Light and Life All Year Round
Michael and Brenda Van Velkinburgh

The Christmas Village

It was church as usual when Brenda Thornton took her seat beside her fiancé Michael Van Velkinburgh at Ridgecrest Baptist Church on Sanctity of Life Sunday in January of 2004. Brenda glanced down at the sermon topic, and had no strong feelings one way or the other about it.

A computer programmer at AmFed, Brenda was career-minded, smart, articulate, and successful. A hysterectomy at a young age meant that she had never thought deeply about the whole abortion question since pregnancy was not in her future—ever. She thought a woman should be able to decide what happened to her own body.

As her pastor, Dr. Phil Walker delivered his message that day, Brenda describes being moved in a way she had never been before. She was shocked at the statistics and literally felt sick as her heart began to race. It was as though God were tapping her on the shoulder and saying, “So what are you going to do about this?”

The number Dr. Walker quoted was 44 million—that’s how many abortions had been reported in the United States since the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision. She thought, “Surely not.”

She learned over the next few weeks that the majority of women aborting pregnancies are between the ages of 18-25 and many are pressured by their families or their partner to terminate the pregnancy. Financial obstacles loom large as these women cannot support themselves, much less a child. In between the lines of that sermon was this thought—women make a life-altering decision to have an abortion because they believe they have no other option. Many spend the rest of their lives regretting that decision. Abortion—like suicide—is a long-term solution to a short-term problem.

As Dr. Walker’s sermon progressed, Brenda felt a real grief for the women who feel trapped, scared, and alone. Even as she listened, her pragmatic business mind was in overdrive. She thought, “This is so fixable!” Her naïve question was, “If churches go to great lengths to build habitat homes right here in Jackson, if they take mission trips to other countries to provide health care or housing for those who do not have it, why can’t they join together to create a support system, meet the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of these women with the grace, mercy and the love of Jesus Christ? Why can’t there be a place where women can be safe, give birth and have the opportunity to get their lives on track?

Saving babies became an overnight passion and a calling for this young woman who claims she knew less than nothing about babies. Brenda became outspokenly pro-life and ready to enlist her creativity and business talents in the battle to save the unborn.

She shared her idea with Michael telling him she wanted to create a residential ministry to serve expectant mothers who had nowhere to turn. Instead of discouraging her, he caught the vision immediately. He said, “Let’s call it The Christmas Village.”

“Why the Christmas Village?” Brenda asked.

Michael answered, “Because we would be delivering bundles of joy all year long, providing more babies to be adopted and keeping Christ in the center of the ministry where He belongs.”

Brenda and Michael spent the next weeks researching more statistics on abortion and crisis pregnancies. They met with Dr. Walker and shared their vision. He was immediately on board.

The mission committee at Ridgecrest offered to build the first cottage. Broadmoor Baptist offered the same. Over the next few months, Brenda and Michael spoke to other groups and found encouragement from like-minded friends who were not afraid to commit their time and talents to this monumental task. Brenda and Michael were more committed than ever as they refused to be discouraged by a few who told them they should avoid such a controversial issue.

The Christmas Village received its 501c3 status in 2005. Such a milestone meant fund-raising could begin. The first renderings of a campus with cottages came in with a price tag of several million.

A year had already passed since Brenda’s Sunday morning epiphany. She knew that many babies had been aborted during that time. She and Michael knew they could not wait years while they raised enough money to buy land and build their multi-million dollar dream facility. They began to look at the possibility of leasing something temporarily, confident that if they were obedient to step out in faith, God would honor their obedience by opening doors. 

With one successful fund-raiser under their belt—a concert called Mississippi Rising Stars—and one generous donor who gave $25,000, the Van Velkinburgh’s set out to find a temporary “Christmas Village.” After months of dead ends and closed doors, someone took Brenda to see an old Victorian home in Canton. Vacant for sometime, it sat abandoned, painted pink, and in dire need of renovation. Located about one block off the City Square and roomy enough to house several women at the same time, even in its sad state, it had a certain warmth about it. Brenda sensed, “This is it.” 

She was eager to tell Michael about it, but he was out of town that week on a business trip. She could hardly wait for him to get home and see it. What happened next was something Brenda likes to call a “God-wink.” Other people call such things coincidences, but there have been so many amazing circumstances in this journey that Brenda coined the word, “God-wink.” Every one is seen by Brenda and Michael as affirmation that God is directing their steps.

Michael was on his way out of his business meeting in Washington, D.C., the next morning when he ran into Charles Williford, an engineer from Canton. He and his wife had been to several preliminary meetings regarding the Christmas Village. Charles asked Michael how the Christmas Village was progressing and Michael reported on the latest endeavor for a temporary home. 

