Grace Lutheran Church
Rev. Daniel Larson
Senior Pastor
pastorlarson@gracewayne.com
Pastor Larson is a son of a pastor, so he was blessed to live in a few different places in the United States while he grew up. He likes to Colorado home. He enjoyed playing baseball and basketball growing up but spent more time attending Colorado Rockies
games. He was blessed to attend Lutheran schools when he lived in the Denver metro area.
For college, pastor attended Concordia, Irvine as he looked to become a Director of Christian Education. He married his wife, Megan, after graduating from Concordia. After he completed his year-long DCE internship, the two packed up and moved to Fort
Wayne, Indiana as Pastor Larson started his studies at Concordia Theological Seminary.
Pastor Larson was called to Chappell and Sidney, NE out of seminary in 2010. After five years, he took a call to Glendale, Arizona. He was blessed to be an associate and
then senior pastor there in Glendale and took the call to Grace after almost eleven years in Arizona. He has been here at Grace since June of 2026.
Pastor and Megan are blessed to have three kids and two dogs. They love spending their time with family and watching the various sporting events that their children are participating in. During their downtime, they like to travel and see the beauty that is throughout God’s creation.
Rev. Paul Hammes
Associate Pastor
pastorpaul@gracewayne.com
Paul Hammes was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado on March 17, 1997. Paul was baptized into the Christian faith a few weeks later. He spent his life until college in Colorado Springs, where he was a member at Holy Cross Lutheran Church.
Being the youngest of three boys, Paul followed in his oldest brother’s footsteps and attended Concordia Nebraska for undergraduate studies. Paul began his studies in the fall of 2016. In the spring of 2019, Paul graduated with a B.S. in Physics and Biology and a B.A. in Mathematics.
Throughout Paul’s college career, he worked at Lutheran Valley Retreat in the summers. There he worked as a counselor and on the kitchen staff for 7 seasons. He discovered his passion for the ministry there and enjoyed being outside in nature. In the fall of 2019, Paul worked at Lutheran Valley Retreat for a gap year after college. This is when he decided to go to Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis to become a pastor. Paul then began his studies at Concordia Seminary in the fall of 2020. While Paul was in Saint Louis, he met his wife Callie Hammes (Firminhac) who also went to Concordia Nebraska. They got married in 2023 in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Paul received the Master of Divinity (M. Div) from Concordia Seminary in May of 2024. God has called Paul to serve as associate pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Wayne Nebraska.