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People Profile--Hansen’s ‘first church’ proves to be right decision
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| The Rev. David Hansen enjoys some quality time with his wife Julia and their daughter Layla. Bud Chambers/Reprints available at www.brenhambanner.com |
By Bud Chambers/Correspondent
PRAIRIE HILL — It was mid-2006 and the Rev. David Hansen’s first interview seeking an initial Lutheran church pastorate following an additional year’s seminary study in Gettysburg, Pa. was here in Washington County, Texas.
At this point, Hansen had been studying for a long time — earlier earning a master’s in divinity in 2004 and followed by a Washington, D.C. Lutheran church internship in 2005 — as he progressed toward establishing a fourth Hansen family generation of Lutheran ministers, this heritage covering at least a century in duration.
And just a short time into David and wife Julia’s introduction to Texas’ bluebonnet country, the then still-late 20s age minister would happily discover that his “Texas connection” — Julia had grown up in Vidor — was having precisely “the same very positive thoughts” about this Lutheran ministry based in the rolling hills just outside Brenham.
“We just love it … we feel like we’ve always been here,” Julia exclaimed happily (with little daughter, Layla, who’ll be two in September, also making her presence known now and again) during the Hansen couple’s recent “Profile” interview in the Prairie Hill church’s parsonage.
Jointly, David and Julia described three unbelievably fast-moving and satisfying years since they both felt called to link their future with the St. John’s congregation, officially back on July 2, 2006.
The three years prior to this mid-2006 “milestone starting point” for David’s new status as a full-fledged Lutheran minister had also been extremely busy ones in the relatively young lives of this hard-working couple.
Would one perhaps tend to simply call it “fate” — or perhaps just a delightful accident, yet one still related to their similar goals in living purposeful Christian lives — that led to the couple quickly becoming acquainted at the University of Sewanee (Tenn.) seminary in the fall of 2001?
A special ‘porch’
Indeed under the circumstances — their assigned apartments in university housing would share “a common porch” — the meeting of a Chattanooga-based David and Vidor (Tx.)-based Julia Biehle was an absolute inevitably.
Before the passage of a great deal of time, they would become boyfriend-girlfriend — and they obviously continued to grow together in their Christian faith during the nearly three years to follow.
However, it would be as a young married couple — their Dec. 27, 2003 wedding ceremony conducted by David’s father, the Rev. R. Christian “Chris” Hansen, took place in a Chattanooga church over the holiday period — that both David and Julia walked across the seminary stage in May 2004 to receive masters in their chosen religious fields.
“The Christmas holidays was about the only time it worked to bring my family of teachers and David’s family of preachers together,” Julia said.
Julia’s first university diploma— from Centenary College in Shreveport, La., 2000 — was a bachelor’s degree in music, and her University of Sewanee seminary studies (2001-04) at this largely Episcopal seminary also brought her the additional credentials of a master of art in Christian theology.
A 1996 graduate of Vidor High School, Julia returned to Texas following completion of her Centenary degree, 2000, and served on the staff of an Episcopal Church in Beaumont for a year.
Then Julia’s decision to go to the University of Sewanee seminary in 2001 would lead to that life-changing event — meeting David Hansen on the “shared porch” of their student apartments at that institution.
Meanwhile, because David obtained his master’s in Divinity from a non-Lutheran institution his prescribed path to an ultimate goal as a fourth Hansen generation Lutheran minister required an additional year’s preparation — in this case, a year at a Lutheran seminary following his St. Andrew Lutheran Church internship in Washington D.C.
As a result, the Rev. Hansen is “the completion of a thesis” away from earning a second master’s in religion — this one in sacred theology from the Lutheran seminary located near Gettsyburg’s famous Civil War battlefield.
Officially, all of David’s work with Lutheran churches was carried out on “a layman’s service” basis during both the time of his lengthy seminary studies and the church internship in D.C.
So it would transpire that St. John’s Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill sponsorship of the Rev. David Hansen’s Lutheran ministerial ordination on Aug. 5, 2006 would become a most important milestone in his life.
David’s early history
David’s family history of multiple generations of Lutheran ministers dated back at least to 1915 when his great grandfather, the Rev. Theodore Marcus Hansen, became president of a Lutheran college/seminary in Nebraska.
This pastor’s long career had begun in Iowa and Kansas and would later take him to Minnesota, Canada and Montana.
His grandfather, the Rev. Rodney Hansen stayed busy “planting” new congregations in Minnesota and Wisconsin; followed by his father, the Rev. Chris, breaking the long tradition of Hansen service in the Upper Midwest by heading south from Burlington, Iowa, to Tennessee now nearly two decades back into history.
