell a student they should be baptized.  A student will beg their pastor to baptize them in the location where they re-dedicated their life to Christ.  

In my almost decade of student ministries I never once baptized students at summer camp!

You may think this is a crazy statement to make but I think its a compassionate reality.  Here's why:

Involve Parents in Spiritual Moments

When baptizing students at camp we alienate their parents from being involved in spiritual moments of their life affirming the misconception their student(s) don't need them.  When Rachel calls her mom on the way home from camp and tells her she was baptized mom has her smile on but her heart drops.  Rachel's mom wants to be there with her baby for these spiritual milestones.

Invite Non-Christian Friends

When you wait till your home to baptize students you get an exponential increase for your student ministry.  See when you baptize Rachel at camp she doesn't get an opportunity to invite her 5 non-Christian friends to celebrate with her.  Now multiply that by the 12 students you just baptized and 60 students in your community are now at your church hearing stories of changed lives. BOOM!

Plan a Baptism Ahead

(Students we baptized after our last summer camp)

The best way to solve this problem (my words) is to plan ahead.  Before you leave for camp work with your lead pastor and plan a baptism.  While you're at camp tell your leaders about this upcoming baptism.  After your students give their life to Christ for the first time or decide to re-up their relationship encourage them to get baptized when they get home.  Now you get to have your church involved in their lives, their parents there and they get to invite their friends you may have never met!  

Look at all these wins you get by planning ahead.  The win you may not have seen is people in your church are going to hear the stories of life change and want to be involved with what God is doing in your student ministry.  If you already baptized students at camp this year don't worry, there's always next year.

What do you think? 

CPC Houseboats /// Fishing

Last weekend I was blessed to spend the weekend on Lake Shasta with my family.  We had a blast (even though it felt like being back in Vegas it was so hot).

Over the weekend we participated in one of my favorite things to do as a kid: fishing!  I brought the girls barbie poles and we were ready to land the big one.  Each morning one of our adult leaders took my family out, on his boat, to go bass fishing.  I'm pretty stoked my little girls enjoy fishing with me.

The big question always comes up when you go fishing: did you catch anything?  I can confess I didn't catch anything.... but Sophie and Leah each landed two fish (i may have helped them).

Each morning I put on my sunscreen and the girls put on their life vests to head out on the lake.  To make the trip even better Charity came out with us (she caught a tan).  Leah was a great help the whole trip.  She quickly found out how fun it was to net the fish (I was a little scared she may fall in but she never did).

After Sophie saw how fun it was to net the fish she wanted in on the action.  They would take turns reeling in the fish and netting them; it was too cute.

I'm always going to look back on this fishing experience with our girls as so much fun.  I'm thankful they want to hang out with me.  I'm thankful they enjoy fishing!  I'm thankful we only went out for about 30-60 minutes each of the two mornings; any longer and my girls may hate fishing.  I'm most thankful for Jon taking us out and letting us use his equipment; we had a great time fishing on the houseboat adventure.

* We released all of the fish the girls caught; we even kissed some to say we're sorry

CPC Houseboats /// Fun

Last weekend I was invited to speak at our church's houseboat summer camp for high school students.  Honestly I've spoken at a few camps but this was a treat to speak for my own church!  I also was able to bring my family with me so this post is dedicated to some of the fun we had on the first day of our houseboat adventure.

We arrived at the dock around 2:30pm and headed to find our boat.  As we walked the line of boats Sophie didn't pick a boat out quickly; she actually saw a huge boat at the end of the dock and decided she wanted to drive the biggest one.  Unfortunately we didn't rent the big boat so I convinced her we needed to find our own boat.

We headed back down the dock and chose boat #91.  After exploring around the boat Sophie and I decided we needed to explore the roof.  The boat was pretty much like an RV on the water with a ladder to the roof.  Since it was a chilly 90+ degrees we obviously didn't stay up top too long.  I love this picture Charity took of us!  I love seeing Sophie smile this big and pose for a picture with me.  I really needed time with my family and the houseboat adventure was the perfect way to get it!

After all the students arrived, the boat drivers were prepped and we were sweaty we headed off!  I'm going to guess it took us a good 2 hours to arrive at the cove we stayed in.  I think it would have taken us less time to arrive there if one of our boats didn't die in the middle of the lake!

