• strengthen your life skills and impact!

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Free Life Skills Class – Become a Stronger and Healthier You 

by Professor: Dr. David Feddes

You are part of God’s special operations. Your mission is to reclaim the world for Christ. You have been saved and called to help. This class is about helping you to become a stronger and healthier you. This free life skills class is perfect for living a more confident and healthy life!

This free life skills class gives you Biblical insights and practical knowledge that make you stronger for your mission. Each topic is applied to your spiritual, physical, financial, intellectual, emotional, relational, and vocational dimensions of life.

Dr. David Feddes will bring you through the crucial areas of total fitness for you to thrive in leading others.

You will Learn and Grow in this free life skills class 

  1. Total fitness: hear God’s call to embrace practical wisdom and discipline for strengthening the whole person.
  2. Spiritual fitness: draw near to God and stand stronger against Satan through spiritual disciplines.
  3. Physical fitness: know why the body matters to God, improve bodily health, and use body language well.
  4. Financial fitness: earn a good living, escape debt, build wealth, honor God and bless others with money.
  5. Intellectual fitness: build healthy curiosity, sharp thinking, lifelong study, and courage to stand for truth,
  6. Emotional fitness: learn to face feelings honestly and discover God working through emotions.
  7. Relational fitness: heal from past relational wrongs and wounds, and interact with others in a wise and godly manner
  8. Vocational fitness: pursue God’s calling for job, career, and other tasks.

You are welcome to take this free life skills Class supported by generous vision partners. These vision partners include blessed Christian Leaders Institute Graduates, Kingdom-minded Christians and Foundations, and others.

Begin your free life skills course now! You will begin by taking a Getting Started Orientation class. Then you are encouraged to enroll in the Christian Leaders Connection Class which helps you get situated at Christian Leaders Institute. You are also free to immediately take this Total Fitness class by Dr. David Feddes.

Other Opportunities:

More Ministry Training Classes and Programs -These Ministry training programs will fuel your calling and increase your impact. Gather digital mission credentials or order official awards. These credentials are perfect for local ministry opportunities and ordination.

Ordination – Completing free classes opens you up to an ordination opportunity that is both locally and globally recognized with the Christian Leaders Alliance. Check out how you can become an Ordained Christian Leader. Low fees apply for ordination packages.

College Degree –  Earn your College Degree – Use your Christian Leaders Institute free classes for collegiate credentials. Earn certificates, diplomas and degrees. Low administration fees apply.

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Critical Grace Theory

critical grace theory

CRITICAL GRACE THEORY

Learn More!

CRITICAL GRACE THEORY

Learn More!

CRITICAL GRACE THEORY

Have you heard of Critical Race Theory? Critical Gender Theory? Critical Equality Theory? These theories are widely discussed in media, universities, governments, and businesses. It’s not surprising that Christian Leaders Institute (CLI) has created a free mini-course to address these theories from a Christian worldview.

At CLI, we welcome everyone to explore free courses. For those seeking academic credentials, CLI’s Leadership Excellence School offers low-cost degrees, empowering individuals to grow as image-bearers of God.

Critical Theory vs. Christianity

Critical theory often challenges the grand narrative of Christianity, sometimes portraying it as a false narrative. While not always Marxist, these ideologies tend to critique the foundations of Christian beliefs. At CLI, we approach these discussions with a Biblical perspective, introducing Critical Grace Theory as a lens for evaluating ourselves, society, and cultural ideologies through the message of grace.

WHAT IS CRITICAL GRACE THEORY?

Critical Grace Theory studies how Biblical grace applies to society, culture, and personal lives. It focuses on the redemptive message of Christianity, contrasting worldly narratives with God’s truth. This free mini-course, which takes less than 4 hours to complete, dives into pressing cultural issues and equips students with a Biblical framework for understanding them.

Enroll Today!

THE GRAND NARRATIVE

The Bible’s grand narrative begins with God creating humanity as His image-bearers, male and female, and giving them a purpose to steward the earth. Humanity was given the freedom to align with God’s will or choose their own way, symbolized by the choice between two trees in the Garden of Eden.

  • Genesis 1:28 – God commands humanity to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth.
  • Genesis 2:16-17 – Humanity is given the choice to obey or rebel against God.

The fall of Adam and Eve led to sin becoming the default setting of human society. However, the Bible unfolds the redemptive plan of God, culminating in Jesus Christ, who restores the broken relationship between God and humanity. Through Christ’s resurrection, believers are called to live lives of faith, hope, and love, empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the gospel and steward the planet.

