From Stray Dog to Sheepdog: My Walk with God
My name is Adam Stirland, and I am taking free courses for ministry at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here). I live near Preston in Lancashire, the UK, with my wife, our dog, and 2 cats. We plan to emigrate to Canada in the next 2 or 3 years and begin the next chapter of our lives together. I am a sysadmin and software engineer by trade. I currently work for a large organization developing software for in-house use and maintaining the servers it runs on.
Outside of my religious studies and day job, I also enjoy reading, making music, working on engines, and electronics engineering. I have a passion for sustainable, self-sufficient living and growing my own food. I’m slowly but surely turning the garden at my house into a micro-farm.
My Journey to God
I was raised a Roman Catholic by my RC mother and Protestant (CofE) father. Still, as I entered my teens, I strayed away from religion, pulled by the temptations that usually lead a teenage boy away from the Lord. I have always maintained an interest in theology, particularly Christianity. Still, I had turned to a form of atheism or agnosticism as far as my belief in the Lord was concerned, and this is how it stayed for approximately the next 15 years.
I dabbled in various belief systems during this time (mainly Wicca and other Northern European pagan traditions). While the history and symbolism were fascinating to me, they still left me with a hole that needed filling.
My return to my walk with God began around 2016/17, after I was gifted a free ebook version of the ESV Global Study Bible. Initially, I was interested in the notes and commentaries’ historical aspects and the various pictures, maps, and charts. However, it wasn’t long before I started reading the Gospels and Scriptures. I also started to draw parallels with my life. The death of my beloved Grandfather at around this time moved me to search for more answers. I searched the Bible, and as I read more, I felt the hole in me starting to close. This was the beginning of my journey back to the Lord, not as a Roman Catholic, but as a Protestant with Calvinist leanings.
My Calling
That was the beginning of my personal journey back into the arms of the Lord. Still, the world events in 2020 brought everything into sharp focus for me. I decided to minister to people in need and provide spiritual support and comfort when people needed it most. After reading the scripture, talking to pastors, priests, ministers, and some deep soul searching, I understood the path the Lord was showing me. I began looking for ways to reach it by educating myself in Theology. Also, I studied how to help care for my fellow man in both spiritual and mental health matters. The question then became, “How?” I am not a rich man despite having a full-time job. That job also prevents me from enrolling in full-time education in a University, College, or Seminary.
Free Courses for Ministry at CLI
At this time, I discovered the Christian Leaders Institute with its wonderful array of free and paid courses. Then all the pieces of the puzzle clicked with me. For the first time, I truly felt I understood God’s plan for me. I felt that He did indeed walk beside me.
The free courses for ministry are an absolute gift from God! The opportunity to absorb this knowledge and use it to help my fellow man is an honor. Every course is packed with useful and interesting information! It is a modern miracle that this is available to everybody around the world free of charge! Usually, you would need to attend an actual seminary and spend £1000’s to get a similar education.
CLI has put me firmly on the path the Lord has picked for me by providing the education I need to fulfill my calling to minister to the needy. I am forever grateful to them for raising me up in this way.
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
To God Be the Glory for My Story
My name is Jasmine Simons. I have a Life Coach ministry call and am studying at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here). I am 33 years old and live in the United States of America and love Jesus with my whole heart and soul. To live my life totally and completely sold out for Him is my desire. However, things weren’t always this way. Come with me as I take you on a trip down memory lane to let you know how I got to this place in my walk with Christ.
My Youth and Struggles
I was born in San Diego, California. However, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. My parents got divorced when I was fairly young. My brother and I lived with my mother and her family in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. In my youth, we struggled financially. As a result, we moved often and usually lived in places that were quite crowded with other family members.
While my mother and my aunt, who lived with us with her son for a good portion of my youth, went to work daily, the kids pretty much fended for themselves. I remember being hungry at times. So, I walked to the local grocery store to see if someone would allow me to push their grocery cart to their vehicle and unload it for them for $1. Then, I could buy food for my brother and me. I also remember being molested several times before the age of 10 by friends and family members. But I dared not tell anyone. Instead, I found other ways to cope. I threw myself into reading at first. Later, it was boys. Then, it became drugs.
