Dave was raised in Nebraska before attending the University of Pennsylvania, where he received undergraduate degrees in business and bioengineering and a master’s degree in biotechnology. He then participated in the design, development, and manufacturing of novel biopharmaceutical products, first for a global medical device firm and then for a biotechnology startup. In 2008, Dave moved to Romania, where he continued to bring ideas from concept to reality, but shifted the focus of his work from biopharmaceutical product development to Christian ministry. He led the Great Commandments Ministries team that was involved in planting Eclesia International, an English-language church that served the rapidly growing international community in Iași, Romania. He then served in that church for nine years before God called him back to the United States.
He has served on staff at Fourth since 2017 with a focus on college students and young adults in their 20s and 30s. This includes the newly launched Fourth Fellows Program. In 2019, Dave graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity (M.Div). Dave and his wife, Erin, met at Fourth in 2000 while serving on Summer Staff. They married in 2003 and have five children.