November 6, 2010

Maybe a week or so and we find out about Elizabeth’s FBI fingerprint records.  In the meantime we have been learning patience.  We have been reading our Bibles, praying, being Jesus to people we meet and encouraging people to do more than they thought they could through Christ strengthening them. 

We would like to say it has been all joy but life isn’t like that.  We can count it joy, which we are trying to do but some days are much more thrilling than others.  We were not promised continuous happiness but peace, knowing that life is going to happen according to God’s plans not ours.  I have been scanning all of our old pictures into the computers.  We will take an I Mac and Toshiba 17” laptop with us. No more desktops. It is a very long process to scan 1000 pictures and then I have to scan documents next.  We will move with just six suitcases. 

We are enjoying spending time with our family and friends.  I have been going hunting and fishing more than I have in years with Joe, Elijah and my friend Buster from church and Nissan.  Lots of great conversations!

We will send another update as soon as we know something about Elizabeth’s process, please pray hard and if you know anyone who would like to help us by praying or giving please let us know!

Dan and Elizabeth

Missionaries to Belgium

CLICK HERE TO GIVE

CLICK HERE TO GIVE

If you would like to contribute financially by EFT, click on the link above.  Please put our name in the "Memo" section.  Otherwise, send us an e-mail at dan.christensen58@gmail.com and we will send you the information. 

30 Years later

In the  fall of 1976 I went to Bible College in Toronto, Ontario Canada.  The name of the school is Toronto Baptist Seminary.  They had basically the same classes for everybody but if you already had a Bachelor's Degree and wrote a Thesis that was accepted you received a Masters Degree. I have recognized that I did not finish because I am not very good at Languages. You see I failed Greek twice and didn't even try Hebrew.  That convinced me to be interested in History.  I was pretty good in History but then I have to admit my classmates were those that had failed at languages also.  By the end of the second year I had fallen madly in love with Elizabeth. We decided that she would graduate and then we would get married and go to school somewhere else for me to finish my degree.  By the way, even though she wasn't good at Hebrew, we are both good at relationships - we have been happily married ever since that spring.  But then I have to get back to the main story.  If things had gone as we thought they would, I would have been ordained the fall of 1980.  It never happened.  We heard about making "shipwreck" from our Principal Dr. G.A. Adams several times a month.  It was something that really laid heavy on his heart for the students who did not see the course through.

We have not made any wrecks out of any ships, so far.  Everything hasn't been perfect, but it has been a blessing.  We were allowed to be part of a multitude of life-changing experiences doing our part in the Great Commission.  We have seen people follow Jesus on several continents; we have grown in grace and in the Word; we have studied many courses and read many books and read through the Bible many times.

September 15th, 2010 I was ordained in Smyrna, TN at LifePoint Church by wonderful friends and with three other men my sons' age.  It was a moving experience.  The following Sunday we were commissioned along with the Goen family, to go to Brussels, Belgium as missionaries, something we have been preparing for all of our lives.

I guess that we are slow learners, but we have learned patience along the way, knowing how to wait upon the Lord.  Please pray and support us along the rest of the Journey with Him!

No Fingerprints!

On Friday the 3rd. of September our long awaited FBI results arrived in the mail just as we were getting ready to Fly to Seattle for a real vacation.  My results were clear, no criminal record.  Elizabeth was rejected because they said she didn't have good enough fingerprints.  The problem is she started out life as a vegetable farmer in Canada and now she works for the Gideons International and she has worked her fingers to the bone.  The explanation sheet said that you could do lots of things to make them grow back.  It also told how to take them better.  After checking with others who have had similar problems during the Foreign adoption process, the best solution was Corn Huskers Lotion.  So after waking up in Tukwila, Washington we sent out for Corn Huskers Lotion.  In Metropolitan Seattle they must not have much of a need to shuck corn, after several stores we found a bottle at a Walmart in Renton.  Elizabeth applied it constantly during the Vacation.

