Don Garner was born and grew up in the North Dallas area. In May of 1978, as a teen given over to anger and rebellion, Don’s young life came to a point of crisis. Through the quiet witness of a godly family member and a clear presentation of the gospel message, Don received Christ as Lord and Savior and his life was forever changed.
Don married his high school sweetheart, Tracey, in August of 1985 while they were both students at the University of Texas (UT). He received a Bachelors of Business Administration in Management from UT and accepted a position at Electronic Data Systems (EDS). He later experienced God’s call to full-time ministry in 1988, while working at EDS and involved in the ministry of a local church.
Over the next several years, God added new members to the Garner family, ultimately blessing them with seven children. During these busy days, Don took on greater responsibilities in various areas in church ministry, ultimately leading to his first pastorate. Over the course of 10 years, Don served as senior pastor of three churches. During his first two pastorates, he was a full-time seminary student at Criswell College and served as Research Assistant to the President of the seminary. Don received a Master of Divinity degree from Criswell College in 2001 and accepted a call to become the pastor of Central Baptist Church in Aurora, Colorado, where he would serve for more than five years.
Early in 2007, Don began to explore a ministry with Capitol Ministries through a friendship with Dan File, State Director for Capitol Ministries Colorado. By April, 2007, Don was immersed in the training process to become the State Director for the great state of Texas. As the training process drew to a close God’s calling drew he and his family to make the move back to Texas. In December of 2008, Don began full-time work to carry out a solid plan for initiating a movement for Christ among the capitol community here in Texas. In October of this year the ministry changed its name to Capitol Commission.