By: Christa Meland

Dan Ziegler—who has overseen a Bible college and several camps—has been selected as the next director of Koronis Ministries in Paynesville.
 
Ziegler, who will move to Minnesota and begin his position in January, was chosen by a Minnesota Conference team of clergy and laity after a nationwide search. He succeeds former Koronis Director Mike McArthur, who resigned in August to pursue other opportunities.
 
For the past two years, Ziegler has served as administrator of Blue Ridge Mission, a humanitarian organization in Haiti that drills wells, repairs and installs pumps, runs schools and a children’s home, and distributes relief aid. Before that, he spent eight years as president of Rosedale Bible College in Rosedale, Ohio, which serves more than 100 students annually in an accredited two-year degree program. In that role, he doubled student retention rates, launched a capital campaign that raised more than $1.7 million for a new student center, implemented program enhancements identified through a strategic visioning process, and averaged more than $600,000 in annual giving—up 90 percent from the previous five-year average.
 
Ziegler also spent six years as the executive director of Spruce Lake Retreat in Canadensis, Pennsylvania, the largest Mennonite denominational camp and retreat organization, and one that serves more than 26,000 guests annually. He’s worked at several other camps in the northeast United States as well.
 
In his new role, Ziegler will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Koronis, including programming, staff, hospitality, financial management, capital improvements, and faith-building opportunities. Koronis has welcomed tens of thousands of people since it began in 1922. The camp hosted about 5,000 campers and retreat guests in 2014. 

“Dan is visionary leader with a lifetime of experience, proven success in camp and retreat leadership as well as non-profit management, and a warm heart for Christian ministry,” said Keith Shew, director of camping and retreat ministries for the Minnesota Conference. “Dan’s done it all, from leading adventure programming to teaching outdoor school, from directing one of the country’s largest camps to presiding over a Bible college.”
 
“Camp is in my blood,” said Ziegler, who grew up in New York City and urban New Jersey as the son of a church-planting pastor. In fact, camp is an important part of his faith story—and he remembers spending lots of time as a child at a camp located in the forests of Pennsylvania. “Camp is where I learned self-confidence, it’s where I learned to love nature, it’s where I learned the power of community and acceptance of others, it’s where I learned about servant leadership, and most important, it’s where I got to know Jesus.”