Dan Ivins knows no strangers, only friends he hasn't met. When he's not stepping on 'church land mines,' he's been having fun as a senior pastor for over four decades in the four corners of the country, including Birmingham, AL, Phoenix. AZ, Portland, OR, with most of his time in the Washington D.C. area. Ivins is the 36th pastor of The First Baptist Church in America to serve after the notable first one, Roger Williams. He and his good wife Libby are transplanted Tennesseans. They enjoy living in downtown Providence and are parents of 2 grown daughters and 4 grands, living in the Southland. Br'er Dan is the most improbable of creatures -- a life-long Baptist in the best sense of the word; Southern born, bred and buttered, but now stationed up in Yankee land. He gets a "bee in his bonnet" every now and then and let's it out every Sunday morning. Granted his accent throws people off, but he figures his is no worse than Roger's. It comes out most when the staff gathers around the kitchen table to solve all the world's problems every morning. He specializes as a seer of subtleties, and among his favorite activities are sports, traveling, and riding his motorbike. Two things he enjoys doing are: making people think and helping them to laugh. This he tries to do when preaching, some of which can be sampled on this site under "worship and music."   Ya'll feel free to check out the subtleties therein.