We visited the Pifers on Saturday Evening they had moved to Renton from Smyrna in the last year.  We had a great time catching up about old times and their new life in Seattle.  Sunday morning we went to Lynnwood and worshipped at the new campus of our church.  We had a great time hearing the Radical series and later we were able to have lunch with several members at their favorite Restaurant.

Monday morning we went to Edmonds to ride the ferry to Kingston and went to Port Angeles and the Olympic Peninsula National Park.  We drove up and down mountains while it was raining in the Rainforest.  It was still an amazing adventure and the trees and mountains were beautiful.  For lunch we ate at the Lake Crescent Lodge.  It was delicious and after lunch we went kayaking on the Lake very nice, but very cold and wet.  The following day we drove out to Sol Doc Hot Springs and enjoyed the pools with tourists from Japan and Germany very international feeling.  We missed reservations on the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria where you can see across the straight of San Juan de Fuca, so we had to drive back to Kingston and take the Ferry back to Edmonds and drive to Vancouver and take another ferry to Victoria.  That made a 90 minute trip take about five hours.  The Vancouver ferries are very impressive, they travel at 20 knots and do not leave a wake.

We did all the Vancouver Island things including Whale Watching, tons of fun and well worth the price to go with Prince of Whales fleet. We also drove out to the west to see the Tidal Pools everything was just like we read in magazines and saw on travel TV.  A great blessing!

Now we are ready to go to Brussels, which is very similar except for the mountains.  The people and the culture are remarkably similar.  We do have the problem of Elizabeth's fingerprints though.  When those prayers are answered, we are ready to apply to the Belgian Embassy which can take one to four months.  Then we buy the tickets and take off.  So if you have been waiting to be part of our financial support team the time is here.  Contact us at dan.christensen58@gmail.com for details.  We are at a very blessed time of our lives right now.  God has been good all of the time! 

Sandy the Wonder Horse

When I was in the fifth grade at Sandusky Middle School in Sandusky, Michigan, I was in love with horses. This is because my family, being from middle class, middle America, watched Bonanza and Gunsmoke every week on TV along with whatever western movies came on TV.  We never went to the movies in town; we watched them on TV when they were a few years old.  

So one fall my Dad found a deal on a big pony and a beagle named Cindy about fifteen miles away from our farm. So we drove up there to see the pony and the dog.  We really liked the two of them and Cindy the dog came home with us and Sandy the pony arrived later in a trailer.  The only problem was that my younger sister's name was Cindy also and she was not the least bit happy sharing her name with a beagle!  We told her that beagles weren't smart enough to survive a name change and she would just have to learn to like it.

The reason my Dad got my brother and I a big pony was that one of my school friends had a old work horse that he inherited form his older brothers.  He would ride it a mile down the road to our place and I would ride the horse while he rode our minibikes that our dad built for us.  The horse was huge, old and gentle.  He never gave his rider any trouble and he made the rider look good.  

After we got the pony, I mostly rode Sandy when we had the time, and  my brother and my Dad would ride motorcycles in the woodlot across the road.  I had a minibike called the Bumblebee that was homemade.  It looked great but rode like a hay wagon - no suspension other than the airplane tires which didn't have any tread.  So you could not keep up with motorcycles that had at least three inches of suspension and knobby tires.  So Dad and Glen would be riding motorcycles on the trails and Sandy and I would catch up with them.  Sandy had a few problems; he wasn't very well trained.  Every time I rode him he tried to buck me off and he wasn't very good at doing what he was told.  When he would get over in the woods he wouldn't walk through the trails like the horses did on Bonanza; he would run as fast as he could to catch up to the motorcycles.  Now I have always had a need for speed but Sandy and I were much taller than a motorcycle or a deer and that was how high most of the brush canopy was.  Sandy was just a little bit taller than a big buck.  So when he took off at a gallop the thornapple bushes didn't smack him, just me.  My pain and shouting just encouraged Sandy the wonder horse; he just went faster and faster as the brush got thicker and thicker.