TODAY'S WORLD

In an age dominated by identity politics, the Christian grand narrative offers an alternative to the ideologies rooted in Critical Theory. As Douglas Murray argues in The Madness of Crowds, post-modernism has eliminated traditional grand narratives, leaving people searching for purpose. This void has been filled with the “Narrative of Identity” or identity politics, which Murray likens to a new religion with its own trinity:

  1. Social Justice: Framing everything as a social justice issue.
  2. Identity Politics: Segmenting people into conflicting groups based on identity.
  3. Intersectionality: A constantly shifting hierarchy that prioritizes perceived vulnerabilities.

This narrative seeks to replace traditional structures with a new ideology, but as Murray points out, it often leads to division and unworkable demands.

THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

The rapid spread of identity politics calls for a thoughtful Christian evaluation. Critical Grace Theory equips believers to approach these issues with Biblical grace and truth. It highlights how God’s redemptive plan transcends societal conflicts and offers a deeper, eternal purpose.

Christian Leaders Institute offers over 125 free courses and mini-courses, including the Critical Grace Theory course. In just a few hours, this course provides insight into today’s cultural debates and equips you to engage with them from a Christ-centered perspective.

CRITICAL GRACE THEORY MINI-COURSE

The Critical Grace Theory mini-course evaluates seven central struggles that are being played out in the lives of people and cultures throughout the world from the perspective of the gospel. The topics are:

Course Outcomes:

  1. Introduction to the subject of critical conflict theory and critical Grace theory.
  2. Evaluation of race issues from a grace perspective and a view into how the gospel opens up salvation for all peoples. Insight into race issues from the testimony of a leader from Rwanda.
  3. An understanding of the gender issues in our society from the perspective of critical Grace theory.
  4. A view of how the ancient epicurean philosophy of pleasure is killing people and how critical Grace theory offers hope.
  5. Learn the Biblical understanding of equality and why it matters.
  6. Understanding how the evolutionary worldview has become uncritically accepted by most people and about the chaos this has caused. Learn how critical Grace theory sees the central issues of change.
  7. Discover how the gospel is as relevant today as ever before in a world seeking to find fault and blame.
  8. Find out how conflict theory promotes counterfeit success. Learn how critical Grace theory helps you focus on the game humans were created to play.
  9. Grow as a Grace agent of gospel change.

Through this free mini-course at Christian Leaders Institute, you can deepen your understanding of God’s grace and how it applies to society, culture, and personal life. Join us in exploring the transformative power of God’s grand narrative.

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Credibility in Ministry Through Training at CLI

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Credibility in Ministry

My name is Jan Wilken from Pretoria, South Africa. The steadfast faithfulness of God has brought me back to His way and the desire for ministry. Now I am studying at the Christian Leaders Institute for credibility in ministry (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here).

I was born in the small town of Vryburg in the old northern Cape province, now North West. My parents were members of the Dutch Reformed Church. We faithfully attended Sunday school, which helped me in learning the Bible and some key verses. By the end of my school career, we had to have an interview with the church pastor. He would see if we could pass the catechism and be accepted into church membership. At the end of the interview, the pastor asked me if I would not consider becoming a minister. I was shocked and said I never thought of it and had no desire.

My Faith Journey Begins

We considered ourselves Christian, but it was more a cultural thing. The majority of Afrikaans people grew up this way. My grandparents on my mother’s side were Christians, and they always spoke to us. So I was never against the faith but had no reality in it.

When I was 22, I went through three consecutive traumatic experiences in a short time. These experiences shook my lifeboat. The main one was the sudden death of my father at age 48 from a heart attack. I sought counseling from a university lecturer who tested my faith standing and led me to the Lord. The Lord opened my spiritual eyes. I was in a new world and taken up in the student movement at the campus. This work brought a strong emphasis on discipleship. At the end of that year, I left my studies and went for a year to Bible college for some credibility in ministry.

Called to Ministry

For me being a Christian and seeking God’s kingdom by testifying and ministry was a package deal. If you are a Christian, you are called. So when a call came a few years later to help friends from the Bible school days in ministry, I accepted. Almost at the same time, I married a girl I met at Bible college and started a children’s ministry. After the local school closed, we went on to Dorothea Mission, which reached out to African people in Southern Africa.

After three years, the mission asked us to assist the outreach to Mozambique. As members of the local Baptist church, our church was also excited and sent their mission department to survey to understand the nature and extent of where we were going.

It was a small town on the Save river called Masengena. An Evangelist from the mission who served in that area guided us. It was 1993, not long after the war, so conditions were not good. Bad infrastructure and difficult roads led the church commission to decline our prospect. They did not have peace that with three small children aged five, three, and one, we would be cared for in such a remote setting. They asked us to consider another place or people group. We were not prepared for that, so I started to seek work to sustain my family. We felt that the door was closed to us.