By now, the news had spread just by word of mouth that there was to be a Christmas Village. Brenda and Michael had begun to get calls from women they could not yet help.

Charles Williford said, “Michael, I have a friend in Canton you need to talk to. He just recently bought some property and has no business plan for it. He bought it because he felt like God put it on his heart to buy that old house. You should look at it.” It was the same pink house Brenda had seen the day before! The Van Velkinburghs came to an agreement with the owner that if they would do the renovations themselves, he would rent the house to them at a much reduced rate.

Michael and Brenda were ecstatic—temporarily. Of course they had no expertise in any area that would be required in renovating the house, but they were sure God would provide somehow. Their first step was to show up on a Saturday morning with brooms and dustpans and assess the needs. The house needed so much work that it was hard to know where to begin. “The kitchen was horrendous,” says Brenda. “It became the first priority.”

And here came another God-wink.

Brenda ran into a friend in a coffee shop one morning. She knew Mike Boyette to be an artisan when it came to woodworking. At the time he was raising money to go to Africa as a missionary, so she did not initially consider asking for his help. But when she “coincidentally” ran into him, she bravely asked if he might have time to at least give them some advice. 

Mike showed up as promised, took some measurements, offered to do the work, and then offered a God-wink kind of story. He told Michael and Brenda that he was very familiar with the house because the man who had taught him woodworking used to live there and had a shop out back. It was there that Boyette learned his craft. But he not only learned woodworking, he learned much about Jesus Christ from his teacher. In fact, the man who used to own the house was now a missionary in Africa—the very man he would be working with when he began his missionary work there! Incidentally, the finished kitchen is a masterpiece.

Thirty-four thousand volunteer hours later, the renovations were complete, and the Christmas Village opened its doors. Since May 1, 2007, thirty three women have come through the doors. Six babies whose moms were planning to abort chose the Christmas Village instead, and three babies have been placed for adoption. Some residents stay for their entire pregnancy; some stay very short term while they have time to relieve the pressure and come up with a plan that allows them to give their baby life.

Michael says, “We always tell them that we will work harder for them than they will work for themselves, but we do have rules and requirements.” The Christmas Village seeks to meet each woman exactly where she is, but their goal is to teach them to be self-sufficient, to be sure that they leave the village with job skills, a drivers license, a GED, employment, and a long range plan that suits their skill set and their talents. In giving their residents shelter during a rough time, their vision is so much larger than the immediate situation. As Michael puts it, “We don’t just want to offer these girls a fish—we want to teach them to fish for themselves, so to speak.”

Although there are no paid positions at Christmas Village, God’s hand in meeting needs has been…well, it’s been just real God-like miraculous. “Most of the women who come to us have been abused—either sexually, physically, emotionally, or they are substance addicted. People don’t come to us unless they have no other place to go.”

There is a licensed counselor who volunteers her time and meets with the residents individually and in a group setting.

Another need Brenda and Michael realized early on was the need to create structure and to help the residents develop life skills and job skills.

And so it became important to Brenda to create structure, and she did by requiring that the girls are up by 7:30 each day. Each girl has specific duties to perform around the house. But there was a need for still more—the need to generate income to meet the financial needs of running the ministry. Michael and Brenda have many gifts when it comes to business savvy, but they also have a common dread and disdain for asking for money.

It quickly became evident that in order to pay the bills and keep things going they would need a fund-raiser a month. Michael says, “Fund-raising wears you out. It wears your volunteers out, too. We were both business people. We knew what a successful business looked like and so, we decided to open a business—for the sole purpose of helping pay the rent and the utilities and to provide job skills for our residents.” 

They did not have to look very far. Michael’s mom, Lou Van Velkinburgh had run a highly successful baking business out of her home for years. When it comes to petit fours and cakes, this lady was a legend. Brenda had often commented that it was sad that Lou had no legacy—no heir to carry on her business. Here was the perfect teacher, the storehouse of knowledge, recipes and ability—why not a bakery? Why not a bakery right there on the Square in Canton?

And then…another God-wink.

A lady from another state heard—word of mouth again—that the Christmas Village was going to open its doors. She was trying to find a place exactly like the Christmas Village for her niece. The house was still in the midst of construction. There was just no way.  Brenda offered profuse apologies but told the caller more about what they hoped to offer in the future. She even mentioned the bakery idea as a way to sustain the ministry and to provide a teaching laboratory for the residents.

The lady almost came through the phone. She had a daughter who was planning to go to culinary school, but had not saved enough at this point to afford it. She had been praying for months that God would open a door allowing her to use her love of baking to do something in ministry for Him. That was a pretty big God-wink.