His favorite trick though, was to gallop as fast as he could, start bucking and if he didn't manage to throw me off, he would stop dead in his tracks and just skid his hooves until I flew over his head with a loud thump and landed in a heap.  When I recovered I had to chase him down and put him back in the pasture.  Eventually God blessed me I continued to grow until I could wrap my legas around his belly and he hardly ever bucked me off anymore.  But then most of the fun was gone too.

You see there is great fun in working through adversity and mastering it and getting ready for the next challenge God blesses you with.  Sandy the Wonder Horse taught me the power of "failing forward" literally!

The Post Retirement Journey

May 28, 2010 arrived.  The countdown clock went down to zero.  My work group at Nissan had two parties for me.  Willie Prazak sponsored one at Toot's restaurant in Smyrna and the official party was on Thursday at lunch at our break area.  Calvin my supervisor cooked pork shoulder, country ribs and chicken.  It was delicious.  People said nice things and gave me a beautiful engraved multi-tool to replace all of the tools that I will have to leave behind when I fly to Belgium.  On Friday morning I came to the morning start-up meeting where I received a Certificate of completion prepared by Troy Kirby.  I had everyone sign it so it looked like a college diploma.  Then I went up to the HR office and received my really big check and went to the security office to turn in my ID card and they made a retiree card that won't let you in the gate.

Next I went to the bank and deposited the check.  I went back home and waited to have the long awaited lunch with one of my mentors, Jim Ferrell.  I waited and waited; the time dragged on.  Finally Jim arrived and he said that he was waiting on UPS for his business.  He said that he really liked Hickory Falls.  I told him that I did too.  We went in and I was scanning the restaurant for people I might know and walked into my surprise retirement birthday party.  My brother and sisters were there along with my kids and grandkids.  It was pretty overwhelming!  My family from Michigan had chartered a friend's plane to fly Sherry, Cindy, Glen and his wife Sue to Smyrna. 

That evening we were supposed to go to Tony and Brandi's house for a get-together.  It turned out to be the second surprise party of the day!  My old small group was there along with Kyle and Amy.  It was quite a day!

12days299hrs.

In twelve days (299 hours) I  will be finished at Nissan, Smyrna, TN.  I started there the first Monday of October 1984.  I had attended state-sponsored training at their training facility for several months.  I learned about hydraulics, pneumatics and welding before I was hired for the Sentra project.  We would attend school for several hours each Saturday.  That cost me and most of my co-trainees a lot of money, and the companies we worked for knew all about where we were when we were not working for them.  But finally I was interviewed by several supervisors from the Trim and Chassis department.  They asked me all sorts of questions an electrician shouldn't have known the answers to.  They asked me trick questions and tried to upset me; they really ran us through the ringer.  If my Dad had not made me work on farm equipment, motorcycles and snowmobiles, my mother instilled in me a love of reading and Ms. Mary Jo Wilson made me love learning in the fifth grade, I never would have done so well.

I started out in the tire room and we completed lots of training.  It felt like we were back in High School.  I went to several computer schools.  About one hundred days into the employment I found out that I had cancer and missed the next ninety days.  I had great disability and insurance and was receiving a bigger check than my previous job.   Elizabeth and I found a great church that took care of us and the boys - First Baptist Smyrna.  The Trim and Chassis plant manager came to our apartment and prayed for us.  As well as most of the members of our previous church, the Gospel Tabernacle, Tullahoma, TN.  I recovered and went back to work in June of 1985 with a head that was as bald as a watermelon and except for the stripes it looked like one too!

In 1989 I moved to the Stamping Plant which is the beginning of the process of building a car.  I have been there ever since.  I was able to go to Japan twice while in Stamping.  It was an amazing experience for a farm boy from Michigan.  When I was picking up rocks in a wheat field, I never imagined I would eat horse meat and Tuna Sushi served by a Geisha.

More than a year ago I was offered a buyout to leave.  I always thought that if someone offered you a lot of money to leave a job you should take it, so I did.  That opened up the opportunity for my next career - being a missionary to Belgium.  In addition to the cash, I have my health insurance, and in three years I will be able to draw some pension.  It seems that God planned it for us.

