Where I am going! What I'll Be Doing...

Gosh, it really is starting to hit me. I am going to pick up and move to England. Not only will I be living in England, it is one of the oldest cities in the UK! Colchester, Essex, England was the Roman Capital of England before London was established! WOW!!! And, we think that we have history here in the states, they have castles and aqueducts from the Roman Empire!

Did You Know?
Did you know that the story of Old King Cole came from Colchester? Hence the name, Colchester! Also, there is a castle there that the nursery rhyme Humpdy Dumpdy came from. But Humpdy Dumpdy was not a giant man eating egg, it was actually a canon that fell of the top of the castle. How cool is that?

Christianity in the UK...
As for Christianity being famous in England... it was. In reality, Christianity lost its fame in England a long time ago. Today, England is the most secular of the four countries that comprise the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.) Statistics say:

• 62% of the population has belief in God
• 38% that Jesus is the Son of God
• 23% that the Bible is the unique Word of God
• 16% visit a church during the course of a year
• 11% visit a church at least once a month

You see, the steady decline in belief and church attendance is of great concern. The dying congregations lead to closed churches, which lead to the churches being converted to Muslim mosques.

Why Colchester?
Colchester is the home of Essex University. Essex represents over 140 different nations. Where is a better place to start a new, contemporary church for college students, then in a city that has students from all of the world? That is what DNA Networks has started. They have successfully started a ministry targeted towards my generation with the use of The Alpha Course Phenomenon, Bible Studies, Discipleship groups, and a church.

This is where I am going. In the heart of the most secular country in the UK, at a church targeted towards college students.



Colchester Art Centre

(DNA's Church)









High Street
(Main Street in Colchester)










Essex University

Update on Support!

Again, thank you to all of you who are supporting me! Both financially and through prayer! I am so grateful!

Just a little update...

As of right now, I have about 15% of my outgoing expenses raised. My total is approximately $8,533 for airline expenses, training at CIT, a computer, immunizations, etc.

As for my monthly pledges, I have about 48% of it pledged. These pledges have not yet started giving... as for those who have, I have about 2%. I am hopefully talking to a couple of churches in the next couple of weeks to see if they will support me.

In order to go to training in the fall, I must have at least 60% of everything raised. I am shooting for 100%, so that I can leave in the beginning of 2008. The next training session is in September, and runs for about 12 weeks. I will come back home for the holidays and then start my ministry in England in January (Winter is also the cheapest time to fly.)

Thank you for all of your prayers!!!

If you have any prayer requests at all, please e-mail me at J.Christerson@gmail.com or give me a call at 404.226.9605

Please DO NOT hesitate to call me whenever!

SuperTroopers...

Well, this past weekend, I took care of my brother Tom's house while he and his family were out of town. It was Saturday night, I went to bed at about 12:30 and had to get up at about 7:00 for work the next morning. I fell asleep and was dreaming a wonderful dream about pool's full of Chocolate and trees made of twizzler's, until I was woken up by pounding at the door. When I say pounding, I mean POUNDING, not knocking. Immediately I knew something was wrong. Oh, and not to mention it was 4:30 in the morning...

So, I ran down the stairs and said at the corner of the front door, "Who is it?," and the man yells back, "It's the Police!" I instantly open the door to come face to face with a police man with his flashlight in my eyes. He said, "Yea, uh, what are you up to sir?" I replied quite rudely, "Sleeping, it is 4:30 in the morning..." He then told me that there had been some mysterious 911 calls/hangups coming from the house. He asked me if he could enter, and I let him in.

As soon as he and his partners came in, I remembered that my brother doesn't have a land line at his house. I told the officer this and he asked me, "Is this house number 3451?" I said, "NO, it 3441, your looking for next door..." He looked at his partner, smiled, looked at me, shook his head, apologized, and left.

Should I not get some sort of immunity on my next ticket? That was absolutely ridiculous. Anyway... all is well at my brothers house, and his next door neighbors were fine. Nothing to worry about.

Oh... I have 5 days off of work this week, so I will be posting more often, I hope!

Well, today is my middle brothers birthday... Numero 23! Happy birthday bro!

Last night I was hanging out with my parents, and I was telling them about a conversation I had with my discipleship leader. He and I had been reading 1 John together, and he pointed out that if you say that you are a Christian, that means that you should be sinless. Because, in 1 John 1:5-10

"5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[b] sin.

8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

Here it says that if we claim to have Christ in us, and we in Him, we can't have any darkness (sin). This is because there can't be any darkness in Him at all. No sin at all.

Again in 1 John 2:6, it says,

"6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

Now, if we clain to be in Him, we must walk as Jesus did. How did Jesus walk? Without sin, performing miracles, praying all the time, healing, etc.

So, what do you think? Let me know if you think it is out of context. I really would like to know other peoples thoughts...

"On a night like this..."

So, last night my three best friends and I decided to go out to eat after work. There was a new place across the street (Luckie St.), so we decided to try it out. I volunteered to go in and ask for a menu to check prices and what not. While I was in there, I talked to the hostess and we became fast friends (already friends on FaceBook!). The prices weren't bad, so I told Lauren, Scottie, and Hilary that we should most definitely eat there.

We parked the car back at the Aquarium, free parking for being Coca-Cola employees. And walked back over to Luckie. We walked in, and a man greeted us and asked us for my last name to see if we had a reservation. He didn't see our name, only because we didn't make a reservation. So, he apologized and said very politely, "I am sorry, this is Family and Friends night, invitation only." We agreed, very dissapointed, and started to turn towards the door, until my good friend the Hostess interrupted the man, and said, "No, they are meeting another party, come on Mr. Christerson, right this way."

