Kimball is a graduate of Multnomah Biblical Seminary and Western Seminary. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree at George Fox Evangelical Seminary.

Dan Kimball is one of the pastors at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California. Vintage Faith Church began in 2004 as a church plant from Santa Cruz Bible Church, where Kimball previously served as a youth and young adult pastor.

Vintage Faith's vision statement identifies their desire to be a "worshipping community of missional theologians".

The church, along with Kimball's writings, focuses on designing worship services that use art, prayer stations, and other creative and artistic forms of worship in addition to preaching and singing.

Dan Kimball serves as a "Visiting Professor" at George Fox Evangelical Seminary

In addition to being one of the earliest members of the Emerging Church Movement, Kimball is one of its more conservative members. Much of Kimball's writings question the existing forms of church and their effectiveness in an increasingly post-Christian culture. However, he stresses that while change in the church is needed, the historical doctrines of the Christian faith do not need to change. Much of his writings focus on ways that methods of worship, preaching, church structure, evangelism and leadership need to change in order to be missional in a post-Christian or postmodern culture.

Books

Kimball's first book, The Emerging Church, describes his realization that his (at the time) seemingly successful youth group was not making the shift to living in a post-Christian culture. He describes how this recognition led him to change his methods of church ministry. The Emerging Church details the specific methods of worship, preaching, leadership, evangelism and spiritual formation and why change is needed.

They Like Jesus But Not The Church is based on a series of interviews with non-Christians about how they feel about the Church and Jesus. The conversations reveal that while many people have a positive impression of Jesus, they have an intense dislike of the Church. The book discusses what the Church has done to foster these views, and how to address them. Kimball encourages Christians to leave the "Christian bubble" and listen to what non-Christians are saying.

• The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations, 2003. Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-24564-8 (forewords by Rick Warren and Brian McLaren)
• Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations, 2004. Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-25644-5
• They Like Jesus, But Not The Church: Insights From Emerging Generations, 2007. Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-24590-7
• Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Views, (contributor), 2007. Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-27135-5
• They Like Jesus, But Not The Church Curriculum Kit, 2008. Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-27787-6

Forthcoming:

• I Like Jesus, But Not The Church: Following Jesus Without Following Organized Religion, 2008. Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-25418-3 Note: The title of this book is being changed to Do You Like Jesus But Not The Church: Exploring Uncomfortable Questions About Christianity and the Church and is due out in 2009.