Rev. Dan Nicewonger, the beloved former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Kennett Square, was honored by the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce as its Outstanding Citizen for 2024. The occasion of the presentation took place at the Mendenhall Inn on May 4.

Nicewonger succumbed to cancer that he had been fighting for the past eight years just two weeks after he received that honor. He passed away at the age of 55 on May 17 at Chester County Hospital.

He was called to be the pastor in Kennett Square in 2014. He served in that role until 2021, when he resigned that position to become the elder of outreach and spiritual formation catalyst.

He received a diagnosis of Stage 4 colon cancer in 2016 and told his audience at the Chamber of Commerce annual meeting that doctors gave him no more than two years to live. He outlived that prediction by six years.

In a recorded video of the chamber ceremony, he thanked the chamber for the award.

“This is just beyond anything I ever imagined. …It means a lot to me,” he said.

Nicewonger has written several books, ran a podcast and a blog (https://danielnicewonger.com/) and was the executive director and spiritual formation catalyst of A Place in the Conversation, among other activities.

He was known as Pastor Dan to many. He graduated from Messiah College in 1990 and then earned his master’s degree in divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1995.

Nicewonger is survived by his wife, Nancy, and two children, Joseph and Rayann.