Daniel Botkin was born and raised in Illinois. He studied art in college and graduated from Illinois State University with a B.S. in Art in 1971. In 1972 he became a born-again Christian after reading through the Bible.

He married Teresa Waldschmidt in 1975, and 9 months later they went to Israel and worked for a year as house parents at Jewish Voice Broadcast youth centers in Jerusalem and Nahariyah. Daniel and Teresa spent a little over 2 years in Israel. They studied Hebrew, worked on an archeological dig on the Temple Mount, worked on a kibbutz, and took groups of young people from their home congregation there for 6-month stays.

In 1985 Daniel went to graduate school at Illinois State University and took linguistic courses to be a teacher of ESL (English as a Second Language). He taught ESL for 4 years at Western Illinois University.

Daniel then moved his family to New York and taught ESL there for two and a half years. While in New York, the Botkin family lived in an Orthodox/Hasidic neighborhood and attended a Messianic Jewish congregation, where Daniel served as an elder.

In 1995 the Botkins moved back to Illinois, and shortly after created and published the first issue of the Gates of Eden bimonthly. At nearly the same time, he started the Gates of Eden Messianic Congregation, which he currently pastors.

Daniel and Teresa have one son, Benjamin, and 6 daughters - Shoshanna, Betsy, twins Abigail and Anna, Emily, and Autumn Sunshine.

Daniel's articles and cartoons have been featured in First Fruits of Zion, Messianic Outreach, The Jewish Press, Petah Tikvah, Messianic Home, and other Messianic and Christian publications. In 1997 Daniel received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the Evangelical Reformed Methodist Church.

Daniel continues to be invited to speak in Christian and Messianic congregations and conferences. If you are interested in having him as a guest speaker, or if you are interested in hosting an exhibit of his artwork, phone him at 309-698-9467.