Derek Thompson June 1st, 2024 Beltrami Electric 8:00 am

We will be meeting on Saturday June 1st, 2024 at Beltrami Electric Community Room at 8:00 am.
A light breakfast will be served.

Our speaker will be Derek Thompson

​Derek writes: 
I live in Bemidji, MN with my wife Alyssa. We were married on July 21, 2023. I grew up in Cold Spring, MN and had very loving parents who cared for me growing up. My father was a UPS driver,
retiring by the time I entered high school, and my mother taught business classes at Albany middle school and high school. Most of my childhood and into my teen years consisted of competing in
 baseball, basketball, and football year-round. I had a love for sports and excelled in just about
 anything with a ball. I graduated from Rocori High School in 2017 and then came to Bemidji State to
 play basketball.
 
In my 5 years at Bemidji State, I obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration with an
 emphasis in marketing, a minor in sports management, and an MBA also through BSU. I started for
 the Beaver's men's basketball team for all five years I was there (I had a "covid" year). Though I
 excelled at basketball and school, l idolized my personal success and popularity.
 
It was not until my senior year of college that I came to know Jesus as my personal savior. I grew up Lutheran and attended church regularly, but I was never clearly taught the gospel. God used several
 things to get ahold of my life, two of which are the deaths of my father and my best friend in 2020.
 After coming to Christ in January 2021 God gave me a passion for seeing lost people in my life
 experience the life changing power of the gospel. So, I began serving in Fellowship of Christian
 Athletes at BSU as a student leader. One year after being saved, and 6 months before my
 graduation, I met my wife, Alyssa.
 
 Upon graduating from BSU in May of 2022, I received my insurance license with the plan to pursue
 insurance sales. Not long into this path, God called me to join staff with FCA to continue the work I
 had begun in FCA while still in college. I have now been with FCA for almost two years, serving at
 BSU and several high schools in the area. My passion is to see young people's lives changed by the
 gospel of Jesus Christ. By God's grace I can do this in the ministry of FCA in which I serve. All praise
 be to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine!
 On top of spending time with my wife and ministry responsibilities, I enjoy staying active in a variety
 of ways such as basketball, pickleball, and fly fishing. I have also started an online master's degree
 in biblical and theological studies at Phoenix Seminary which I hope to complete within three years.
 My wife finished degrees in marketing and graphic design this past May and continues to work in
 areas of photography, graphic design, and marketing. Alyssa and I purchased a home in Bemidji in
 November of 2023 and have no plans of leaving Bemidji.