Now, we got excited. As soon as we sat down, we were greeted with our server. He introduced himself as Mike and told us that everything was free! He told us that we could order anything on the menu we wanted and it was free! So after he came back, we all ordered the most expensive thing. I ordered the "Luau Steak" ($26)!...

After the wonderful dinner, we left and decided to walk towards the Westin hotel downtown. It being the one of the tallest hotels downtown, it has a wonderful view as well as very classy restaurant on the top. Because of its very popular view, you usually have to pay to get to the top. But, somehow we managed to get a free ride to the 72 floor to the restaurant! What a night! We explored the view, looked at the wonderful skyline of Atlanta, and then ventured upstairs to the "Sundial Lounge." There we had a drink and enjoyed the rotating lounge as well as our wonderful friendships.

Oh Gosh! What a night! Free things are always good to have!




Clockwise: Scottie, Lauren, Hilary and Me

Just Thinking...

So I was looking through my pictures on my computer today and I noticed this picture...
This is Laminin. Laminin is basically the building block of life. Every human has it, and can't live with out it. Laminin is a protein that is in every cell of our body. Coincidence that it is in the shape of a cross? I think not! Just another cool God thing! God has built our lives out of a protein that is the shape of a cross... we can't live without it; we can't live without the cross either. Praise GOD!!!

Go with GOD!

Thanks be to God!

Well, today I though that I would write about how Christ has changed my life...

I wasn't really raised Christian growing up. I knew the fundamentals of what Church was, who Christ was, but, I never really knew why He did what He did. Growing up, I went to church every so often with my parents, and maybe attended the youth service. This was until I got confirmed into the Church in the 7th grade.

This is where I really found my niche in the Church. I found my group of friends. During confirmation, I made my rounds, did what I was supposed to do by accepting Christ. I didn't really know what that meant. I just knew that I was supposed to do it. Throughout middle school, I called my self a Christian without really knowing what it really meant. I even helped start the FCA at the Middle School.

Then came High school... Oh, man what a disaster. High school for me was that point in time where all I wanted was to be cool. I wanted to be the popular one. During high school, I really turned my back on God and the whole "Church thing." I was hanging out with two groups of kids, one my parents approved of, and one that they didn't know of (which they would absolutely not approve of). Some nights, I would tell my parents I was hanging out with my friends, and go and drink with the other group... is this getting confusing? I will just get to the point...

As high school progressed, I started walking farther and farther away from God. Senior year was the worst of all the years in high school. During high school, my older brother James (2 years older), went to college at North Georgia, and found Christ for who He truly was. James would come home every so often and try to share what he discovered with me. I would give him the cold shoulder which made us drift apart.

When I left for college, Valdosta State University, I was planning on really going wild considering I was 250 miles from home. But, I guess God had something totally different planned out. Little did I know, that before I left for college, James had called VSU's Campus Outreach to come help me move in.

The day I moved in a representative of Campus Outreach called me and met me to help me move in. He was definitely a nice genuine guy. Later that afternoon, after my parents left, Campus Outreach took me and some other Freshmen out to eat. There, I really felt a sense of being comfortable.

They started to share the Love of Christ with me in a way I had never felt or seen before. I wanted to know more about Jesus, so I started to explore the campus for more ministry's. During the first week of school, a girl by the name of Katie Folds asked me to come to the Wesley Foundation. I thought it sounded kind of weird, but I wanted to try it out. There at the Wesley Foundation is where I really fell in Love with Christ.

I gave my life to Christ on the September Sands retreat in 2004. I remember God saying to me, "Come to me." So I did. Now I am continually trying to run the race and immerse myself in God's presence and love. Since that time, I have been on 2 international mission trips. One toto Grand Bahama Island for Hurricane Relief, and a 2 week relational mission to Hyderabad, India.

I am trying to seek Him out in different ways, and now pursuing a ministry He has called me to in Colchester, England. Please be praying for the ministry there, DNA Networks; as well as my journey.

Thank you for reading. I know it was long, but it is because of God. So... THANKS BE TO GOD!!!

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love." 1 Corinthians 16:13-14


My team in Hyderabad-
Surrounded by Indian children
(I'm on the right of the guy in the cowboy hat)

Death to Everlasting Life...

Well, a good friend of mine, Ashlee Kraft, was in a terrible accident late Saturday night. She and 6 people were in the vehicle on I-575N on their way back from a Braves game, heading to their camp in North Carolina. The vehicle, a Jeep Liberty, apparently had a power steering problem, they lost control of the car and rolled for several feet. Ashlee and the 3 other passengers in the back seat lost their lives. I was told on Sunday morning at 8:43 about this accident. It is a sad story to hear, but we must rejoice in the fact that she is home now at the feet of Christ. I know for a fact that when she arrived in Heaven, God said, "Well done, My good and faithful servant."

This whole thing has made me think about my life. Am I a good and faithful servant? Will God tell me that when I arrive in Heaven? I don't know, but I can sure try my best to make that happen.

After the funeral, I couldn't stop thinking about this. Ashlee's life has impacted so many people, even after her death. Her funeral was full of praise and worship, friends and family laughing in remembrance of her. The whole way home, my friend Lauren and I talked about how our lives could improve. How we arn't taking every moment as our last.

A lady from her church spoke about all of the quotes and sayings that Ashlee had in her room and on her mirror. The one that really caught my ear is - "I asked God the other day, 'What are you going to do about all of the poverty and sickness and non-believers?' and He replied, 'What are YOU going to do about it?'"

God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He? He taught me so much and allowed me and many other people to draw a little closer to Him through someone's death...