“It was the year of the big flood (hitting Burlington hard) on the Mississippi River,” David said, recalling that he was about 14-years-old and entered a Tennessee school system initially as a high school freshman.
David would graduate from Hixon High School in Chattanooga, 1997, and then go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in theology from Roanoke College, 2001, prior to enrolling in the University of Sewanee seminary program that fall.
Following the memorable next five years which brought his Dec. 2003 marriage to Julia and the Washington D.C. internship along with four busy years of extensive study in seminary classrooms, David and wife Julia would happily accept the assignment offered by St. John’s Lutheran at Prairie Hill.
Both report enthusiastically that this Washington County, Texas, place — as opposed to, say, the U.S. capitol in Washington, D.C. — was a place they were welcomed with gracious, open arms and so quickly felt “right at home.”
In addition to an almost endless string of “good days” that first year and two months here, mid-September 2007 would bring what must be classified “as certainly the best day yet” — specifically, in the birth of their little daughter Layla Margaret Hansen at a nearby St. Joseph’s Regional Hospital in Bryan.
A few months later — in Jan. 2008 — Julia was offered, and accepted, a newly-created position in the Prairie Hill church to serve as the congregation’s director of music and worship; thus more fully utilizing the degree majoring in music that she had completed at Shreveport’s Centenary College now nearly a decade ago.
This upcoming school year has brought a further opportunity for Julia to utlilize her strong background in the music field; earlier this summer, she was chosen to fill Brenham High School’s opening for a choir music director.
She is currently in a two-week period of new teacher training and pre-school-year staff training programs.
As this “Profile” interview with the Hansens was conducted in late afternoon following a rather long day of Julia’s teaching preparation for the 2009-10 school year, she was very excited about the many challenges ahead in putting together the school’s mixed choir — and perhaps exploring a potential for other choirs — here at Brenham High.
And there was this added bonus in this positive landscape: A soon two-year-old Layla had secured one of a dozen spots available in the Brenham High School’s daycare program — and already “loved” her daytime surroundings.
Yes, the rest of this year, and a 2010 year coming up dead ahead, will be busy ones for this active family:
The Rev. Hansen will be continuing to work hard in keeping up with the various challenges of serving, and growing, the St. John’s Lutheran congregation.
Better-half Julia will be tackling a number of important tasks — with her continuing role as church music director and now the addition of the new Brenham High School choir director’s post creating major “time” demands.
But both the Rev. David and Julia Hansen already fully realize that providing for “family time” — and enjoying their time together in a wonderful Washington County setting is perhaps the greatest blessing of all.
Reading and movies have long been among “the favorite things to do” for this young couple, but favorite things these days tend to lean to whatever a soon two-year-old Layla would like to do.
And Julia especially says she “really enjoys cooking — and that husband David most certainly “enjoys eating.”
At this point, Hansen had been studying for a long time — earlier earning a master’s in divinity in 2004 and followed by a Washington, D.C. Lutheran church internship in 2005 — as he progressed toward establishing a fourth Hansen family generation of Lutheran ministers, this heritage covering at least a century in duration.
And just a short time into David and wife Julia’s introduction to Texas’ bluebonnet country, the then still-late 20s age minister would happily discover that his “Texas connection” — Julia had grown up in Vidor — was having precisely “the same very positive thoughts” about this Lutheran ministry based in the rolling hills just outside Brenham.
“We just love it … we feel like we’ve always been here,” Julia exclaimed happily (with little daughter, Layla, who’ll be two in September, also making her presence known now and again) during the Hansen couple’s recent “Profile” interview in the Prairie Hill church’s parsonage.
Jointly, David and Julia described three unbelievably fast-moving and satisfying years since they both felt called to link their future with the St. John’s congregation, officially back on July 2, 2006.
The three years prior to this mid-2006 “milestone starting point” for David’s new status as a full-fledged Lutheran minister had also been extremely busy ones in the relatively young lives of this hard-working couple.
Would one perhaps tend to simply call it “fate” — or perhaps just a delightful accident, yet one still related to their similar goals in living purposeful Christian lives — that led to the couple quickly becoming acquainted at the University of Sewanee (Tenn.) seminary in the fall of 2001?
A special ‘porch’
Indeed under the circumstances — their assigned apartments in university housing would share “a common porch” — the meeting of a Chattanooga-based David and Vidor (Tx.)-based Julia Biehle was an absolute inevitably.
Before the passage of a great deal of time, they would become boyfriend-girlfriend — and they obviously continued to grow together in their Christian faith during the nearly three years to follow.
However, it would be as a young married couple — their Dec. 27, 2003 wedding ceremony conducted by David’s father, the Rev. R. Christian “Chris” Hansen, took place in a Chattanooga church over the holiday period — that both David and Julia walked across the seminary stage in May 2004 to receive masters in their chosen religious fields.
