Midtown Church
Midtown Covenant Church is a multiethnic, multiplying, reconciling, and disciple-making church. We are a church for the unchurched, those who have been burned by the church in the past, and those wondering if they are passionately welcomed back into the church after being gone for whatever reason. We care deeply about our city, the nation, and the world. We believe that Christ changes everything and provides us with the power and authority to make a transformative difference in the world. We share Christ’s heart for the vulnerable, marginalized, lost, and broken. We are committed to being a bridge of empowerment, unity, and love in a divided world.
Midtown Church
Black Excellence Series: Leading with Purpose with Daniel Hahn
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In this episode, Daniel Hahn, the first African-American police chief in Sacramento and Roseville, shares his journey of leadership, faith, and community service. He reflects on building compassionate leadership, using influence for the greater good, and empowering the next generation of Black leaders.
Stay tuned each week for more stories from our Midtowners, or visit our Midtown Church YouTube channel to watch the full interviews!
Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/1yioO6FHS-I?si=Vqx8jLtyS01gMXnq
Yeah, so my name is Daniel Hahn. I've been at Midtown for about 10 years, and I think the biggest thing I appreciate about Midtown is the diversity, not just diversity of race, but of uh ages, generations. One thing my mom told me years ago is you need to find a church that has younger people in it so you'll actually go. So I was the first African American police chief in Sacramento, my hometown, and I was the first African American police chief in Roseville, and actually the first African American officer in Roseville in 2011. Whether you're black or not, you still have to do the job, and the color of your skin, if you don't do the job, is gonna be irrelevant. But on the other hand, I'd like to think that I helped pave the way for future police chiefs, backgrounds that have not previously been represented in the police department. And I think with that, in all my jobs, I brought my personal experiences to the job. So I was the first black police chief in Sacramento, and when I left, the first woman police chief ever in the history of 170 some-year history of Sacramento took over. Yes. Faith is always, you know, this belief that it's bigger than you and that you're here for a larger purpose than just yourself, was critical to uh my career, especially as police chief during tough times when you're questioning everything you do. Because you have to believe that when you're taking, you know, stones and arrows, that you keep moving forward because you're here for a bigger purpose. Being an African-American police chief, but also an African-American police chief in my hometown enabled me to do things that I wouldn't have been able to do if I was from somewhere else. So I relied heavily on relationships that had been built over 30 or 40 years, long before I was ever police chief, through the toughest times. Where I grew up in Oak Park, I think helped me give perspectives that not everybody has if they're not from a neighborhood similar to that. My conviction and the things that I believe in, a lot of that came from my mom and from growing up in the church and growing up in the community. I was adopted at three months old by my mom and dad, and they named me Daniel out of the Bible. But as I got older and started learning about Daniel in the Bible, and you start thinking, why did my mom name me Daniel in the Bible? Um, and then thinking about some of the things I went through through my profession as chief, I really relied on Daniel in the Bible, on how convicted he was to what he believed in and the and the risk that he took to himself because of those convictions. I relied on that a lot. And I think compassion a lot of times comes from understanding. And if you don't understand the history or the background of a group of people or a neighborhood, in my case as police chief, then it's a little harder to have compassion for people you don't understand. So that's one of the things I love about uh multicultural churches like Midtown, because they're so multicultural, you start to learn about experiences of other people that are not of your own. And churches like Midtown provide a lot of opportunities outside of just Sunday service to do those sort of things, of which I've been involved in some of them. And I think that helps with compassion. When you understand somebody else that has experiences other than yours, it erases some of those uh preconceived notions that you might have. I think there's a lot of tough decisions that people have to make, especially in leadership positions. And they can still be made if they need to be made, but when you make them with compassion, the whole process goes a lot better and it serves all people instead of just your own personal needs. I think the church has played a huge role in the history of the world, um, through the civil rights movement and many other movements, through slavery, songs, and church. And some of our greatest leaders that have helped our country be great really kind of came through the church. And churches are typically these trusted institutions, can help a lot. I mean, I always look at church as a place to kind of refocus and center and give me a little bit of a break from the weekly world, the work world, and all that, and help me refocus back on faith and what's important and caring about the greater good. And so church helps create leaders, but also uh reminds us that this is bigger than just us as individuals. And I think any leader that is a great leader believes it's not about him or her, it's about the greater good. That's it, and leaders have to do that to get people to follow, to make the most significant change. It can't be about them. And a lot of times as a leader, you're making decisions that are maybe detrimental to you personally, but are for the greater good. Yeah, I would say to young African-American leaders that want to make a difference, a couple things. One, leadership matters. So when you are in a position of leadership, whether that's formal leadership or informal leadership, you have to lead, which means you have to make tough decisions sometimes. But you can do that with compassion and you can do it for the right reasons. So that would be one leadership is important, and if you are in a leadership position, you can't shirk your responsibility. You have to lead. And everybody brings their own unique perspectives to things, and you have to use those perspectives as you move forward. And then lastly, I think if if we are in a leader, a leader in any, you know, whether it's at work or at church or or some other type of organization, um, you don't only have to lead there. Your leadership title, your leadership position can get you into doors. And when you can influence the greater good, whether it's your own personal job or profession, again, you have to be a leader. You go and lend your voice if it's gonna help the greater good. I always felt as a police chief, when you walk in the door, everybody pays attention. Now they might hate you or they might love you or they might be indifferent, but they're all paying attention. If you have that kind of um uh ability to gather people's attention and you don't use it, to me you've you've failed as a leader.