Who's Phil?

I'm Phil Christensen.  I'm my kids' dad, my Beauty Queen's husband, my churches' Worship Pastor and my Master's servant.  In Autumn 2009, I began my 9th year of service at Stonebridge Church (The ministry formerly known as CHEF), a rare and wonderful place where I serve and serve with some of the finest folks I've ever known.  We recently relocated the campus to a new 29-acre site on Stoney Point Road. 

I love the Lord, love people, and love a Big Purpose; the best of all worlds is when I can help God's people connect to their Big God and find their Big Purpose.  Redeemed men and women are - as David said - the "glorious ones," and the ultimate human endeavor is to declare God's glory. Sometimes I wake up at 3:00 a.m., humbled to have the best, most exciting, life-changing job in the world.  Under my hood, that's the revving engine.  If I'm known beyond our doors in Cedar Rapids, it's probably for my 15 years of articles at Integrity Music  and features in Worship Leader Magazine.  I've also written a couple of books, and my work has appeared in CCM, Christianity Today, Rev, and other places.  Musically, I pack about 1000 songs around in my heart, favorites from a couple decades of worship renewal, classic praise and hymns. Over the years, I've written lots of music with the BQ; many of these have been praise-songs and you can listen to a handful of them on-line by clicking here.

On the technical side, I enjoy audio production and am exploring the realm of live interactive worship technology.  We routinely run a 4-piece band on the platform and seamlessly add pre-produced loops or insert a pre-recorded bass part.  I like podcast production, multi-track editting, and am having a BALL working with my adult son, Jr. Phil, a great musician and my wingman.  In addition to his work as a writer and producer, he's helping equip a new generation of musicians to declare God's glory with the arts.  We probably need a shingle that says "ChristenSen and Son."

In this last season, I've been immersed in two millenia of history, particular the writings of the Christian Contemplatives and the Scriptures that fueled those writings.  Regardless of their century or culture, they consistently arrived at similar conclusions.  I won't try to summarize those ideas here, but it's become increasingly clear to me that humble worshipers of the True and Living God will find themselves being conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus.  They will walk the path of descent, like their Master did, and they will display increasing degrees of His goodness, justice and compassion for the downtrodden.  This level of discipleship and transformation has very much captured my heart.

I tend to stay put, and have served at only two churches.  My past ministry adventures include a couple of decades at The Church on the Mountain in Oregon; the Mt. Hood Community is where I grew up and where I came to know the Lord.  I spent those years working with Pastor Mike Whisner, a true hero of the faith and friend; I'm humbled to have shared a work - and a revival - with Pastor Mike while the church grew from 60 to 500.  I rode on the coat-tails of his good preachin'!  During those same hears, I traveled extensively with another good friend, Paul Arthur Rydell.  The Beauty Queen and I also served as Worship Development Missionaries for American Missionary Fellowship in the Pacific Northwest.  In this role, I taught conferences and otherwise encouraged and equipped churches to improve the quality and impact of their worship.

More?  Okay, but remember - you asked!  It's no secret that I'm particularly fond of my Beauty Queen and kids, but I also have a soft spot for good food, good music, and a decent guitar.  I think a Film Noir movie is hard to beat, particularly if Bogart and Bacall are in it.  For two years, I studied the guitar under recording artist Paul Chasman, and I've taught for a local community college.  My areas of expertise include cooking and writing, but I'm not too bad at teasing 13-year-old Megan, either.  I doubt the validity of criticism when it fails to resonate with love for God or for people.  I'll pick authentic over "slick" every time.  Formality troubles me.  I need to feel like I'm part of a team, and I believe that co-workers should be friends.  I scan the world around me, observing patterns, and do tend to process verbally.  I read a half-dozen books at once (usually non-fiction), then ponder the key principles of those books for years.  Details and routines weary me to tears.  Myers-Brigg identifies me as a classic ENFP temperament; I'm an activist, a shepherd and a reporter by nature (no surprise that I actually covered a newspaper beat for many years).  In the DISC analysis, I'm a "High I," and my Enneagram is a Four with predictable wings.  In Strengths-Finder, Ideation.  There's a down side to these characteristics, but thankfully God isn't finished with me - or YOU - yet.  He's promised to complete the good work He's begun in each of us.