David Landis Bio

Our family began attending Grace Community Church in 2008, after we moved to Newton. I am originally from the Philadelphia area and moved to western Colorado when I was about 12 years old. The move from Philly to Colorado was due to my parents becoming believers in Christ as adults and a desire to start fresh with a new life in a new place.

I watched carefully as I saw my parents, but especially my dad, change before my eyes. His love for God and God’s word grew every year. I, on the other hand, was lost through my junior high and high school years. On the outside everything looked fine - great grades, all-league in 3 sports, and president of my class. At the same time I struggled with profanity, purity, anger, disrespecting my parents, and being prideful and selfish in many ways.

During the summer before my senior year, I broke up with my girlfriend and in the midst of that breakup, I punched a wall and broke my hand. This meant I couldn’t play the opening game of the football season and, since my identity was wrapped up in sports, I felt angry, frustrated, and lost. Around this time, my father wrote II Corinthians 5:17 on our fridge whiteboard which states, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, all things have become new.” I was tired of fighting God, fighting my family, fighting others, and fighting myself and I decided to trust Jesus as my Savior.

In college, my faith started to grow tremendously. I got involved with Campus Crusade and learned how to share my new faith as I developed a love for God’s word. After college, I decided to take a job as a youth pastor and it was at that church that I met my amazing wife Staci. Together, we have been blessed with four children, a godly son-in-law and daughter-in-law, and five beautiful grandchildren (with another on the way!). All of our kids and their spouses, by God’s grace, have trusted Christ and love and serve Him today.

Staci and I have spent most of our careers in education, with the majority in Christian education. Most recently, before becoming the Executive Pastor here at Grace, I served as the Superintendent and Staci taught 4th grade at Central Christian Academy in Wichita.

As we look back over our lives, I know that Staci and I see God’s hand in directing us, our family, and our work. We are now grateful to pour ourselves into the work God is doing here at GCC and look forward to doing what we can to glorify God in the coming years.