My name is Joshua McLean. Born on the east coast of Australia near Sydney, when I was 6, I moved to Dubbo in New South Wales. It is a 5-hour drive west of Sydney. Currently, I am studying at the Christian Leaders Institute for a deeper relationship with God and a strong Biblical foundation (Learn more about online Bible courses, Click Here).
My Early Years
I grew up in a “Christian” home. We went to church and prayed at mealtimes and had a home group. However, my family didn’t really embrace the Christian walk. There was always a gap between their hearts and God. I went to an independent Christian school and had a great foundation for understanding the Word and its meaning. However, I had no connection to God and a minimal connection to my parents.
When I was a teenager, I began displaying some connection-seeking behavior. I would do ANYTHING to feel connected to people. This included drinking alcohol, chasing girls, property damage, getting into fights, playing up at school and home. I also became addicted to pornography. These behaviors lasted from when I was about 14 until just after my 18th birthday.
Over these 4 years, I still went to church and youth group, but my soul drifted away. Eventually, I was only there physically. For a few months, in the end, I had completely stopped attending church and youth group. Things were quite disastrous.
Rock Bottom
One Friday night, I remember challenging a friend to drink a whole carton of beer between us. It didn’t take long before I was incoherent and couldn’t walk. I went to my friend’s girlfriend’s bed and passed out. The next thing I knew was my friend standing over me. He had his hand in my mouth, trying to clear my airways as I had been choking on my own vomit. He saved my life.
It was at this moment I realized I was at rock bottom and had almost died there. So, I decided to go back to church and the youth group. However, when I turned up at the youth group, the youth pastor came and turned me away. He said he knew what I had been up to, and they didn’t want me influencing anyone there.
Changes in My Life
Then, I started my first full-time job looking after people with disabilities. I met a beautiful woman who also worked there. We began to connect and agreed to keep things professional to start with and see where it went. Eventually, she invited me to her church, a Pentecostal church in my town. It was a young congregation and had a few people I knew. As soon as I walked in the doors, I knew I was home.
It started a renewed, deeper relationship with God, one where I was walking WITH Him. I dedicated my life to God and got connected in a group of similar-aged men. There I learned more about WHO God is and how much He loves us.
Soon after that, I began to help at the youth group as I am passionate about kids and teens. I was then appointed a leader at the youth group. Also, I led a small group for teenage boys where we studied the Bible, ate a lot of food, and played rough games.
The woman from work and I started dating. Two years later, we got engaged and then married soon after. We began a beautiful life together and now have three beautiful daughters and a cat.
More Ministry Service
Eventually, I became the assistant youth pastor. A year later, I became the youth pastor with my wife by my side. We ran several regional camps, and I became a regular preacher at church. Also, other churches and camps asked me to be a guest speaker. My wife and I also served on the church eldership for two years, leading the church’s spiritual development with four other couples and the pastors.
Challenges and Finding CLI
Then, my past trauma and lack of connection caught up with me. My mental health deteriorated significantly, leading me to step down from all church-related activities to focus on my mental health, marriage, children, and job. I worked in child protection – investigating allegations of sexual abuse and supporting families through it. I even put my relationship with God on hold for a short time. However, I decided to refocus my life on the Lord recently. This focus led to me studying at the Christian Leaders Institute to develop a deeper relationship with God my Father in Heaven.
Currently, my state is in lockdown, and I have had plenty of time to think and be alone with my thoughts. However, I frequently think of the verse: “Be still and know I am God.” It always reminds me that I can always be too busy to live and remember the important things.
My life is on its way up, and I have much hope and excitement for what God has planned for my future. I am just focusing now on the “basics” and enjoying every moment of it.
I am Debra Herzog from the USA, and I am studying Bible classes free online at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about Bible classes free online, Click Here).
My life has been full of challenges and rewards. I became a Christian when I was in High School. So, I was blessed to walk with God and be filled with the Holy Spirit since asking Jesus into my heart. The process of being conformed to His image makes an interesting and miraculous life. There have been plenty of tears, but I have come from the tunnel of tears into the meadow of joy! I am the happiest woman on earth! There may be some who are as happy as I am, but no one can be happier. God has truly delivered, healed, and blessed me.
My Journey to Joy in the Lord
Even though I have been a Christian for a long time, it has also taken a long time for me to rid myself of suspicions and doubts about God. This was the root of all my problems of the past, and probably the root of many people’s issues. Not knowing God is truly good in the depths of our souls can make for bad decisions and mindsets until we finally “get it.”
As I look back over my Christian walk, I think, “If I had only known.” If I had only known how Good He Is. If I had only known how Kind and Attentive He Is! If I had only known how Sensitive and Caring He is, I would not have made my life as rocky as it has been, while confessing I loved Him with all my heart.
