Brought up in Gloucester, Dave was involved in Christian youth work even at school, heading up his own school Christian Union and a network of ten CU's across Gloucester. He studied for seven years in Manchester whilst living in Salford and gaining experience in inner city and detached youth work. Finally, after spending a year in Glasgow gaining his PGCE (Secondary), he became youth worker for the Baptist church in Airdrie before moving to Kyle in November 2001. During that time he was both a team member and a leader for short-term, overseas summer missions in Bolivia, the USA and Kenya as well as having many years of experience on Crusader camps in the south of England. He is married to Ruth, a primary school teacher, and they have two children: Joshua and Keziah.