Before the boat dying I taught the girls how to drive the boat; by that I mean I told them you don't just turn the wheel in any direction you like.

Leah hung out on my lap and drove the boat for about 2 minutes; I'm guessing Sophie lasted a little longer.  I really enjoyed spending these fun little moments with my kids.  I love getting a chance to minister while hanging out with my family.  I enjoy being able to teach my girls little life lessons while we smile and enjoy the heat!

Prepping for a camp

Now I am pretty sure there is no manual on how to prep for speaking at a camp.  I am not even sure if what I do is the best but here is how I have learned to best prep for speaking at a camp.

Study the Outline
Normally when you speak at a camp you will be given an outline, or some sort of document, that will help you understand the theme of the camp.  Study this!  If the camp wants you to preach on X,Y and Z then you better be familiar with X,Y and Z.  From my experience the camp will give you some direction on where they are heading and the theme they have.  The nice thing is the directions normally mean I get to use the freeway (I have lots of room to work) and normally don't have to take the country room (less room to move in).

Prepare Ahead
If the camp gives you the material 6 weeks out; start studying.  If the camp gives you the material 6 months out; start studying.  I have found that the longer I can just think about the text, direction and theme the better I am.  I am not a natural thinker so I need more time than your average person.  When I get an opportunity to think ahead I am much more creative, know my Bible texts better and have way better stories to tell! I have time to try the illustrations that I want to use and make sure the movie clips fit the direction of the message.

Map it out
Know where you are heading and make sure its clear!  I like to get a big piece of paper and write out the title of the night, the main text and my big idea down (see picture below).  Once those are clear I can start outlining my messages for the week.  When I am able to see it clearly written down I can process it better and make sure I am being crystal clear in what I'm teaching and how I'm asking students to respond to God.

Own It
If you don't own it how will anyone else?  If you don't know your material, by heart, how can you expect a student to remember it.  Now you may think this is harsh or too much to ask but I don't.  I always do my best to memorize my material, the flow of the night and how I will close the message.  My hope is that if a student ran into my 6 months later that I would know enough of the messages that I preach to still have a lasting conversation about them.

So this is what I'm doing right now; what are you doing so I can learn from you?

Pondo Summer Camp 2012

While on my sabbatical, this last summer, I had a really cool opportunity to speak at my first summer camp.  I have done a couple winters at Pondo and have really enjoyed them but after summer camp I was so stoked on the ministry that Pondo has!  I loved how they format their summer camp; the time is great, the location is wonderful, the cost is doable and the staff is caring.

While I don't have any plans to write about what I spoke about or how Chapel went I do want to tell a story I will never forget.

My oldest daughter Sophie loves animals.  She would have every animal that she could get her hands on if I would allow her to.  Every time we see a dog she wants to pet it and she knows the breed of many dogs.

This summer at camp we saw a few lizards running around and Sophie very much wanted to catch one.  One day after getting our lunch, with my hands full, Sophie saw a lizard just outside the Chapel.  She asked me to help but I had my hands full.  Sophie started chasing the lizard around, who was no small lizard, and he almost ran into chapel but someone stopped him from doing so.  After that he ran under a small pile of wood.  Sophie started moving the wood and got him to run out from it.  Then it happened; when the lizard was in the middle of the walk area Sophie pounced on him and caught him!

Sophie caught a huge blue-bellied lizard all on her own.

For the next three hours Sophie held that lizard as her prized possession.  She pet the lizard and showed him to everyone she encountered.  She was so stoked on her accomplishment and enjoyed every moment she had with that lizard before we asked her to release him back into the wild so he could have dinner with his family.

My Top Five from 2010

2010 was a good year.  We had some crazy times as a family and some great times.  Overall I have to look back on the year with some huge learning lessons, some great ministry lessons and wonderful time with my family.  On New Years Eve Charity and I were talking about our top five from the year, she already blogged her's, and it was good to just talk and think about all that God has done for us and how He provides for our family.

With that said here is my top five greatest memories from 2010:

1) The birth of Leah Joy Benson
This seems to have to be a no brainer that my daughter being born was by far the best thing to happen to our family in 2010.  When Leah was born we were both a bit nervous because of all the issues that we had with Sophie.  It was great to have Charity's mom and sister in town to help out on the day Leah arrived.  We went to the hospital late on the night of March 10th and at 7:06am on March 11th Leah Joy joined us (of course I cried when I first saw her).