Challenges 

Therefore, with much difficulty, I started work in the secular world. With prayers answered, I bought a friend’s business in 2005. God blessed us, but I did not maintain my walk with God. In 2008, the economic depression made it difficult to survive, and I went into debt to carry on. By 2014, I sold the business but was not able to cancel the outstanding debt. Home with no income brought a lot of stress. Therefore, in 2015, my wife asked for a divorce. Now my lifeboat was not even in the water, so to say, but stranded on the desert side.

Restored and Now Studying at CLI for Credibility in Ministry

By complete grace and guidance, I was able to make it from day to day. I learned to pray anew and trusted that God still had something for me to do in life. It was also a time of stock-taking to see how I ended up in this situation. To be able to go forward, one has to correct mistakes, of which, I had many.

Over the past five years, God has been training and restoring me with a desire to become active in ministry again. He has brought the Christian Leaders Institute in my path. At CLI, I saw a way to reach my desire and have credibility in ministry. My banner is that God is faithful! He who started the good work in us will also complete it!

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Marty Ozinga III Tribute: A Minister for Christ!

Marty Ozinga III Tribute
by Henry Reyenga Jr.

As I begin writing this tribute, less than 24 hours ago, Marty Ozinga III passed away in Naples, Florida, on April 26, five days before he and Melissa would have celebrated their first anniversary.

Marty and Ruth Ozinga

My wife Pam and I will miss this dear Kingdom friend, businessman, and volunteer minister. Thankfully, we have had the privilege to serve side by side in ministry with him since 1987. I rejoice he is with the Lord and reunited with Ruth, his first wife, and others who have gone before.

Marty Ozinga III Tribute – The Meeting

I was 26 years old when I met Martin Ozinga the third. Also sitting in the room were David Huizenga and Martin Ozinga Jr., Marty’s father. We met at the Ozinga Bros corporate headquarters on Alsip and 127th street, in Alsip, IL. Dave Huizenga and I had recently graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary and felt called to develop a church in the southwestern Chicagoland area.
We were invited to sit on a grey couch facing Marty III and Marty Jr. Marty Ozinga III asked about our calling to ministry, our families, and our vision for planting a new church. His father added some witty and encouraging observations.
We were there to ask for financial support for the new church possibility. After about an hour of getting to know us, Marty III announced that he and his wife Ruth and family were called to plant a church and wanted to partner with us in this effort.

Listen to Marty Ozinga III tell his Version of the Story.

We planted Community Life Church together. David Huizenga and I were ordained with the Christian Reformed Church shortly after this.

Community Life Church Days (1988)

In those days, just before cell phones and the Internet, one method for developing new churches was “telemarketing.” Churches would set up calling centers to make thousands of calls to the church planting target area. The phone calls took place at Ozinga Bros. headquarters. Ozinga Bros had the latest landline phone technology and over 50 volunteers, including Marty III and Ruthie Ozinga. Many other people that Marty and Ruth knew showed up to call 20,000 people.
We planted the church on March 13, 1988. Almost 200 showed up. I remember Marty Ozinga III that day. He set up chairs and enthusiastically welcomed first-time attendees like Jack and Lana Fisher, who became Christians at our church.
Marty III and Ruth valued the spread of the gospel. They did not just financially support the work. They themselves participated and included their family.

Marty Ozinga III Tribute – Meeting the Family

My wife Pam and I, with David Huizinga and his wife Diane, were invited to have dinner at Marty and Ruth’s house in Evergreen Park, IL. It was a stone’s throw from the first Ozinga Bros business location and a few doors down from Marty Ozinga Jr., his father.

Marty with his six boys.

It was summer. Their house was modest and large. The dinner was a combination of American and Greek food. Their six boys Marty IV, Karl, Justin, Aaron, Paul, and Timothy, were filled with playful energy. Timothy was a toddler. I remember picking him up and bringing him back into the house after he had wandered off.  We laughed and ate. We took a tour of the neighborhood. Their old home church was in their back yard, Evergreen Park Christian Reformed Church.
It was at this meeting that Pam and I noticed Ruth’s deep devotion to the Lord. Her father and mother were Greek immigrants who proclaimed Christ as Lord and Savior at every opportunity. Ruth calmly walked in that way, and together with Marty, they formed a powerful Kingdom witness.

