“One of the things Christians are asked to do in the latter days is to evangelize and reach out to every group of people in the world, so they have trained missionaries to go everywhere,” said Daniel Hummel, director of a religious research center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Boelter told the Star Tribune that Christ for the Nations Institute introduced him to street ministry, where he helped people deal with “anything from homelessness to life controlling addictions.”
After graduating in 1990, Boelter returned to Minnesota and preached on college campuses, which he said led to his campus ministry in Marshall. Southwest Minnesota State University officials as well as leaders in Marshall’s faith community said they didn’t have documentation or any recollection confirming Boelter’s time there.
After getting married in 1997, Boelter focused more on family and establishing his career in the food business. He and his wife, Jenny, named their daughters after four Christian virtues: Faith, Grace, Hope and Joy. In honor of David Emerson, Boelter said they named their only son David.
Like many evangelicals, Boelter and Jenny homeschooled their children through high school.
“They all put God at the center of their lives — even the kids,” said Bridget Kavan, a family friend who regularly slept over at the Boelter home when she was young and remains close with the family. “It was so loving, so welcoming. We even went to church with them if we stayed through a Sunday.”