Walking in the Joy of the Lord
Love requires trust. Coming from an abusive upbringing, I seemed to attract abusive people. It took a long time for God to get through to me and show me how obedience and trust would bring me joy. Now that I have been living this blessed life for years, I want to share the simple way to get there with others. I only wish I had embarked upon it earlier, but trust requires experience. Through experience, hope, and faith, I now believe in the goodness of God to the core of my being. Walking in that has changed my life and brought real miracles, consistent miracles which go from glory to glory.
Ministry and Bible Classes Free Online at CLI
After decades of being a Christian, I am living the life God wants me to have. It seems easy now. However, the process of getting here has been challenging and heartbreaking at times. I continue to grow in Jesus and face new challenges, but they are easier and easier to deal with now that I know the secret: God is good!
I want to share the joy of the Lord with others and help them know how much God truly loves them. So I wanted ministry training to prepare for this calling from God. The ministry and Bible classes free online at the Christian Leaders Institute are a blessing for me. They will equip me so I can serve the Lord confidently and competently. Thank you, CLI!
My name is Jules Winchester. I am studying at the Christian Leaders Institute to prepare for a men’s restoration ministry (Learn more about online Bible courses, Click Here). Currently, I live in Ocala, Florida, where it is mostly sunny and hot. We have over 600 miles of beaches within our state. Also, in the central Florida area, it serves as home to Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, and Busch Gardens. We also have plenty of freshwater springs and a diverse wildlife population. Tourism is the biggest source of income for the state.
My Early Years
While growing up in the 1960s, I had a very typical childhood. I was one of six siblings and the oldest of three boys. We enjoyed playing Cowboys and Indians, Army, and other games as growing children. We were not wealthy, and our family struggled to make ends meet. But the Lord still made way for us to make it on the little we had. Once I was finishing high school, I wanted to go to college. However, there was no money for that, so I joined the Navy. While there, I spent nine years in the submarine service, where I received a great education and years of life experience.
Marriage, Salvation, and Struggles
Although my testimony is one where I spent time in prison with physical bars, I was in my own prison of guilt and fear of my sin. Once I married, my wife and I made a profession of faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior in 1984. Yet, although I was saved, I held onto some of the sins of my past. They held back my spiritual growth, and I knew that these sins needed to be addressed. Yes, I understood that God had forgiven me, yet my wife was unaware of who I really was. She deserved to know the real me and the struggles I had within. This became a huge obstacle for myself, my wife, and God.
This issue prevented me from having a joyful and purposeful life serving the Lord. I held on to these secret offenses which I had committed. My pride, fear, and shame had me in a place where I refused to give them up. The Holy Spirit relentlessly pursued me in this matter for many years. Soon I began to doubt my salvation. This doubt made me worse. Finally, I understood that God wanted me to have a prosperous Christian life, but I was a coward and stubborn man set in my own sinful ways.
My Full Surrender
Consequently, God allowed me to go on my own. Like the prodigal son, I fell to the point of brokenness. It was a terrible time in my life. I was struggling and ultimately suffered a near-death illness and the death of my close loved ones. Finally, I saw how I was lost without the help of my Lord. Eventually, I surrendered to God’s will, which I knew was years in the making.
In Matthew 5:24, it says, “leave your gift there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” And Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” It was then I realized that God had broken my pride and made me face my fear.
Restoration Ministry: Changed in the Lord
My wife and I finally came together one day and reconciled all of our problems. God’s grace was magnificent in the change that He made within my life. Our Lord answered my greatest prayer that I had been praying to make me the man he wanted me to be and restore His joy in my life. For the first time, God was the center of our marriage.
Originally, we ignored His rule and Lordship within our lives. All fear, guilt, and hopelessness went away and were replaced with real gratitude for what the Lord had done for us. To this day, I seek to love my wife as I know God loves me. I want God to see this by my actions and how much I am truly grateful for His grace. The changes in my life have led to changes in my wife and my relationship. I never asked her to change. However, because of my change, she responded to my love.
God was so faithful. He sent several of his servants to restore my relationship with Him and others. First, there was Andy, who had his own little church in a barn. And then, there was Mike, who was a light in the darkness of my place of employment. These two men were a blessing to me because they prayed for me, their churches prayed for me, and they never gave up on God making the changes in my life. I have great love and respect for these two men because they never looked down on me. Instead, they showed me godly love and grace and were lovers of souls whom I will always remember in my prayers.
Called to Serve in Restoration Ministry and Study at CLI
Today my vision is to serve God by being available to others in need of restoration ministry as these men were for me. This course at the Christian Leaders Institute has given me a better understanding of the people needing restoration. It has shown me in what ways I have been called to serve my Lord and his people. These lessons identified the basic principles in God’s Word that give us instructions on how to come to terms with our own offenses to Him, as well as to our brothers and sisters in Christ. I understand the importance of forgiveness and restoration with those we have offended.
It is more challenging to gain access to various facilities during this time. As time passes, we are isolated more and more due to the “Pandemic.” But, we must not give up and should continue to find ways to use technology and other means to reach the lost and help God’s people in need. Thank you for reading my story. May God continue to bless the ministry of Christian Leaders Institute as you train others to present the gospel message.