Q&A with Daniel Owens: In Search of the True King
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April 09, 2026
Daniel Owens, NCC’s Pastor of Discipleship, is team teaching—with Daniel Master—this year’s Adult Sunday School class, “In Search of the True King.” Daniel, a former professor in Vietnam, discusses the importance of this ministry at NCC.
Why, in 2026, is Adult Sunday School important?
As wonderful as a sermon is, when we all sit under the proclamation of the Word of God together, it is one-way communication. Adult Sunday School provides an opportunity for two-way communication, where the teacher and the participants learn together. I think learning takes place at a uniquely fresh level when we all are able to talk and to listen, to experiment with ideas about what God’s word is saying to us and to get feedback from each other. This is a timeless opportunity. But in 2026 biblical illiteracy is an increasing challenge in society and the church. Christians are people of the book—our whole spiritual lives are ordered around Scripture. And so we need to know it.
How did you and Daniel Master choose the current topic, “In Search of the True King”?
This was a theme I was chewing on as I read and preached on 1 Samuel while still ministering in Vietnam. The kingship theme permeates 1–2 Samuel, which is really one unified book. Even when there is no king, there are clues that God is the real king of Israel, whom the people reject in asking for a human king (1 Sam. 8:7). But it turns out that neither Saul nor David are the kind of king we need, and so we look ahead to Jesus, who is the true king after God’s own heart in every sense. I shared this idea with Daniel Master, and he came back with his own reasons for this being the right theme for the book. It was a lovely moment of synergy.
Why is it important for Christians to focus on God as King?
We can get distracted by human political leaders, who often fail us. Only God is all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-gracious, and ever-righteous. We need him in every season of life, and every human political leader is under his authority. We need to give him our attention and allegiance above all other leaders, and this book shows us why.
What relevance does this topic have for us today?
We are at a moment in our culture when tribalism is crowding out clear moral perspective. Leaders demand loyalty rather than wisdom, as King Saul once did. King David, for all his faults, was open to wisdom and to the searching, piercing word of God. We need that perspective as much as we need the reality check that comes from watching David fail in order to drive us to our knees in repentance and to Jesus for comfort.
What other takeaways are there for us?
One of my biggest burdens as a Bible teacher and pastor is that people would learn to read the Bible theocentrically, that is, with God at the center. He's there to see as the main character of the Bible, though we often get distracted by other things. And yet, the human characters in the Old Testament teach us so much about ourselves. So I hope participants in the class are learning both about themselves and about God, who is as patient with us as he was with David.
How much longer will you be going through 1 and 2 Samuel?
We have not set a fixed end date yet, but I think we will come close to finishing 1 Samuel by Memorial Day. Next year is yet to be planned.
Can you give us a sneak peak of what’s ahead?
We all know the big events that are coming in 1 Samuel, but two episodes should be particularly interesting. I think first of David and Abigail (and her fool of a husband, Nabal), whose marriage starts with a bizarre episode that nearly provokes David to sin. Thanks to Abigail's prudence, David does not vent his anger by killing Nabal. God deals with Nabal, and Abigail then becomes David's wife. Second, Saul's visit to the medium at Endor. Necromancy (talking to the dead) is not something we often discuss, but it is a fascination in human cultures that never seems to die (pun intended).
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