By the age of 16, I had moved out of my mother’s home and into the home of an older man. I was an exotic dancer. Pretty much from that point forward, my life was on a downhill spiral. I married a couple of years later. That marriage was mentally, physically, and emotionally abusive and ended in divorce. I jumped from relationship to relationship after that, had a few children, and experienced a dark depression, unlike anything I’d ever experienced in my life. It was during that time that I tried to take my life 3 times in 3 months. The third time I tried to jump off of a cliff.
Saved by God’s Grace
However, God had other plans for me, and, by the grace of God, my uncle caught me right before I went over the edge. After getting out of the Psych Ward again, I got into a rehab facility that required me to move out of town. Go figure, the name of the rehab center was N.O.A.H., as in Noah’s Ark. It was there that I re-surrendered my life to Christ. I first gave my life to Christ when I was about 10 years old and struggled with my faith most of my life until this point. At NOAH, I had no family and no friends there. But I had God, who loved me back to life!
Life Coach Ministry Call and Study at CLI
Now, here I am 3 years later, by God’s grace and mercy, answering the call on my life to pursue ministry full-time. I never in a million years would’ve thought that God would’ve chosen me for an assignment such as this. However, I never would’ve thought that He would ask me to write a book or start a non-profit organization to help women worldwide “Awaken” to their true identity in Christ. But He did! And I’m so thankful that I answered the call. Now, I am at the Christian Leaders Institute, ready and willing to pursue my Life Coach Ministry call and ordination in Christ. The sky is the limit after that!
As a single mother of 4 children, taking free courses at CLI has been a Godsend. Ever since I’ve found this school, I haven’t been able to stop thanking God for His faithfulness. I pray that my story, journey, and testimony will encourage, inspire and motivate that person on the fence about pushing forth in purpose. Just know that if God did it for me, and He is no respecter of persons, He is more than willing and able to do it for you too! Only believe and do not doubt! God bless you!
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
My name is Johan Scheepers, and I am receiving global ministry training online at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about online Bible classes, Click Here). I was born in 1969 in South Africa, Gauteng, and since I can remember, I have been in church-life. When I say “church-life,” I mean my parents have been helping out in several different ministries in our church at that time. Now I know why because the Lord revealed to me the origin of my father’s heart, which was a Levite-heart. He served in the temple, if I can describe it like that. I have the same heart, so I am a Pastor in Middelburg, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
My Journey
I fooled around a lot after my High-School years until I joined the Armed Forces in my country. However, instead of going full into the army, I joined a band sponsored by the army to minister to other army camps. We could even minister to schools and churches outside the army as well. During this time in my life, I realized my love for ministering to people I did not know in towns I did not even know existed.
After the army, I still experienced a sense of being lost. My mom suggested I start my studies to become a pastor. I finished those studies partly through the Apostolic Faith mission and the Full Gospel church theology colleges. I served a few years as a youth pastor in Alberton in Gauteng at a Full Gospel church. During this time, I also married my wife, and we have three wonderful kids. Two of them are serving God, and we are still praying for the third.
A New Direction and Global Ministry Training
I left the full-time ministry for financial reasons and started to work in the secular sector. However, it was a very intense, frustrating time of my life. It is funny how easily we tell ourselves that a second-hand life outside of God’s purpose for our lives can be our standard for our life. We tend to get comfortable in this life.
Well, God changed all this in my life when the Holy Spirit made revelations in God’s Word to me. It snowballed from there until I accept an Assistant Pastor’s position in Middelburg, Eastern Cape. There, I grew so much spiritually and in my character. During my time in Middelburg, God revealed my global ministry for the nations. I had an opportunity to go to Kenya and ministered there in Kisii with a mission. I saw the power of God flow in a way I have never experienced before, and I was sold for this vision of God for my life.
During this time in Middelburg, I learned about video editing and recording, multi-media producing, worship leading, selecting songs, preparing worship programs, etc. So was this period in my life worth it? Yes, yes, and yes again! As I am waiting for my next season, I am receiving global ministry training at the Christian Leaders Institute to be better equipped for my next steps in ministry as God leads me. I know the best time in my life is yet to come.
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.