Daniel Xisto, pastor of the Charlottesville and Buena Vista churches in Virginia was ordained into the gospel ministry on Saturday, May 19. Xisto has a passion for experiencing Jesus at all times and in all things. His mission is to help others connect with Jesus in real and practical ways so that they too can experience the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary, and the conversion of the routine everyday into a spectacular adventure with God.
Some of Xisto’s earliest memories are of praying that Jesus would stay close to him. Raised in the Catholic tradition and sent to church school, Xisto learned to walk with Jesus from an early age in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. It was there, while in the seventh grade that he first sensed the call into ministry. High school and college distracted him from that call, but in his senior year as an undergrad he was introduced to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He fell in love with the simplicity and beauty of the church’s focus on Scripture and on Jesus Christ.
Xisto was baptized in 2000, the same year that he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business. It wasn’t long after his baptism that he once again sensed the call to ministry. Although he had established himself in a lucrative career in business, there was more he felt called to. In 2009, God’s call was so clear that he left everything behind, moved to Berrien Springs, Mich. with his wife Andrea, and enrolled at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. He loved every moment there and graduated with honors in 2013 receiving a Masters in Divinity.
Upon completing his graduate work, Xisto and Andrea moved to Charlottesville where Andrea began studies to become a clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia. Not only did God open a door for Andrea at UVA, but God opened the door for him when the Potomac Conference called him to pastor the Charlottesville and Buena Vista Seventh-day Adventist churches. In 2015, God blessed Xisto and Andrea with a son, Max, whose smile and playful spirit fills their hearts with joy and reveals to them, in new ways, the love of Jesus.
During his time as a pastor in this district, Xisto has been actively involved in his community. In addition to the friends, family and church members who attended his ordination service, several clergy members from surrounding churches, who have become close friends with Xisto, attended the service and showed their support for his ministry by coming forward for the ordination prayer. Xisto feels blessed to have made these community connections and is continues to look for ways to connect with his community.
