Home away from home: Freedom Christian Fellowship hosts international students – The Herald Journal

Come over to Revs. Ron and Karen Flessners home in Logan on Wednesday nights and you can be sure to experience a hearty dinner, followed by song, prayer and Bible study.

Its all part of Freedom Christian Fellowship, a multicultural, multi-ethnic, non-denominational effort by the native midwestern couple.

Our mission is to love God with all of our heart, soul and strength, said Karen Flessner, co-founder, executive director and associate pastor of the fellowship.

Story continues below video

Freedom Christian Fellowship welcomes anyone in the Cache Valley community, but places emphasis on international students from Utah State University.

That emphasis is reflected in the Flessners basement, where worship takes place every week. Small flags from different countries sit on a table. Framed pictures of past congregations from places like Africa and South Korea hang on the walls.

That is who we are, that is what we are, said Karen Flessner as she gave a tour around the basement.

Ron and Karen Flessners lives and their spiritual evolution are part of the story of how Freedom Christian Fellowship came to be.

Ron was born and raised in Illinois. His father was a pastor, but Ron claimed he really didnt believe the gospel until he was 16 years old.

It was one summer during the middle of his teenage tears when he found God, after he participated in a tent meeting service in central Illinois. Ron received his master of divinity degree in his native state, and began serving a mission in Illinois and Michigan in 1980.

Karen was born and raised in a Muslim country where her family practiced Taoism and Buddhism. She left her home country in 1995 to come study at Western Michigan University. Describing herself as a first generational curse breaker in her family, she converted to Christianity the same year. Karen became a professional minister and clinical Christian counselor.

Ron and Karen first met in February 1998 at a campus ministry retreat in Michigan. The following November, they were married.

The Flessners came to Logan in 2006 to start Freedom Christian Fellowship.

This came about through prayer, Karen Flessner said. The Lord called us.

Flessner said the goal of Freedom Christian Fellowship is not to entertain, despite the fact that on most Bible study nights, the family might break out the guitar or bongos to accompany their singing.

We are here for God, Karen Flessner said. We are dependent on God to lead us. We dont do anything on our own.

Get along with each other

Ron talked about the importance of bringing international students into Freedom Christian Fellowship.

God our creator loves us no matter the color, ethnicity or nationality, he wrote in an email to The Herald Journal. While here in Logan, Utah, we need to learn how and to practice how to understand and get along with each other.

But having international students over for dinner and worship goes beyond learning and understanding the Bible or God, Ron Flessner said.

When someone is new in town, especially in a new culture, that person needs to learn how to play by the new rules and how to be successful in their new daily lives, he wrote.

The Flessners expressed their support for the international students in their congregation.

We believe international students, scholars and their families should not feel alone or left out while they are in Logan, Ron Flessner wrote. If permitted, we would like to be their friend and family away from family. We would like them to feel at home, while away from their home.

Jinsu Choi, a USU graduate student majoring in civil environmental engineering, hails from South Korea.

Its been a big transition. I couldnt speak English at all when I first came here, Choi said. Ron and Karen gave me a lot of help.

Back home, when he was growing up, Chois family would attend church, but he did not.

I came here with a lot of challenges and maybe thats why I became a Christian, Choi said. Ron and Karen gave me a lot of opportunities.

He said got involved in the Freedom Christian Fellowship when he started playing guitar for the Flessners in their weekly Bible studies.

I started to read the Bible and I pray before eating. I go to church every Sunday, Choi said. Previously, my friends were any people, but today my friends are people in a church.

Samuel Serrano, a sophomore majoring in graphic design, came to Logan last year from Colombia. He heard about the Freedom Christian Fellowship through a fair on campus, where he met Ron Flessner.

I was looking for a Christian church because Ive been Christian my whole life, Serrano said. There are a million Mormon ones and a couple Christian ones.

He said joining Freedom Christian Fellowship has been a great experience.

Youre building your relationship with God the more you know about him, the better it makes you as a person, Serrano said.

Bible study with the congregation is great, he said, but the weekly dinners and togetherness with the Flessners is something else.

I feel like Im part of the family, he said.

See the rest here:

Home away from home: Freedom Christian Fellowship hosts international students - The Herald Journal