So thank you, Nissan, for the opportunities to meet great people,  the salary to travel around the world experiencing Missions in Brazil, Canada, Africa and India.  It has been a great ride!

Joe Dale Lemonds

Another one of my friends retired this week from Nissan,  JD Lemonds.
When JD first came to work in Stamping in 1990 I had no idea how close we would eventually become.  He arrived from the Whirlpool Corporation up the road in LaVergne.  Originally he was from Michigan the same as me.  So we knew about a lot of the same things and of course we were both Yankees.

JD eventually had friends from Whirlpool join him, Ed and John, Bobby came from Mississippi, Tim from North Dakota we were a tight group within our Department.  We would play Solitaire and swap stories at break and lunch or whenever we had the time.  Always laughing and cutting up. JD and some of the others liked to hoist a few mostly more now than then.  Me being a Deacon, I never joined in that part of the fun, although I probably should have.  The ones that liked beer always made it to work the next night.  I was the first to make it to day shift.  We always kept up with each other.  My boys were close to the same age as his girls.  He went on juvenile hunts with us in the fall we had a great time, never shot any deer but lots of good eating and great stories.

Eventually his wonderful wife Alma became ill, very ill.  That shook up his life, it made him take stock, he decided he needed to be a Christ follower.  That is what his life revolves around now, Jesus and others.  JD can talk to a wall and get a reaction out of it.  I always told him that if I ever started a church he would be in charge of evangelism.  He knows everybody.  I went to his ordination as a deacon.  It was a very moving service.  Now he goes out on visitation and keeps the building maintained at his church.  It is very obvious he turned a way toward Jesus. A radical change.  So now it is twenty years since I first met him and he is retiring from Nissan.  He is the last of that group of  those new hires from 1990.  Life will be different now in my remaining two months before I leave also.  I am praying for the best for him and his family.  They were the first members of my Belgium support team.  JD and Alma God has great things in store for you!  Blessings!
 


 

Another Saint goes Home

On Sunday February 7, 2010 a great Saint passed on to be with Jesus.  Dr. Ken Hubbard died on Super Bowl Sunday, the Day the New Orleans Saints played the Indianapolis Colts led by the former University of Tennessee Quarterback Peyton Manning.

Dr. Hubbard had been suffering from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease for the last several years.  This was very hard on all of those who loved him and his wonderful wife, Faye.  If you are a Tennessee Baptist you probably already know how influential he was in Baptist circles.  For my family he was our pastor from 1988 to 2005.  Our son Jeremiah was the first person Baptized when he first came to First Baptist Smyrna.  It was a cold morning with cold water in the Baptistry.  The heater had quit again.  Dr. Hubbard said that it was a bit cold but Jeremiah would do fine because he was a brave boy.  So the time came in the service for Jeremiah to be baptized he went into the water and it hit him this is cold!! His teeth started chattering and he started walking on the water.  Dr. Hubbard quickly dunked him.  Jeremiah said that he was a believer and that he was following Jesus and wanted to for the rest of his life.  He was in Kindergarten so it was a big decision for a young boy; it ended up being more memorable than he could ever have imagined.

Jeremiah grew up in stature and the wisdom of the Lord at FBC Smyrna, receiving a good foundation from the Children and Youth Workers.  He has helped in a Church Plant and taught children in several churches.  He married a wonderful Christian girl.

Dr. Hubbard started the transition from a midsized church to a very large Church where lives are changed and people sincerely care about being a Christ follower and realize what it costs.  He made several courageous decisions that were not always popular.  He mentored several people who are strong leaders today.