2) Elvis Wedding
January 7th 2010 marked Charity and I being married for 5 years.  We have decided that every five years we are going to do something big for our anniversary.  We also talked about how we may not live in Vegas for ever and we needed to do the Elvis Wedding.  So I got my tuxedo t-shirt out and we invited the friends to our wedding.  Now one of the best parts is that Charity was a good 7+ months pregnant!

3) Family Vacation in San Diego
Over the summer we packed up the girls and headed south to the beach.  Now its weird to write that we took a vacation in the city where Charity and I meet and used to live for a few years but we did.  We meet my Mom, her Husband, Sister and Nephew down there.  We went to the beach, Sea World, the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.  Such a great time at the beach and with family!

4) Hume Lake Summer Camp
This was my sixth summer going to Hume Lake and every year I have enjoyed it more and more.  I think that is partly because we, as a student ministry, have learned how Hume functions and how we can best use the week up at camp.  Every year we bring more and more students there and have just seen God really grab students hearts in huge ways and change lives!  I am very thankful for the ministry that Hume Lake has in our students lives.

5) Beaver Dam Fishing Trip
My church did something great for me last year and gave me three weeks off for Spiritual Refreshment.  Part of that time I went on a four day fishing trip with my buddy here in town, Taun Yurek.  We went to Beaver Dam, in Nevada, and went fly fishing for trout.  This was by far one of the highlights of my year; getting away and just being in nature!  Now it was super cold but I pushed through it and had one of the best times of my life.

Well that's it; that's the top five things from 2010

Hume Lake 2010

(Hume Lake in the morning)

From July 18th-24th I had the privilege of leading a group of leaders and students to Hume Lake Christian Camp in California.  This was my sixth summer heading to Hume for camp and I think every year it has gotten better and better.  Some would say that bus ride is a long 9 hours there but I look at it as a rad time to connect with students who I normally don't get to see.  After leaving Vegas and arriving to some temperature much less than 110 degrees I love to make, or encourage, all our guys to take a quick swim in the lake right when we get there. 

(The soon to be senior boys)

Then during the week we compete in some pretty crazy recreation games that help break down the "I'm too cool wall" that some students put up (I never did that in high school).  Hume breaks the entire camp into 2 huge teams each having 14 sub-teams; let the competition begin!  During the week your team can earn points for: cleaning your cabin, competition, spirit, memorizing Bible verses, and other things.  The whole thing is to use healthy competition to break down walls and it works! 

(What were we thinking)

Some free time activities we like to do are: play ultimate frisbee, you can rent a boat and go out on the lake (no gas motors allowed), there is a High Adventure course, a sick paintball course and much more.  Every year we let the students know that we will be playing paintball in tank top shirts and shorts.  I know it sounds totally stupid but I am in shock at how many love it!  We get out there; have some fun and get crazy on the field.  The welt stores are great (I still have a scar on my neck from three years ago) and this year my first hit was on the top of my head. 

(The entire crew)

The week was a huge success and we had multiple students make a first time choice for Christ.  I was so excited at how many leaders came up to me and said something like: "I forgot to tell you, but when I was doing my one-on-one with ___________ he/she gave their life to Christ for the first time."  I was so pumped to see all the hard work we have put into sowing the seeds for Christ reap a reward! 



The leaders this year were amazing (not that they haven't been) but this year we took 6 leaders who were previous students of ours.  I have to just end this with a huge thank you to everyone who prayed for students, prayed for me, helped with transportation, gave us a contact to make camp less expensive, shopped the garage sale, played in the golf tournament, worked anything we did to raise money and just encouraged our team while we did camp this year.  Thank you for loving God and liking students!

Student Ministry Garage Sale

This week is our Annual Student Ministry Garage Sale! This garage sale has helped us for the last eight years to off-set the cost of summer camp and allow students to reduce the price so they can attend. This year will be no different!

Please swing by the sale and find that item you cannot live without (seriously; if you are looking for it, we probably have it). The location is:
South Hills Horizon Ridge Campus
2520 W. Horizon Ridge Pkwy
Henderson, NV

If you have any questions please call:
Amy Robledo @ 483-3741
Neal Benson @ 483-3740

See you soon!