“The Christmas holidays was about the only time it worked to bring my family of teachers and David’s family of preachers together,” Julia said.
Julia’s first university diploma— from Centenary College in Shreveport, La., 2000 — was a bachelor’s degree in music, and her University of Sewanee seminary studies (2001-04) at this largely Episcopal seminary also brought her the additional credentials of a master of art in Christian theology.
A 1996 graduate of Vidor High School, Julia returned to Texas following completion of her Centenary degree, 2000, and served on the staff of an Episcopal Church in Beaumont for a year.
Then Julia’s decision to go to the University of Sewanee seminary in 2001 would lead to that life-changing event — meeting David Hansen on the “shared porch” of their student apartments at that institution.
Meanwhile, because David obtained his master’s in Divinity from a non-Lutheran institution his prescribed path to an ultimate goal as a fourth Hansen generation Lutheran minister required an additional year’s preparation — in this case, a year at a Lutheran seminary following his St. Andrew Lutheran Church internship in Washington D.C.
As a result, the Rev. Hansen is “the completion of a thesis” away from earning a second master’s in religion — this one in sacred theology from the Lutheran seminary located near Gettsyburg’s famous Civil War battlefield.
Officially, all of David’s work with Lutheran churches was carried out on “a layman’s service” basis during both the time of his lengthy seminary studies and the church internship in D.C.
So it would transpire that St. John’s Lutheran Church of Prairie Hill sponsorship of the Rev. David Hansen’s Lutheran ministerial ordination on Aug. 5, 2006 would become a most important milestone in his life.
David’s early history
David’s family history of multiple generations of Lutheran ministers dated back at least to 1915 when his great grandfather, the Rev. Theodore Marcus Hansen, became president of a Lutheran college/seminary in Nebraska.
This pastor’s long career had begun in Iowa and Kansas and would later take him to Minnesota, Canada and Montana.
His grandfather, the Rev. Rodney Hansen stayed busy “planting” new congregations in Minnesota and Wisconsin; followed by his father, the Rev. Chris, breaking the long tradition of Hansen service in the Upper Midwest by heading south from Burlington, Iowa, to Tennessee now nearly two decades back into history.
“It was the year of the big flood (hitting Burlington hard) on the Mississippi River,” David said, recalling that he was about 14-years-old and entered a Tennessee school system initially as a high school freshman.
David would graduate from Hixon High School in Chattanooga, 1997, and then go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in theology from Roanoke College, 2001, prior to enrolling in the University of Sewanee seminary program that fall.
Following the memorable next five years which brought his Dec. 2003 marriage to Julia and the Washington D.C. internship along with four busy years of extensive study in seminary classrooms, David and wife Julia would happily accept the assignment offered by St. John’s Lutheran at Prairie Hill.
Both report enthusiastically that this Washington County, Texas, place — as opposed to, say, the U.S. capitol in Washington, D.C. — was a place they were welcomed with gracious, open arms and so quickly felt “right at home.”
In addition to an almost endless string of “good days” that first year and two months here, mid-September 2007 would bring what must be classified “as certainly the best day yet” — specifically, in the birth of their little daughter Layla Margaret Hansen at a nearby St. Joseph’s Regional Hospital in Bryan.
A few months later — in Jan. 2008 — Julia was offered, and accepted, a newly-created position in the Prairie Hill church to serve as the congregation’s director of music and worship; thus more fully utilizing the degree majoring in music that she had completed at Shreveport’s Centenary College now nearly a decade ago.
This upcoming school year has brought a further opportunity for Julia to utlilize her strong background in the music field; earlier this summer, she was chosen to fill Brenham High School’s opening for a choir music director.
She is currently in a two-week period of new teacher training and pre-school-year staff training programs.
As this “Profile” interview with the Hansens was conducted in late afternoon following a rather long day of Julia’s teaching preparation for the 2009-10 school year, she was very excited about the many challenges ahead in putting together the school’s mixed choir — and perhaps exploring a potential for other choirs — here at Brenham High.
And there was this added bonus in this positive landscape: A soon two-year-old Layla had secured one of a dozen spots available in the Brenham High School’s daycare program — and already “loved” her daytime surroundings.
Yes, the rest of this year, and a 2010 year coming up dead ahead, will be busy ones for this active family:
But both the Rev. David and Julia Hansen already fully realize that providing for “family time” — and enjoying their time together in a wonderful Washington County setting is perhaps the greatest blessing of all.
Reading and movies have long been among “the favorite things to do” for this young couple, but favorite things these days tend to lean to whatever a soon two-year-old Layla would like to do.
And Julia especially says she “really enjoys cooking — and that husband David most certainly “enjoys eating.”
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