Meet Our Team
Rick & Kirsten
Rick and Kirsten have been involved in ministry with the Alliance for 33 years. Before joining the Envision Team, they served in youth ministry for 30 years in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Minnesota. Rick was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania just outside of Pittsburgh. Kirsten was born in New York City and grew up in Colorado and Wisconsin. They met at St. Paul Bible College (Crown College) and were married following their Junior year. They have three adult children and four grandchildren.
In 2011, Rick went on a sabbatical, asking the Lord to do something new in his life and ministry. Right after he came back, God began to answer his prayer by opening the door for them to work with refugees through a basketball outreach. Over the next several years, more doors were opened to work with refugee families in their area and alongside their church. Sensing that the Lord wants them to work with refugees and other immigrants full-time, Rick and Kirsten joined Envision in 2018 to help local churches meet the needs of refugees and other immigrants.
Christina Wahlen
Christina Wahlen started with Envision Twin Cities in February of 2021. She loves Envision's desire to equip the next generation for ministry, specifically in the area of spiritual formation and cultural awareness.
She, Erik, and their three kids, served with the Christian and Missionary Alliance as international workers in Mongolia for 9 years. Their family now lives in Fridley, Minnesota. Christina serves with Erik at Rose Hill Alliance church where Erik is the lead pastor. Christina is passionate about interns going deeper with Jesus, finding healing for their souls, and coming alongside churches who desire to reach their immigrant and refugee communities with English.
Shelly Kragt
Shelly and her husband, Jerry, met at Crown College in the 80s and were blessed to serve in the U.S. in two churches, in the Chicago area and the Twin Cities before moving overseas in 1998 to church plant in Berlin, Germany. After 13 years of life and ministry in Berlin, they transitioned to a regional leadership role, overseeing C&MA teams in Europe and the Middle East. Following the leadership role, they spent 2 years at Crown College teaching and working to promote global work in various ways. They recently moved to St. Paul where they are church planting an English language church alongside an Ethiopian church. Shelly’s passion for the displaced peoples of the world grew when floods of refugees were pouring into Germany in 2015-2016. She also gets excited about mobilizing others to be engaged with the least reached peoples of the world in the community where she lives and networking with others.
She loves her 3 kids and grandkids deeply, enjoys drinking a warm cup of tea with friends and is always up for an adventure.