A New Season of Ministry
Let’s welcome Pastor Daryl Watts, our Interim Pastor to begin his ministry with our congregation officially starting on October 1, 2026. Pastor Daryl brings a wealth of spiritual maturity, an honest and thoughtful approach to ministry, and a strong background in guiding congregations through periods of transition. During his time with us, he will serve as a vital guide—helping us assess our current congregational needs, refine our shared vision, and lay a strong, healthy foundation for the eventual search for our next permanent pastor, in addition to leading our worship and providing pastoral care.
Please join us in celebrating this wonderful news and keep Pastor Daryl, our church leadership, and our entire congregation in your prayers as we prepare for this new season of ministry together.
Bio for Daryl Watts
Daryl Watts is a Georgia native, born in Macon. As a child, he lived in several states including California and lived for two years in Puerto Rico. After graduating high school in Valdosta, GA, he attended Baylor University where he earned a B.A. in religion. He chose Baylor because of its balance of academic rigor as research school and its history and focus on Christian morals and principles.
He earned his Master of Divinity degree from what was then called Golden Gate Seminary in Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco, because of the great exposure to urban and multicultural ministry. Daryl spent much of his free time in San Francisco where he worked as a radio newscaster and in Daly City where he served a culturally diverse church plant.
His first post seminary position was as the first youth consultant for the San Francisco Peninsula Southern Baptist Association working with teens from dozens of churches including Chinese, Hispanic, African American, Portuguese, and Italian churches. During this time, he began to write and lead conferences nationwide in the area of transcultural youth ministry.
In 1988, he moved to the Santa Clara valley to become the English pastor at Korean Baptist Church in San Jose. During his time there, God blessed the church greatly. The English congregation grew from 50 to 150.
After three and a half years, California Southern Baptist Convention recruited Daryl to open a youth ministry department. His initial responsibility was to train staff and volunteer leaders and run statewide youth ministry events including an annual youth conference that reached up to more than 5,000 people. Over the next twenty-seven years his ministry grew to include, at times, family ministry, collegiate ministry, minister’s families, men’s ministry, stewardship, church health consulting, pastor coaching, developing a smart phone app, and a plethora of smaller duties.
His office was the first denominational agency to roll out comprehensive consultations. The ministry focused on church systems like outreach, leadership, facilities, finances, and spiritual formation, but also consulted for church mergers, relocations, staffing, conflict, vision, and demographic/psychographic analysis. In addition, Daryl became the primary person for coaching non-Anglo pastors.
Since leaving denominational work in 2019 Daryl has served churches as an intentional interim pastor specializing in churches that have experienced trauma, lost their vision, or have become misaligned with their values and practice.