Towards the end of his pastorate at fifty some years in the ministry I was in charge of the benevolence ministry.  I would work from 6:00 to 2:30 at Nissan as a maintenance technician, then I would drive over to the Church and help people in need.  Sometimes it was food and electric, other times it was a place to stay because they were homeless.  I worked in the Stamping Plant where it is very noisy so we hardly ever received phone calls.  Dr. Hubbard would call and after I made it to the phone he would say in his deepest Holiest voice: "Dan this is your Pastor calling".  This was very disconcerting because I felt for sure that something had happened to my family.  It was always about whether we should help someone in need.

Last week Ken Hubbard hear the call from his Shepherd calling, "Ken come home,  we have your place ready, many are waiting to greet you!

Dr. Hubbard thank you for influencing our family,  you truly made Jesus proud.

Some Statistics on Giving

Here are some statistics our pastor, Pat Hood, recently posted on his blog.

"80% of the world's evangelical wealth is in North America and that total represents way more than enough to fund the Great Commission... We must give generously in order to be a Sending Church...

In 2007, 1.9 billion worldwide (28% of population) had yet to hear the gospel...we MUST be a Sending Church...

In 2004, church members gave 2.5% of their income to the church.  If they had tithed obediently, there would've been an additional $164 BILLION to fund the Great Commission.

Annual giving $19 billion between now & 2015 could eliminate global starvation.  An additional $15 billion could provide universal access to clean water.

Conservative estimates indicate that $1 billion a year could be all that's needed to complete the Great Commission.

In 2000, American evangelicals collectively made $2.66 TRILLION in income.

Only one third to one half of all American church members support their church financially...

In 2007, it was estimated that Americans spent $40 billion on their pets... by 2010, Americans will spend $60 billion on weight loss... How much on the gospel?

America has 40% of the world's wealth & only 2.5% of the population.   We are blessed to be a blessing.

Income has increased 10 times in the last 20 years while giving has decreased by about 50%...

These stats are shocking to say the least.  They reveal that Americans have major spiritual heart disease when it comes to giving.  If every Christ follower would obediently tithe, the church could eliminate poverty, provide clean water for the world, provide loving care to all the world's orphans & send missionaries to preach the gospel to all peoples..."

November 15, 1989/2009

My father, Bill Christensen, died on the first day of gun deer season a half mile from his house in Peck, Michigan, 100 miles north of Detroit. After Christmas and Easter, Nov. 15 is the next major holiday in that region. Some schools close for the day, people get off work for the day and there are those who don't just go. My brother and my Dad were hunting together and had walkie-talkies. My dad shot a large buck first thing in the morning and called my brother to tell him that he was going to wait for a while before he did anything else so that he would not interfere with anyone else's hunting chances. After that last communication, my brother didn't hear anything for a really long time so he went to check Dad. He was dead from a massive heart attack. It was very shocking, of course, because he was only 54.

We had to drive up to Michigan as quickly as we could. We drove through a tornado in Kentucky, just missing it by half an hour. We drove through a terrible thunderstorm; the wind was strong and stuff was blowing everywhere. When we finally arrived in Michigan, the weather there seemed to match our mood as well. The graveside service was very cold and wet, really miserable. But lots of people came to the funeral and told us that Dad was a wonderful man and that he made a big difference in their lives.

My mother Carol contracted breast cancer the following year. She had a mastectomy, went through chemotherapy surprisingly well and seemed to settle in to her radically different life. She was more active in her church; she traveled with her sister and friends. In 2006 the cancer came back and she went through everything again, bouncing back well and continuing her life as before. In the fall of 2008 she had back pain, leg pain and double vision. Again she went to all of her doctors and they sent her for test after test, but they couldn't find anything. Then, in the spring of 2009, my brother went with her to the doctor to find out what was going on and they finally figured out that the cancer had come back and that it probably had spread throughout her body. There was nothing that could be done except hospice care, and one of the hospice nurses said Mom had two or three months left.

She doubled the time they thought she had left and she lived it to the fullest way possible while using a walker, then being confined to a chair with electric lift. My aunt and niece, with help from my brother and sisters, did a wonderful job helping her. I went through 150,000 airline miles to visit her once a month.

