The Reverend Bryan J. Dahms, Founder/Lead Pastor

The Reverend Bryan Dahms, Founder/Lead Pastor, began his journey of faith through vespers services while at Clayesmore Prepatory School, Iwerne Minster, Blandford, Dorset, England and continuing through confirmation classes at The Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS.   Bryan’s faith came alive in a personal way in 1983 while at the University of Kansas and after reading these words in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew:  “You have heard it said, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Coming to an understanding that those words could not be of human origin, Dahms became convinced that the God of the universe is the God of the Bible.  He connected with The Rev. Dr. Tom Ryan at 1st Presbyterian in Lawrence and together with a crew of Christian college students founded His Life, a derivative of the Young Life model of ministries and targeting students at Lawrence High School.   During college, Bryan completed residential Pastoral Internships at Village Church and Colonial Prebyterian in Kansas City.  After graduating with a B.S. in Business Administration, Bryan was appointed to the positon of Area Director, Blue Valley Young Life while maintaining his secular work in Product Design and Development with Hallmark Cards.   Pastor Dahms founded a real estate company in 1991, a vocation that afforded him the opportunity to enter ministry full-time.  He joined the Pastoral Staff of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Brookside, Kansas City, first as Pastor to Youth and Families and then as Associate Pastor for Evangelism.   After seven years at St. Andy’s, Bryan received a sabbatical fellowship to Holy Trinity Brompton church in Knightsbridge, London, England where he studied church-based evangelization through the Alpha Course under Alpha’s Nicky Gumbel.   In 1997, Dahms relocated to New York and was appointed National Director of Evangelism for Alpha in North America and, together with Dr. Alistair Hanna, founded Alpha USA.  In 1998, The Dahms family relocated to Pasadena, CA so Bryan could complete his M.A. in Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.   In 2003, Pastor Bryan left Alpha to take up an appointment with Icon Productions to promote the film, The Passion of the Christ.  Together with a small team of church leaders, Dahms crafted a plan to “main-stream” the film as an evangelization tool for the world.   In 2005, Bryan accepted the position of Pastor of Evangelism at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, a position Pastor Dahms resigned from to form a not-for-profit to acquire, restore, and reopen The Morse Church.   In 2009, Pastor Bryan founded the National Ministries Department for the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United To Serve, or FOCUS.  Under Bryan’s direction, FOCUS launched missions for the poor and homeless in St. Louis, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Orlando, San Diego, and Orange County.  In November of 2011, Pastor Bryan left Focus to devote more of  his energy  to Morse Church.   Dahms pilots small aircaft, drives commercially for the Blue Valley School district, serves as a trust officer for a private equity firm, operates as a licensed real estate agent, and owns a residential real estate leasing company.  Recently, Bryan founded Iron4Missions, a not-for-profit to raise funds for outreach to the poor through his competiton at the Iron Man World Triathalon Championships in September of 2012.

Pastor Dahms and his wife of 25 years, Paula, live in Overland Park with their 4 children.