“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, Who alone does wondrous things.”
– Psalm 72:18
Dave was born and grew up in Dalton, GA. He was raised in a small church in the Cumberland Presbyterian Denomination but began to follow Christ in college through the ministry of Campus Outreach Greenville. Dave graduated from Furman University and joined the staff of Campus Outreach as a full-time staff member, serving for eight years in various roles and responsibilities before beginning work on his MDiv at RTS Charlotte with the encouragement of Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina, where he was actively involved as a study leader and assisted in worship.
As Pastor of the Young Professionals community (Young Pros.), Dave serves singles and young marrieds, for the most part without kids yet, in their 20s and 30s. Charlotte has a large population of young pros whom we want to engage as our community continues to grow in both depth and breadth. As pastor of this community, Dave serves as a counseling resource, particularly for pre-marital counseling.
He also leads our Pastoral Internship Program with the goal of making it stronger and seeing us become an even more effective resource in training and multiplying pastors into ministry in the future.
The His Abilities ministry is close to Dave’s heart, and he wants to see many members of our church respond to the opportunities to help in this ministry. His Abilities provides additional and specialized shepherding resources to the families and individuals in our congregation affected by disabilities. It is growing in outreach as Christ Covenant is expanding its working relationships with other churches and organizations who also have or want to start dedicated ministries to serve both individuals and their families with special needs.
Dave and his wife Rachel are the parents of six children; Ellie, 10; Sam, 9; Henry, 7; Nora Kate, 6; Charlie, 3 and Ben, 3. Their first five children came to them biologically. God brought Ben through adoption in 2016. Ben was born in China. He and Sam both have Down Syndrome and as such have been a special gift of God. They have introduced unique and beautiful blessings into the Baxter family’s life. They truly love spending time together playing in the backyard, going on walks, getting away for vacations together. Dave also enjoys running, reading, following a good TV series with Rachel or watching Auburn University football. He’s discovered a growing interest in cooking, which is being encouraged by the whole family.
