Commenting on his new calling as a member of the First
Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Joe J. Christensen said, “This is a church
where teaching is very important, and I’m finding out that teaching is
one of the things I’ll be doing a great deal.”
In this regard, Elder Christensen’s 34-year career
in the Church Educational System brought him to his calling well prepared.
Joe J. Christensen was born 21 July 1929, the son
of Joseph Amos and Goldie Echo Miles Christensen. He grew up on the family
farm in the small community of Banida, in southeastern Idaho, and attended
Utah State University for two years before serving as a missionary in Mexico
and Central America. After his graduation from Brigham Young University
and a tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force, he served as a seminary teacher
and later as director of the institutes of religion adjacent to Washington
State University where he received a Ph.D., the University of Idaho,
and the University of Utah.
In 1970, Brother Christensen was asked to become
associate commissioner of Church Education under the direction of Commissioner
Neal A. Maxwell.
“At that time, the seminaries and institutes of religion
were just beginning in non-English-speaking countries,” says Elder Christensen.
“So for the next nine years, I traveled to sixty-six countries around the
world as the seminaries and institutes were being established. Those were exciting years.”
His work in the Church Educational System was interrupted
in 1979 by a call to serve as president of the Missionary Training Center
in Provo, Utah, where he supervised the initial training of more than 58,000
missionaries over a period of four years.
“The missionary program of the Church is still one
of the great miracles of the world,” said Elder Christensen. His wife,
Barbara, added, “There really aren’t words to describe our experience at
the MTC. But in many ways it was like being in the temple. The spirit was
so similar.”
In 1985, Elder Christensen was called as president
of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, which he describes without hesitation
as “absolutely the finest college educational institution in the world
for the first two years.”
In addition to his work in the Church Educational
System and his calling as a mission president, Elder Christensen has served
as a bishop, high councilor, member of the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA and
Young Men general boards, counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, and Regional Representative.
He has also been successful in the callings he feels
are the most important—those of husband and father. He married Barbara
Kohler in 1952 in the Salt Lake Temple. “Marrying Barbara was the most
important decision I ever made, and the best thing that ever happened to
me,” said Elder Christensen.
Barbara said in reply, “I have the kindest husband
in the world. He is so kind and gentle to everyone, especially me.”
The Christensens had six married children: Amy (Poulton),
Susan (Jones), Stephen, Linda (Evans), Douglas, and Spencer.
“We’ve always believed that building memories within
the family is very important,” said Elder Christensen. Among their most
cherished family memories were a trip across the United States to tour U.S.
and Church historical sites camping all the way and a tour of Israel,
where they spent Christmas Eve in Shepherds’ Field near Bethlehem. “And
we still have part of the Idaho family farm,” he says. “We like to keep
our hands in the soil.”
“I have an absolute assurance that Jesus is the Christ
and that this is his church. We’re very much committed to the gospel and
to the idea that you serve wherever you’re called and for as long as the
Lord wants you to serve.”
Elder Joe J. Christensen was called to the Presidency
of the Seventy Aug. 15, 1993, and sustained Oct. 2, 1993. He is a former
mission president in Mexico, president of the Missionary Training Center
in Provo, Utah, counselor in the general presidency of the Sunday School,
and a member of the general board of the Young Men and Melchizedek Priesthood
MIA; active in Scouting, serving as council commissioner and a member of
the National Exploring Standing Committee.
After many years of faithful sevice Elder Christensen was granted emeritus status
October 1999.
