Dan Richard Hubbell was born on September 25, 1936, to
Francis E. and Garna Gertrude Ward Hubbell. His mother and
grandmother, Mary Catherine Morrow Ward, were a great
influence on his life even as Eunice and Lois were to
Timothy in the Scripture. Dan was named after his
great-uncle, Dan Ward, who served many years as a minister
of the Gospel in the State of Oklahoma.
Dan is the youngest of four siblings.
His oldest brother, Judge F.E. Hubbell and his wife,
Margaret, are now both deceased; his sister Madge Cooke, and
her husband Rev. I.E. Cooke, Jr. who are also deceased; and
another brother, Dr. M.W. Hubbell and his wife Elizabeth
live in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Dan was reared in Rosenberg, Fort Bend
County, Texas. He attended the Lamar Independent Schools of
Rosenberg, Texas, and Baylor University of Waco, Texas. He
was saved and baptized in 1945 at the age of nine. He
surrendered to the Gospel ministry 1952, licensed to preach
in 1954 and ordained in 1956. During his Baylor University
years he served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church of
Crawford, Texas, a small town near Waco, Texas, where former
President George W. Bush has his ranch.
From 1960 to 1962, he served as
Associate Minister of the First Baptist Church in Elgin,
Texas, just outside of Austin. He ministered as the pastor
of the Park Memorial Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, in
1963-1964. From 1965 to l967, he served as an Associate
Minister of the Calvary Baptist Church of Waco, Texas, as a
Staff Evangelist and he traveled on preaching and teaching
engagements throughout the USA, Europe, Middle East and
Africa.
In the fall of 1965, he met Laurel Dee
Neighbors of Pittsburg, Texas, who became his wife on
February 13, 1966. From 1967 to 1969, he served as the
pastor of the Main Street Baptist Church of Grand Saline,
Texas.
He and Laurel moved to Winnsboro,
Texas, in the fall of 1969 where he began his pastorate at
the First Baptist Church. He served there as the Senior
Pastor for the next ten years. His wife Laurel served
during those ensuing years as pastor’s wife, mother and
school teacher, both in public and state prison schools..
Their son, Dan R. Hubbell II, was born
in 1968 while the Hubbell’s served in Grand Saline, Texas,
and David Lee Hubbell was born in 1970 during their ministry
in Winnsboro, Texas.
Danny and his wife Nancy, live in Sulphur Springs, Texas,
and David and his wife Kristi live in Tampa,
Florida. Dan and Laurel have four grandchildren, Kaci,
Jacob, Bailee Kain, and Thomas Jackson.
From 1979 to 1987, Dan and Laurel
traveled with their sons throughout Texas and foreign
nations, teaching, ministering and establishing home
churches. During their travels, they resided at that time
in their farm home with their sons just outside of
Winnsboro, Texas, near Lake Bob Sandlin.
In 1987, Dan and Laurel purchased the
historical Stinson estate in Winnsboro. Together they
restored it into a Bed and Breakfast establishment known as
Thee Hubbell House. They maintained their B&B “tent making”
business until it sold in 1999, which completed 12 years of
hosting approximately 3,000 guest a year from all over the
world.
Thee Hubbell House was chosen from over
2,000 bed and breakfast accommodations to be among the top
12 B&B’s in Texas by Southern Living Magazine and the Dallas
Morning News. The Area Winnsboro Chamber of Commerce also
honored Thee Hubbell House as the Business of the Year.
During their B&B hosting years, Dan was honored as
Winnsboro’s Man of the Year and Laurel was honored as the
Teacher of the Year in the public school system and the
Texas prison school system.
During Dan’s forty years residency in
Winnsboro, Texas, he served as both the Mayor and Municipal
Judge. In October of 1998, Dan resigned and retired from
all civic responsibilities and in 1999 moved to Lake
Winnsboro after the sale of Thee Hubbell House Bed &
Breakfast.
Dan has authored several books
including the following: Happenings at Thee Hubbell House,
In Search of a New Wineskin, Heavenly Humor and Letters to
the Churches. Other books are presently being written
include an Autobiography, A House Church Chronicle of
Experiences, and a Series of Topical Commentaries on
Biblical Studies especially relating to New Testament house
churches.
Laurel teaches at the Winnsboro
Johnston State Substance Abuse Unit. She plans to retire in
2011, and will then travel more with Dan in ministry.
Dan and Laurel continue to live in
Winnsboro, Texas, and from that base location, known as
their “hired house,” (Acts 28:30-31) they minister to the
whole Body of Christ. Dan will continue his apostolic
calling by helping equip saints for the work of ministry,
establish new churches and encourage existing churches in
the United States and foreign nations. When Laurel is able
to travel with Dan, she helps in support of his
ministry through her unique spiritual gifts as well as
ministering to the younger women in accordance to Titus
2:4-5.
Dan Hubbell
His servant
From “a hired
house” in Winnsboro, Texas