Father Joe (The Rev. Dr. Joe Dan Mills) is an old friend to many at the Good Shepherd as he has attended services here often and conducted many services during the years since he came to Rock Hill as Chairman of the Sociology Department at Winthrop in 1971.

After serving in England during World War II, Joe - a native Tar Heel - received his B.A. at U.N.C. Chapel Hill, and later received his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, after which he taught at Michigan State University. While there, he felt a call to sacred ministry and, after spending a year in Austria on a Fulbright Scholarship, he receieved his Divinity degree from Seabury-Western Seminary in Evanston, Ill.

Joe was ordained deacon in 1959 and priest in 1960. He has served as curate at Christ Church in Dearborn MI and Rector of St. Stephen's in Cincinnati OH. He continued to teach both during his seminary and parish ministry days. He has been involved with work with the Roman Catholic church, especially after Vatican II. As an Episcopal priest, he has taught at Seattle University (a Jesuit college). After moving to Rock Hill, he served on the staff of the Church of Our Saviour for many years.

At 85 years young, he calls himself the oldest "curate" in the diocese. A widower (his wife of 52 years died in 2002), Joe has two sons and one daughter, Elizabeth, who is a member of the Episcopal Order of St. Mary.