Even toward the end, she was always positive. Lots and lots of people from her church visited her and brought her food over and over again. When I saw them they reported to me that they always came away very blessed after visiting Mom. Eventually the disease progressed and she became bedridden, but she continued to be a blessing. This was a lady who served her church and community well. She just kept on the best she could, accepting whatever came her way, still blessing everyone around her. When she made it past September, I predicted to Elizabeth that she would die on Nov. 15, 20 years to the day after my Dad passed away.

Thanks to Skype, I was able to talk with her very often. We would tell her that we loved her and she would tell us that she loved us. We told her that we were going to Belgium, and for a second she was shocked, but then realized it would be OK because she would be in heaven. I told her that the reason Christians suffer is so they can glorify God by testifying to how wonderful He is in the midst of their suffering and that she was finishing the race well. That made her happy.

As predicted, my sister called at 5 a.m. Nov. 15 with the news that Mom had gone to heaven. We were ready. We left soon after we finished the laundry and called our sons to keep an eye on the house. The weather was beautiful, too. It was a happy funeral because a saint had gone home. Mom was running now, not confined to her bed.

I have been blessed by wonderful parents. Their love for God and each other has molded me into who I am today, giving me a legacy to give to my children and grandchildren.

I love you Mom and Dad!

Our Story Part II (LifePoint's Story)

Several years ago God gave our church the vision of a mission partnership on every continent. Our church had always been involved in missions through giving money, praying for missionaries, and sending teams for a week at a time. In January 2004 our church began to feel that God wanted us to be involved at a deeper level. We began to pursue some long-term partnerships with missionaries on different continents. This led to three families from our church going as missionaries to South America, South Asia and Africa.

Then in the summer of 2007 our executive pastor, Kyle Goen, began noticing the country of Belgium. He began to feel that this might be a country where God wanted our church to become involved. In Belgium only 1/2 to 2 % of the population are Christ-followers. 80% of people say they are Catholic, but of these only 4 - 8 % attend church on any given weekend. Many people in Belgium do not have any idea what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. We feel God wants us to be a part of making that happen. We will be part of a team of five families who are committing to live in Belgium for at least three years.

We have a three-fold vision. We hope to start an English-speaking international church in Brussels. Brussels is the home of the European Union. It is a very cosmopolitan city. Out of that church we would train internationals, who are living temporarily in Brussels, to start churches in their home countries when they return. Also out of that church we would train native French-speakers to start French-speaking churches in nearby French-speaking cities.

Grandma Christensen

I Corinthians 1:4-6 The Message: Every time I think of you — and I think of you often! — I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There's no end to what has happened in you — it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.

7-9 Just think — you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.

When I was a teenager, my brother and I mowed my Grandma Christensen's lawn every week from the time the snow stopped in the spring until it started in the fall. Our father wanted to teach us, love, charity and the value of hard work, so he wouldn't let her pay us anything. This tore her up, and she would even cry sometimes. It was pretty sad.

When I was a senior in High School and I was starting to feel called to ministry, I asked her if she would give me a Living Bible. That was a gift that was OK with all concerned. At the end of summer or my birthday (this was 30-plus years ago so I don't remember exactly when), I received it and decided to read the Bible through every year.

I have been truly blessed by that 20-dollar Bible. I didn't read it every time, actually only once. But I have enjoyed reading or listening through the Bible each year since. I have been blessed every time. What I've learned by doing this hasn't been Earth shattering, becuse everyday life is like that. But I find new blessings regularly.

This is a passage that spoke to me recently. I am reading through the Bible in the order that it was written. So the epistles, the letters to the various churches, show up before the Gospels.

Think about what it says: You have everything you need when you become a Christ follower. It doesn't matter where you live, how much money you have or your level of education. He will never give up on you! He gives you all of the gifts you need! Maybe that is why Christ followers I have met in India, Africa and South America are so much more content than people from North America. They have a simpler faith that is not as influenced by an excess of training resources, music, videos and books that tell us how to live a life of following Jesus. They just have His word and very few teachers. It also costs more to be a follower when you are not part of the majority religion.

