Crists reflect on newfound life of ministry, service

    It’s been nearly a year since DJ and Rachel Crist took up their cross.
    Last August, the two traded their four-bedroom house in Wyoming for a dorm room at Hawaii’s University of the Nations, where they were to begin their training as missionaries.
    With them were their three sons, Ryan, now 13; Braden, 12; and Gavin, 10.
    What DJ and Rachel didn’t sell, they put into storage. What they were seeking was a closer relationship with God, for themselves and for their children.
    “We had the American dream, but life still just felt empty,” DJ said. “Even with all of that nice stuff, life was just empty.”
    Since completing the university’s Discipleship Training School, the Crists have participated in a mission trip to Malaysia, and DJ and Rachel are currently volunteers with the university’s parent ministry, Youth With A Mission.
     While their journey toward discipleship has been challenging, Rachel says the struggle has brought their family closer together.
“‘Missionary’ isn’t a label that I ever really took on, but we are a family with a mission, for sure,” she said.

Brought up in faith
    Both DJ and Rachel were born into the Assembly of God church, where both of their fathers were pastors.
    As a child, DJ moved frequently. He lived in Stoneham, Rocky Ford, Delta and Olathe before moving to Holyoke, where he spent his late teen years.
    He said that he felt little agency within his father’s ministry — a problem that he is trying to avoid with his own children. All three boys were enrolled in a discipleship program concurrent with their parents’ program last fall.
    Rachel grew up in Massachusetts. When she was 13, she was put in charge of her father’s children’s ministry in inner-city Boston. Rachel said her passion for preaching to young people was one of the things that led her and DJ into the missionary life.
    DJ and Rachel met at Evangel University, which was then Evangel College, in Springfield, Missouri. Both pursued degrees in psychology, although DJ dropped out in his third year to become an electrician.
    Rachel graduated from Evangel in 1998, the same year that she and DJ were married. In 1999, the two moved back to Holyoke, where Ryan, Braden and Gavin were born.
    They later settled in Alta, Wyoming — there, DJ got a job as a lineman for Fall River Electric, and Rachel worked as a substitute teacher.
    Despite being well-off, the Crist parents struggled to find a sense of purpose in their work.
    “We just began feeling as a family that there’s something more,” Rachel said. “We wanted to live for something beyond ourselves.”
    “We just wanted to do life bigger,” DJ added.
    After volunteering at a youth Bible camp in Troy, Montana, the two wondered whether their future lay in running a similar program for at-risk youth.
    They said everything changed when Rachel was introduced to YWAM by a family friend.
    The two became interested in the University of the Nations specifically because of its youth programs.
    Although the idea of packing up their lives and moving across the country was intimidating, they applied to the DTS program at the beginning of August and were accepted later that month.
    After much consideration and prayer, they decided to go for it. Rachel and DJ quit their jobs, and the family packed their bags for Kona, Hawaii.
    
Life of a missionary
    DJ estimated that 90 percent of the student body at U of N was made up of young, single adults. The Crist family shared a single dorm room and slept on bunk beds.
    “We realized right away that when we said we wanted to live beyond ourselves, what that actually means is beyond your comfort zone,” Rachel said.
    The discipleship program involved 12 weeks of lectures, preparing students for an eight-week outreach program. The Crists were deployed to the Malaysian state of Penang, where they engaged with the country’s Rohingya refugee population.
    The Rohingya is a historically Muslim ethnic group that is facing persecution in neighboring Myanmar from the country’s Buddhist majority.
    Rachel taught English to the Rohingya and volunteered at a shelter for victims of human trafficking. DJ helped organize community events and also worked at a local homeless shelter.
    The family also visited the local Penan people, who were displaced by a federal damming project that began in 2008.
    The Crists have since turned their eyes homeward — DJ said the family intends to apply the humility they learned overseas to social work in the States.
    “We all went because we wanted to be a blessing to these people, but we were the ones that got blessed,” he said.
    Upon returning, DJ and Rachel signed a one-year contract with YWAM. They are today based in Kona, at the campus of U of N.
    
Helping at home
    On May 3, the ground beneath Hawaii’s Puna District cracked open and began spewing lava and toxic gas.
    It was the beginning of an ongoing volcanic event that has since destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced countless families.
    DJ is helping YWAM prefabricate structures for the victims of the eruption by overseeing the installation of wiring. Talks are also underway to rehouse families in campus dormitories.
    Rachel identified the island’s Marshall Islands refugee population as a future target for outreach.
    Both spoke about eventually returning to the Midwest.
    DJ said that, despite the anxiety that has sometimes accompanied their new vocation, he is confident that God will provide.
    “Life kicks you around and beats you up. And, I mean, I’m so free of all of that now. It’s gone. I don’t have any more chains that hold me back. I’m just free to be who God designed me to be.”