Pastor Dan Mielke, the new senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Austin, always acknowledged the fact that his father, Marlon, also a Baptist minister, was his first and best role model.

“My dad never pushed me or any of his kids to ministry,” said Mielke, 31.

Rather, he added, “My mom and dad lived out the scriptures” and allowed their children to choose their own paths. Four of the five boys in the family “are in some type of ministry today,” Mielke said with a smile.

And while it took some time, Mielke found his path to ministry once he let God lead him, he said.

Mielke said he accepted Christ into his life at a young age and would serve God — but not as a pastor.

He and his brothers grew up in Adrian, Minnesota, and then Milltown, Wis., where his father was and is today, pastor of First Baptist Church.

He graduated from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College and then worked at Pillsbury as the staff evangelist and ministry team director. He also met his wife, Christa, at Pillsbury. Their parents had known each other and there was “always this kind of, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat if … ?’ Christa recalled. They were friends while in college.

“But then I heard him preach for the first time,” Christa said, adding she was unimpressed.

Christa felt her own call was to missionary work in Japan, where she spent a year, an experience that was life-changing, she said. But when she returned to the U.S. a year later, she saw Mielke preach again — and found him much changed. They reconnected and married 10 years ago.

“Dan is really good with underdogs, reaching out to people in need,” said Christa. “I knew he would lead me well.”

Today, they are the parents of three children, Marcus, 8; Matthias, 5; and Katiyanna, 2.

They were living in Albert Lea where, Mielke recalled in his biography, he found that “submission to God’s will did not allow for any exemption clauses.”

He was working for ServiceMaster at the time, he said. His watershed moment, he said, came as he was working, “listening to Scripture on my iPod” and thinking about his busy life that was still filled with questions about work, his work with the church and the soon-to-be role of father.

“God said to me, ‘So, I can’t take care of that?’” Mielke said. “So, at 2 in the morning, with a mop in my hand, I said, ‘I’m yours.’” He went on to earn his master’s degree in Biblical counseling at Maranatha Baptist University.

His commitment to fulltime ministry took him home, to Milltown, Wis., where he joined his father as an associate pastor in ministry at First Baptist Church. He and Christa served there for eight years before coming to Austin in December.

Loving scripture, being a disciple and following the word of God in all aspects of life were qualities that he felt matched him well with the people of Grace Baptist. Austin, he added, has a culture rich in diversity, “which is wonderful.”

“On our first Sunday, our associate pastor, Devin Larsen, held out an empty cup to me. As I was holding it, he poured water into the cup and it overflowed. He poured water into the cup again, and again, it overflowed.

“He said, ‘God is going to pour into your life,’” Mielke recalled. “Then he said, ‘What are you going to do with the overflow?’ I knew I had been called to the right place.”

He said he and Christa are ready to work “with the overflow” and look forward to joining the work of the 170-member congregation. They have been welcomed with a renovated parsonage and strong support.

“We have been incredibly spoiled,” Mielke said.

They believe strongly, he said, in supporting families and working with men and women on helping create strong family units “in the way God intended.”

Broken homes bring pain to children and he wants “to work with men to build strong marriages, strong fathers,” a commitment Christa echoed with helping wives and daughters in their relationships when she is needed.

“My husband and children are my first priority,” she said. “But Jesus said he was ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life … as opportunities come up, I want to come alongside those women and help in any way I can.”

There will be an open house at the Mielke parsonage from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday. All are welcomed to attend.