Hannah Bivin’s answered prayer was an answer for Brenda and Michael as well. She came to the Christmas Village in April, 2006 and stayed for more than a year to manage, organize, and be there 24/7. She was absolutely essential in bringing Village Confections to life. The bakery/coffee shop opened in November, 2007. It stays busy with walk-in traffic as well as custom orders. From petit fours to wedding cakes, beignets and large orders, they got off with a running start thanks to Hannah. Every penny over expenses goes to maintain the Christmas Village.

The residents of the Christmas Village volunteer 20 hours each week. In return, they learn skills far beyond how to follow a recipe. They not only bake—but they learn the art of dealing with customers, running a cash register, making change and executing every task necessary to operate a small business—not to mention the priceless sense of accomplishment that comes when hard work yields success.

The multi-million dollar dream of a future campus is alive and well, but Brenda and Michael are certain that God knows the right time as well as the right piece of land that will one day become a permanent place of refuge and hope for women and their babies. For now, they are living one day at a time—with frequent “God-winks” that provide for their needs and remind them constantly He really is indeed at the center of it all.

Sowing seeds of God’s love, mercy, and grace in the lives of the young women God brings to their door is for them a very rich and fulfilling privilege. To see women who enter their doors carrying weighty emotional baggage like regret, pain, fear, and indecision leave with a confidence, purpose, and more often than not, a deep and personal relationship with the One who inspired this Christmas Village—well, for Brenda and Michael Van Velkinburgh, it just doesn’t get any better than this!

For more information on the Christmas Village, visit thechristmasvillage.org

Christmas Village Needs:

• Prayer Partners for the ministry and our residents.
• Partnerships from area churches and Christian organizations to help with the monthly budget.
• Funding to hire paid staff.
• Support and patronage from area businesses. Village Confections can create custom gift baskets as corporate gifts during the holidays.
• Our walk-in cooler needs to be repaired and it will be about $1,800.
• The upstairs of the residence is not heated or cooled. Window units and heaters would help utilize their resources.
• The bakery needs a convection oven ($4,000 buys a new one. $2,000 buys a used one).
• Transportation. The 1980s van which was donated to them has become costly to repair.

Another God-Wink Christmas Village Story

By Jan Hammack

I happened to visit Ridgecrest on Sanctity of Life Sunday in January of 2004. I have always been a supporter of Right to Life and had volunteered with Pro-Life Mississippi on several occasions. As Dr. Phil Walker mentioned all the reasons women get abortions, I felt God was telling me that if there was a safe place for women to go when they had an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy, babies would be saved. He gave me a vision for a place where women could live and learn life skills, job skills, parenting skills and be spiritually fed; a place where they felt unconditional love from God through those who were there to help them. I felt that He was telling me that He wanted me to open such a place. I told God that I had no idea what I was doing; after all, I was just a wife, a mom and a legal secretary. I had no idea how to do what I felt He had called me to do, but as I prayed He just asked me to be obedient. I had no idea where to start, but I began driving around after I picked my girls up from school and on weekends. I would pray as I drove asking Him to show me where He wanted this place. Everytime I drove anywhere, I was constantly looking for a place to house this ministry that God had laid on my heart. I did this for months. It was confusing, but I kept looking.

Months later, I was reading Metro Christian Living for the first time and came across an article on Brenda Van Velkinburgh and The Christmas Village. As I read it, I became more and more excited. I was not the only one God had given the vision to! I still get chill bumps when I think about it! Everything Brenda said that God told her was exactly what He had told me! Isn’t it AMAZING how God works? I immediately began to try to get in touch with her. I tried calling her with the telephone number that was listed but all I got was a fax machine tone. I began to try to find her through the phone book and on the computer but could find no listing for her anywhere. In desperation, I wrote on a piece of paper “Please have Brenda VanVelkinburgh call me,” gave my phone number and my name and faxed it to the only number I had. Apparently the fax was to Ridgecrest Baptist Church! They called Brenda and gave her my message. She gave me a call and we got together for lunch. We were both so excited to see God in action and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is God’s plan.

That is when I realized that Brenda was meant to actually found The Christmas Village and He gave me the vision to affirm and encourage her.

I know there are times when God tells us to do something and then when things don’t fall together perfectly we wonder if we really heard Him correctly. We question it. Since that time, when things haven’t gone exactly as we thought they should have; in those times of discouragement and doubt, Brenda and I look back and KNOW that this was His calling. I am so blessed to be a part of it! I am the liaison between Broadmoor Baptist and The Christmas Village and I do “hands-on” volunteering when I can. One of my favorite Bible verses is “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purposes.” I believe God has called us “according to his purposes” and He has surely worked “all things together” for this ministry.

Jan Hammack is wife, a mom, and a legal assistant for U-Save Auto Rental. Her family is active in Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison.