Danen was born in Green Bay, WI in December of 1979.  A big aspiration in his early years was to play professional basketball in the NBA.  He lived, breathed, and slept basketball, along with playing it at least 3 hours a day.  Some unfortunate nagging injuries developed over the years along with some other factors which prevented him from pursuing this dream further, ( as well as the realization that the NBA did not usually accept skinny 5’ 7” white guys ).  Yet fortunately, God had bigger and better plans mapped out.

A major life changing period for Danen occurred the summer after his freshman year of college.  He met a young woman ( go figure ) who had a profound effect on him.  Through her passion for living her life as a true witness for God’s love, he began to question various things in his own heart.  Through this young woman, God made him question why he was not living out his faith to all extents, and through her God slowly penetrated Danen’s heart to His glory.  Danen had “known” the Lord since his childhood, but it was not until then did he realize what a relationship with God all contained; Jesus’ sacrifice and the life that He wanted us all to have.  He began diving into the Bible and seeking to learn anything and everything that he could about God.

The next few years would prove to be the hardest times of his life, along with some of the best years.  Bit by bit, he began to surrender areas of his life to God, all the while wondering and trying to figure out what the next step in life was going to be and where his old friendships were to fit into the scheme of everything.  It was a time of discipline and refinement.

Yet through the constant encouragement of the fellowship of believers and the wisdom of the Word of God, he began to see, understand, and take on the character of Jesus.  He felt the Holy Spirit alive in him, changing him rather than him trying to change himself.  Along with these events, around his Sophomore year of college, Danen started learning to play guitar and sing.  He started putting music to the questions, praises, pleas, and topics that he previously put in poetry.  About a year later Danen began leading worship with the campus ministry he was involved with and occasionally doing some special music or small concerts.  This was the beginning of what the Lord had in store for Danen, a ministry of music.

Through the involvement with that campus ministry at UW-Oshkosh, Danen was able to build strong relationships which helped him to grow and to walk with God.  It helped him to see his old friends, who did not have a relationship with God, with love, compassion, and grace rather than judgment.  He learned that faith and love for God were matters of the heart, and not merely matters of surroundings.  Two commandments which were frequently brought to his mind were: “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength”; and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  The two greatest commandments indeed.

Through the musical and ministry influences of artists like Shane Barnard and Eli, Danen felt a longing and calling to pursue a Praise and Worship ministry upon graduation from college.  The Lord continues to grow His ministry and grow him as we speak.

“I want to love Him and be loved by Him.  I want my life to be a witness for the Lord and I want to encourage and raise up other men and women to become the passionate worshippers God desires us to be.  I want to thank Him and praise him for saving me from death and what I deserve.  And I want to do it with everything that I have!”

Danen Kane