Thanks, Grandma Christensen. You influenced more lives than you ever knew.

Our Story

Throughout our marriage, we have always felt that God wanted us to be involved in church ministry of some sort. For four years Elizabeth was the youth and children's director in another local church. When she left that position we felt that God wanted us to be involved in a church ministry where we could work together. We were not sure how that could happen. After some time we began to make preparations to go to Canada to start churches. (Elizabeth is a Canadian native.) This plan did not work out and we were disappointed, but we continued studying and learning about starting churches. We now are finding that this was great preparation for what we are about to do. Also, we think our experiences played some role in our church catching the vision for getting more involved in missions to other countries.

Dan's Story

I also became a follower of Jesus as a young child. One night there was a bad thunderstorm. I wondered what would happen to me if I died. (It must have been quite the thunderstorm!) I remembered what my Sunday School teacher said about Jesus dying for me so that I could go to heaven. That was when I decided that I wanted to follow Jesus. When I was a senior in high school, I felt that God wanted me to be involved in church ministry. I ended up at the same Bible College as Elizabeth. We've been married now for over 31 years.

Elizabeth's Story

The story of how God brought us to where we are today begins a long time ago. This is Elizabeth's story:

I became a follower of Jesus at a very early age. Even though I was so young, I think I understood that I had done things that were wrong. I learned that Jesus was punished in my place. When I was about five and a half years old I was at an evening church service one Sunday. I don't remember the sermon but I will never forget the song we sang at the end of the service. We sang about the untold millions still untold about Jesus. It broke my heart. When we shook the pastor's hand as we left, he wanted to know why I was crying. My mother said she thought I must be tired. I knew the real reason, but I didn't have the words to explain.

As I was growing up missionaries were my heroes. The missionaries that I knew of were also doctors. So I thought that to be a missionary, I had to be a doctor. I wanted to be a missionary doctor when I grew up. As I grew older I did not see how that would work out. When I realized I would probably never be a doctor, I also forgot about being a missionary.

When I was seventeen, I felt that God wanted me to go to Bible College, although at that time I did not have a specific career in mind. I only knew that I wanted to learn more about the Bible. In Bible College I met Dan.

September trip to Belgium

Hi all. Here are a few photos from Dan and Elizabeth's trip to Belgium on an exploratory trip as they prepare to enter the missions field in Brussels.

Back from Belgium

We had a great time in Brussels!  We walked and walked, rode the subway more than we have in any other city,

plus we rode trains, trams and buses and a European van owned by a missionary friend.  Most of the cars are so small.  Not very many people actually drive cars though, the public transportation system is so good.

We met with missionaries from several groups not just our own.  They all said that the work is very difficult in Belgium.  We knew that and that is a large part of why we want to go.  We want to have conversations with people who would only be interested in us because the Holy Spirit is drawing them.  No cultural attraction.  The 6'3" man with the red headed wife did not look the least bit unusual.  Traffic did not stop and people didn't even wave.

The food was good but we were looking for hungry hearts and they were everywhere!

More later

We are going to Brussels tomorrow August 29! More news and pictures to follow!

How to help

Ways to Partner Financially

1. Monthly Support
* Electronic Funds Transfer (http://www.lifepoint church.org/give)
* Electronic Bank Check (your personal bank website)
* Mail Check to:
LifePoint Church
attn. Belgium Church Planting
506 Legacy Dr.
Smyrna, TN 37167
(Please place a note in the envelope that is for the Christensen's not on the check itself)

2. Yearly Support (http://www.lifepoint church.org/give)

3. Special Needs Offering (http://www.lifepoint church.org/give)
* Towards special projects or needs that may arise (i.e.) children's educational supplies and fees.
*Initial housing setup. (email for amounts)
*Language Tutors (email for amounts)

4. Airline Reward Miles
* Once a year return trip to U.S. for Partner Meetings

(All financial gifts given through LifePoint Church are tax-deductible. You will recieve a statement of giving following the year end closing)