Marty Ozinga III Tribute – Mentorship

The church planting years were wonderful. Marty was my first mentor. He placed in me a passion for finding new ways to reach people for Christ. He would say, “Let’s try that. We can always pull the plug on that if it doesn’t work and try something else.”
He helped me see the possibilities of the volunteer minister. In those days, the clergy were the people trained like Dave and me. We went 7 years to college and seminary. Marty III firmly believed in training, but he imagined a world where the clergy also consisted of volunteer ministers. Marty knew the Bible! He saw that the early church was dynamic and did not include the lay – clergy distinction. He quoted passages like this one from Romans 15.
Romans 15:14-20

I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

So, I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

He often reflected that God calls all of us to ministry. Every Christian has a calling! Every active Christian is a minister. This understanding of “ministry” influenced the culture of the Christian Leaders Institute, where everyone is invited to begin ministry training.
Our clergy program with the Christian Leaders Alliance includes volunteer clergy as well as part-time and full-time. There is no lay clergy distinction. This is a specific example where Marty Ozinga III’s influence will continue to speak. Today, nearly 3,000 clergy ministers have been licensed or ordained because of this early church understanding of clergy recognition. See directory.
He considered his business as a ministry to serve the crown of God’s creation, humanity. He also used his platform to bless countless other ministries, Christian Colleges, and individuals!

Marty Ozinga III Tribute – Laying the Foundations for Ideas and Others

Marty would say, “Henry, it’s about creating more stages.” He was a very creative man. What did he mean by creating more stages? To me, he meant, lead others in such a way that new ideas and new leaders can rise to the surface. Create opportunities for those ideas. Get out of the way of those ideas and the people who are called to develop them.
That is how he thought of his children. I respected that he passed his company over to the next generation well before he passed to be with the Lord yesterday. Many will reflect on his business legacy. He absolutely loved Ozinga Brothers and every team member!

Marty with his five sons and a nephew at Ozinga Brothers (his son Karl was not present).

Marty Ozinga III Tribute – Politics

We lived in Monee, IL, in 2004, and our neighbor Bobbi Peterson was on the Illinois Republican central committee. She alerted me to an opportunity to select a US Senator candidate after Jack Ryan bowed out because of a scandal. They interviewed many notable people. I suggested Marty Ozinga III to Bobbi Peterson. An interview was held in Chicago. Marty was not selected to be the candidate against Barack Obama. They selected Alan Keys instead.
This connected Marty Ozinga III to serving in politics. In 2008, he was the candidate for the House of representatives, the 11th district.  Debbie Halverson conducted a negative campaign. Marty did not win.
I once kiddingly apologized to Marty for connecting him to politics and all that negativity. He said, “It was fun.”

Marty Ozinga III Tribute – Legacy

In 2008, Marty and Ruth invited me to join them at Eagle Rock Church. I was there when Ruth passed away in 2010. People filled the church at her funeral. They testified to the powerful woman of God she was.
Marty continued to serve their Lord in the last 10 plus years of his life. One year ago, my wife, Pam, and I witnessed the marriage of Marty to Melissa at their home in Naples on May 1. Because of the Covid Pandemic, only the four of us were there.  Melissa brought great joy to Marty’s life!

May 1, 2020, Marty married Melissa in Naples, Florida.

Marty served on the Christian Leaders Ministries Board of Trustees. He served with distinction. He saw the future of ministry as bright. Marty believed the devil would be defeated as more ministers were raised up! He shared stories at the dinner table of serving with the Luke Society and other ministries.

Concluding Reflections

At his last board meeting, which he and Melissa hosted in Naples, Florida, in February of 2021, Marty challenged us to keep proclaiming Christ and raising up new ministers. He talked about the challenges he saw and the opportunities for new generations of ministers with new minister roles to meet the needs of a post-pandemic world.
I will miss Marty Ozinga III, but his legacy will live on. Building on the foundation he laid in me, I will continue to create new stages and open new doors of ministry opportunity. Like Marty, I will proclaim Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord until my last breath.
My last communication from Marty was brief. I shared that we had a record day of new students at Christian Leaders Institute with 424 new students. His response was: “Great! Praise God!”
When Marty Ozinga IV called me yesterday morning to tell me my dear friend had passed to be with Jesus, I had many emotions of sadness for the loss of a dear friend and the loss to his wife and family. But I can only imagine what Marty said when the Angel showed up to take him home to heaven: “Great! Praise God!”

Luke 10:17-20   The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Marty’s new wife Melissa cooked a wedding dinner for the four of us to share after the wedding last May 1, 2020. Marty led the prayer. He thanked God for Melissa, his new wife, and that God would bless their marriage. As he was praying for his children, Melissa’s children, and our children. I took this picture. Psalms 116:15  “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

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