Officer Candidate Bios

The Session of EPC is pleased to present to the congregation 3 candidates for church leadership. Each has completed the officer training course, passed their exams, and is willing to serve. Dan Dunn and Doug Hancock are presented for the office of Ruling Elder. Gail Shaff is presented for the role of Deaconess.

We will hold a brief congregational meeting on March 8 after the Divine Service to vote on these candidates. In the meantime, we encourage you to get to know them as you consider how to vote. To that end, we have asked each of them to provide a short bio.

Daniel Dunn

  My childhood and youth were spent on a cotton farm and in small towns in West Texas. After earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech, I served four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy. My entire working career was as an engineer for Mobil Oil working on US and international projects.

After our marriage, Barbara joined me in my corporate nomad life and I became a Christian through her witness. Our daughter, Kelli, and our son, Paul, joined us along the way as we lived in five states and two foreign countries. We moved to Austin to be near Kelli, her husband Jay, and our grandsons, Nathan and Aaron. We joined Redeemer and attended the first services at Emmanuel.

I have been a choir member, teacher, small group leader, and Deacon at various places in our travels. I began a continuous study of the truths of Scripture immediately after my conversion, and have shared that knowledge throughout my Christian life. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my Lord wherever he may place me.

Douglas Hancock

I’m the second of four children born to a U.S. Navy family in 1951. Kansas, Maryland, Rhode Island, Maine, and the Carolinas were my homes as a young boy. At age thirteen, I came to South Texas with my mother, older brother, and two young sisters, where we joined my grandmother, aunt, uncle and two cousins. My mother and sisters still reside in South Texas.

I attended both junior and senior high school in Kingsville, Texas. After high school, I worked my way through college, attending Texas A&I University in Kingsville, and the University of Texas in Austin, before completing both my Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees at A&I with a with a double-major in Psychology and Sociology. I met my lovely wife while attending A&I. Nancy and I married at Christmastime in 1977 and she’s been my most cherished blessing since.

I enjoyed a gratifying 30-plus year career with the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, serving in professional and administrative capacities, including: facility and statewide program development and management, staff psychologist, personnel management, account management, data collection and analysis, contract management, IT systems project management, Federal lawsuit oversight, quality improvement systems development and management, performance data collection and analysis, and electronic medical record (EMR) software development. After retiring in 2007, I worked as a project consultant developing EMR software for Texas’ 40 community MHMR services agencies.

By the Grace of God, I was born to a Christian Mother and baptized as an infant in the Presbyterian Church. I am a lifelong Christian and student of the Bible. I attended Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist churches as a youth, and made my public profession of faith at the First Presbyterian Church of Kingsville as a young adult. As a married couple, Nancy and I joined the First Presbyterian Church of Kingsville where I served as Deacon. In 1981, we moved to Austin and I served as a Deacon of the Central Christian Church. Following our move to Cedar Park, I was appointed head of the Pastoral Care Ministry at Cypress Creek Baptist Church, then later elected Elder over Worship and Music at Hope Presbyterian Church. Due to significant changes in theology and polity within the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) denomination, Nancy and I joined Emmanuel Presbyterian (EPC) Church in 2015, while it was still known as Redeemer Cedar Park.

I now serve EPC joyfully in several capacities, including usher, greeter, sound technician, and Communion preparation, and I teach in the Adult School of Discipleship. I love our church and I’m privileged to offer myself and my skills in the role of Elder. I was honored to be nominated and participate in the twelve weeks of officer training. I’ve prayed considerably regarding the opportunity to serve the congregation as an EPC Elder and, if elected, I will use my faith and skills on Session to ensure we achieve our local mission and further the Great Commission.

Gail Shaff

Prior to moving to Austin in August of 2010, I lived most of my life in Lansing, a small farming community in upstate New York. I attended Lansing Central School and married my high school sweet heart a couple of months after graduating from high school. He was drafted into the Army 6 months later (Vietnam war era). The next 30 years were pretty tough for me, with multiple marriages and divorces along with the responsibility of raising two boys without the help of their father.

I have two wonderful sons, Nicholas and Nathan. Nathan lives in New York with his wife Chelse and their son Mason. Nicholas lives here in Cedar Park with his wife, Beth and their four miniature dachshunds. I have three sisters and two brothers, four of whom still live in and around Lansing. My parents and one of my brothers are no longer living.

I was introduced to God when I was a little girl. While attending a small church in our community, Pastor Swanson planted the seeds of the gospel in my heart. My mother stopped attending this church when I was 9 years old. I then attended All Saints Catholic Church with my parents until my early teens.

When I was 24, I started attending Faith Bible church. During an evening service I went forward and confessed my need for a savior. I was baptized a few months later. My faith was not strong during the next 20+ years and when I look back on that time I realize I was living a works-based Christianity. I was constantly struggling to live an obedient life, but I kept failing, it was such a struggle!

During the summer of 1996, my family and I attended Family Camp at Lamoka Baptist Camp. Throughout the week we attended chapel services every afternoon and evening. By the end of the week I realized that I had been living a lie, believing that I needed to work for my salvation. My heart was changed and I gave my life to the Lord. Since that day I have grown in the love and grace of the Lord. I continued attending Peoples Baptist church until 2005, when, because the teachings of R.C. Sproul, I left the Baptist church and joined New Life Presbyterian Church.

In spite of the many struggles I faced in my personal and spiritual life, God blessed me with a wonderful career at Cornell University. After attending Syracuse School of Automation, from which I received a certificate in application programming, I secured a position at Cornell University as a COBOL and PL1 programmer. Over the next 36 years, I took computer science courses at Cornell as I developed my career in the areas of networking and desktop support. I provided help desk and back-line support for the Macintosh computer. I was a lead consultant in the deployment and support of AppleTalk networking across the campus. During the last 10 years of my career at Cornell, I was instrumental in the deployment of a campus-wide calendaring service and the administration of the campus calendar server. I retired from Cornell University in June of 2010.

Since becoming a member of EPC, I have become involved in many church activities including Hospitality, various outreach events, and the prayer quilt ministry. I am praying that God will use me in my role as Deaconess to help other women both in our church and the community who are experiencing the kinds of hardships and trials that I experienced. It is my desire to serve God in the church and in the community, however he leads.