A wife, soccer mom, lay counselor, Bible teacher, and now author, Kristen Wisen loves to teach, study, and write. Years of questions, discussions, and study concerning the end times have recently resulted in her first novel, THE APPEARING.

Born in Illinois, Wisen spent her childhood in a believing home, attending Christian schools and serving in her local church. Her parents, Robert and Judy Van Kampen, modeled a deep commitment to the body of Christ for as long as she remembers. At a young age, Wisen gave her life to the Lord and, as she grew up, the hunger for knowing her Savior and the love for His Word were deeply rooted in her heart. She also discovered a heart for teaching and for truth.

In 1983 Wisen married her high school sweetheart, David, and they headed off to Grand Rapids Baptist College, now Cornerstone University, together. After David graduated from college, they returned to Illinois and welcomed their first son. Six years later, they had what they considered to be the perfect family --- two sons with a daughter in the middle. They thanked the Lord and called it quits… but God had other plans. Through a series of divinely guided circumstances, the Lord brought into their home three more daughters from Romania --- six-year-old twins and a twelve-year-old. The Wisens now officially have six children within six years of each other --- Calvin, 22; Katherine, 19; Marinela, 19; Alexandra, 16; Nicole, 16; and Christopher, 16!

Fifteen years ago, Wisen’s family started a church in west Michigan that became her major avenue of service. She has done it all --- served in the nursery, taught in Sunday school, directed the children’s and adult choirs, and sang on praise teams. Almost ten years ago, she started a Bible study in her home with a group of mothers from a traveling soccer team that led to an opportunity to teach the women at church. With teaching her heart soared! Today, she has found that there are hardly enough hours in the day to fill her desire to study and to teach others what she is learning.

David and Kristen continue to faithfully serve in their lakeshore community, preparing believers for the second coming of Christ. She also counsels at their church’s biblical lay-counseling center. A die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, Wisen enjoys swimming and tennis, playing hours of cards with her children, and fly-fishing in Alaska.

Robert Van Kampen was born in Chicago in 1938 and was educated at Wheaton Academy and Wheaton College. He was a leading innovator in the investment banking world, founding Van Kampen Merrit in 1974. In 1975 his company introduced a new product to the market, Insured Municipal Income Trusts. By 1982, his company broke records in the industry with this product, leading him to sell his company to Xerox in 1983.

As a Christian businessman, Van Kampen was known to apply biblical principles to his professional as well as his personal life. In the 1990s, Van Kampen developed what is known today as the “pre-wrath” rapture position and published three classic books on the prophetic topic of the last days --- THE SIGN, THE FOURTH REICH, and THE RAPTURE QUESTION ANSWERED. He founded a ministry based on the teaching that the church would undergo the persecution of the Antichrist but be spared the wrath of God in the last days. Van Kampen also collected the most extensive collection of early manuscripts and printed Bibles in private hands, a portion of which is on display at the Scriptorium housed at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida. Van Kampen died in 1999 awaiting a heart transplant.

Books by Kristen Wisen

The Appearing: In the End is Our Beginning

by Kristen Wisen - Christian, Fiction