My Family

I am married to the beautiful, talented, outspoken, amazing Christine. She is great wife and mom, and she is the program director for the camp and retreat ministries of the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church. Her job allows us to live on site at Cedar Crest Camp, which means my kids have a 500-acre playground! She has coordinated soul care offerings at the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Conventions several years, and she’s been a youth and children’s pastor for several years. More important than any of that, though, is the fact that she was willing to take a chance on marrying me and allowing me to be a part of her family.

My oldest son is Devin. He’s 18 years old and is the most well-rounded kid I know. He is going to be attending Millsaps College in Jackson, Tennessee, where he’ll be playing football and majoring in theater. In high school, he was involved in football, basketball, track, student council, drama, etc. He also served as the youth representative to our church council, the president of the Columbia District United Methodist Youth Council, vice-president of the Tennessee Annual Conference Youth Council of the UMC, and some sort of jurisdictional office, too. He served as the editorial assistant for The Journal of Student Ministries, was on the teen advisory board for DevoZine, and contributed a chapter to Abingdon’s 365 More Meditations for Teens. He’s one of the funniest guys I know, the best “clique buster” I know, and he likes protecting underdogs—which makes me super proud.

Austin is my 16-year-old. He has the kindest heart of any kid I know. He marches in the Fairview High School marching band, something he has done since 8th grade (in fact, he won the marching award for the best marcher across all grades, 8-12, his first year out); he has played the trumpet since 6th grade, and he’s quite good. He also served in leadership of both the Westview United Methodist Church youth group and at the district level; he’s incredibly bright and imaginative; and he has more imagination than anyone else I know. I love listening to him dream about the future, and I’m pretty sure he’s smarter than me about a great many things.

My nine-year-old daughter’s name is Kendra Nitchol Penner, but we call her Nikki. She won the Westwood Elementary School Kindergarten reading award a couple of years ago, for which she was very proud. She’s going into third grade this year, which means she’s moving from elementary school to intermediate school–I’m still not quite sure how I feel about that. She is the most beautiful child I’ve ever sen in my life, which makes me want to lock her up in the basement until she’s about 60. There’s something pretty special about daddies and daughters, and I gotta tell ya’: She knows I think she’s a princess. Of course, that’s okay, because I keep reminding her that if she’s the princess, that means her daddy is the king.

Daniel Michael Worth Penner is the 6-year-old, and he’s going into first grade. He is almost always laughing and playing, though he also has a mischievous glint that kinda reminds me of me. He loves to be active, and he’s highly, highly, highly inquisitive—which is terrific—unless I’m the one being asked all of the questions all of the time; he does have the ability to make all three of his older siblings’ eyes roll into the back of their heads as he continually pesters them with questions. He’s a terrific snuggler, but only when he’s tired; otherwise he’s way too active to want to just sit around. And more than anyone else on the planet, he has the ability to say and do things that just slam me with reminders of God’s love. I’m not sure what it is about him, but he is definitely a window into the Holy for me.

Bethany Dawn is the last little Pennerling, and she is the most perfect thing in God’s vast creation. No matter what is going on in my life, a little Bethany time makes everything better. I’m not quite sure what it is about her, but she has a therapeutic quality for her mom and me (and her siblings, too, much of the time) that is unparalleled and amazing. Bethany has helped me slow down and truly suck the marrow out of life over the past few months. In all truthfulness, I’ve never felt more fully alive than since she came into our lives.

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