Daytona Driggers Doing God's Work One Step at a Time 

by Christian Reiner

PHS Alum Daytona Driggers graduated in the year of 2014 from Princeville High School. At an early age he wanted to be an engineer because “[he] thought it would be fun” and he’d “make a lot of money.” 

But during his time at Iowa State University his plans changed. He went to receive his Religious Studies Degree and a General Business Minor. The thing that made him change his major the most was him, “feeling that [he] was empty and lost.”  This feeling made him confident in knowing that he wanted to pursue something that would be fulfilling.

Driggers is currently employed at Lawrence High School in Kansas as the Learning Center Professional, where he works with students who have learning disabilities. Driggers is also thinking about pursuing a Masters in Counseling at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Not only has Driggers been working full time for Lawrence High School, he said he has also been working on something that he felt the Lord called him to: He was inspired to plant a church when he moved away from college.

Several people from the Salt Network, a network of churches across the Midwest devoted to serving different communities and developing churches and their congregations, were planning  to plant the church. Planting a church means starting a church from the ground up without a congregation. Diggers met with a few of the people working on the plans, and he “had no hesitation” about joining their mission.

The church planting is taking place in Lawrence, Kansas on the campus of the University of Kansas. The church is called Story Hill Church. Driggers and a few of his church mistry members were looking for a place on campus for the college ministry but were not able to find a place that fit their needs. 

“We are setting up and tearing down every Thursday evening and Sunday morning for church” at a room in a college campus, Driggers said. The Thursday night service is geared towards college students, whereas the Sunday morning services are held for the community members.

Worship services are not the only thing that this up-and-coming church is doing. They are also doing “some community service projects and they are continuing to explore their options” on how to help the community, Driggers explained.

While they are currently worshiping out of a temporary University of Kansas building, they are still looking for a permanent building for their services. Driggers said that they started their ministry with about 40 people, and have “grown by the grace of God to about 200 people on Sundays and 60-70 people on Thursdays.”

According to Driggers, PHS allowed Driggers to develop key strengths in his life. The three that he could think of at the time were, “time management, responsibility, and grace.”  Driggers said that “these skills developed more throughout college [and] effected everything he did.” Driggers “enjoyed the tight -knit feeling and [he] wanted that in college so he joined clubs and a church.”