About Us
First Love Counseling is a Christ-centered, biblically rooted counseling service that strives to help those in need find hope, healing, vision, and purpose. We value authentic, compassionate, relational care based on a foundation of love and support. First Love Counseling works collaboratively with clients and offers pre-marital and marital counseling, counseling for individuals, care for ministry leaders, and help with issues like anger, conflict, grief, and worry. At First Love Counseling, our mission is to help clients overcome life’s challenges and flourish in every aspect of life.
Dave has a passion for helping people gain and maintain their footing in life. Dave is an ordained pastor who has served for 30 years in various ministries including children’s, youth, college-aged, singles, men’s, small groups, and spiritual development. Dave has discipled hundreds of individuals and counseled numerous pre-married and married couples. He is not a licensed mental health counselor, however, he holds the following degrees: B.A. in Christian Education & Bible, M.A. in Leadership Ministries, and a Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Counseling.
Dave met his wife, Hester, in college and they have been married for 28 years. They have three adult sons and a new puppy. Dave enjoys sports, the outdoors, being with his family, and reading a good book.
Photo by Kayla Marie Photography
How did First Love Counseling come to be? First Love Counseling is a story of faith over fear, of jumping without knowing where one will land, and of trusting in God’s leading without knowing where he is leading.
I am no zoologist, but I have recently learned a valuable lesson from the impala. An impala can jump 10 feet high and bound up to 30 feet at a time; however, when you see them at a zoo, they are contained behind a 4-foot fence. How is that possible? Why don’t they escape? A little-known fact about the impala is that they will not leap if they cannot see where they are going to land.
On December 1, 2022, my family and I took a leap of faith without knowing where we were going to land. After 30 years of vocational ministry, God called us to “jump” without knowing where we would “land.” By God’s grace, we overcame our initial fears and took a leap of faith from local church ministry to broader church ministry, from shepherding a church with an address to addressing the needs of the church regardless of the address. The Lord called us to shepherd the hearts of those in need, regardless of where (or if) they might worship the Lord. God called us to care for his church by launching a counseling ministry.
Through several significant events and generous gifts, First Love Counseling officially opened its doors on March 1, 2023. Our goal at First Love Counseling is to provide Christ-centered, biblically-based, Spirit-led, collaborative counseling to those in need. Dr. Christensen has a desire to see people flourish as individuals in their relationships with God and others. Unfortunately, sin and selfishness can cause us as humans to forget our first love. Scripture tells us, “We love because he (God) first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Jesus states that the greatest commandment, the one that is of first importance, is to “love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength” (Matthew 22:37). The church in Ephesus was reproved because they had forsaken their “first love” (Rev 2:4). The Lord is to be our “first love.” First Love Counseling exists to help people discover or recover their “first love.” When people love God first and foremost, they are best equipped to face life and love others. This is why we have chosen to name our counseling ministry First Love Counseling. We help others discover and recover their “first love” because God first loved us, and his love compels us to love others in this way.