Called as a Restorative Justice Minister
My name is Michael Moss. My calling is as a restorative justice minister who shares the good news of Christ. I was an atheist pulled from the darkness by God’s supernatural love. Because of the love and forgiveness of Christ, I received a second chance and a purposeful focus.
My Struggles
I grew up in an unloving home with abusive parents. When I was 12 years old, I ran away for the first time. I spent the next 14 years in and out of young offenders’ institutions, correctional centers, and prisons. In maximum security, I met my uncle for the first time since I was a child. One week later, he committed suicide. At that moment, I realized I couldn’t live like that anymore. When released from prison, I built a life and eventually met a beautiful woman and started a family.
From the beginnings of my beautiful family, addiction and alcoholism were woven into every aspect of my life. Childhood trauma, depression, and anxiety held me back from letting people into my life. Those trust issues left me alone and bitter. Eventually, my lifestyle, addiction, and selfishness escalated and pushed the people closest to me away. I continued down that path until the thought of suicide was the only thing that gave me a sense of relief.
God Became Real to Me
Then one morning, I sat on the edge of the sofa. My eyesight left me and was replaced with a rolling drum spinning a thousand rpm. As quickly as it came, it went. I walked around the house, dazed and filled spiritually. In the following weeks, I tried pushing what I had seen out of my mind. However, God had a different plan. First, the coincidences started small and were easy to chalk up as randomness. But as two turned to twelve, and twelve tuned to dozens, and people came into my life, one after another, I realized that the God that I thought was superstition was alive. I realized that God wasn’t a billion miles away, he was here. God touched my life personally. He’s guided me, directed me, and loved me.
Called as a Restorative Justice Minister and to Study at CLI
Through the love of Christ, I am a forgiven man. I owe my life to Christ’s love. It is because of that love, that I know what love is. God has given me a dream of sharing the good news of Christ to people with addictions, released from prisons, and struggling in the streets. So I sought free ministry training online. I found the Christian Leaders Institute and started classes. Thank you, CLI!
Learn about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
My Journey to Christian Leaders Institute
My name is Mosele Caroline Mbono, and here is my journey to Christian Leaders Institute. I am from Johannesburg, South Africa. I am a woman, married with four children. A Nurse by profession, I am not practicing at the moment.
Before I Became a Christian
My aunt was always sick. According to our culture, they believed that an ancestral calling to be a traditional healer was hrs. As a child close to her, I helped her with her work as a healer. However, deep inside of me, I had a feeling that it was not a good deed.
I married at the age of 21 into a very abusive relationship. Four years later, we had tried almost everything in our powers, but I could not become pregnant with a child. Therefore, since I could not have children, my ex-husband opted to divorce me.
God Became Real to Me
A year after the divorce, I met someone new. Within a year, I became pregnant. However, tragically, he was murdered when I was only two months into the pregnancy. I realized that my situation was not ordinary. I realized that I needed God. So, I started committing myself to God and walking with God.
I am now serving under a prophet and working as a pastor though not yet ordained. These free courses at the Christian Leaders Institute are beneficial. I cannot afford to pay for courses myself. The only working person in the house is my husband, and we have four children to look after. I appreciate all the ministry training and scholarship. Free training at CLI makes it possible for us to fulfill the calling of God in us. Shalom.
Are you interested in a credible online ordination? Check out the Christian Leaders Alliance. If you are looking for a low-cost degree, check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
CLI’s Higher Education Courses for Free
Hello, everyone! My name is Benjamin Muniz, and I am taking CLI’s higher education courses. I was born and raised in a small city in New Jersey called Camden. Currently, I reside in San Jose, CA. My wife, Cindy, is a wonderful, virtuous woman. We just celebrated our second Wedding Anniversary on March 30, 2020. Cindy and I are the Children’s Directors at our church, Catedral De Fe (Cathedral of Faith).
Cindy and I both have children. I have three children that range from the ages of 14-17. My wife has a daughter named Priscilla, who is 20 years of age. We both regularly travel back to my hometown in New Jersey to visit my sister and some of my family members. Living in California for these past three years has been an enjoyable experience. I have seen the hand of God incredibly move since I have been here and anticipate an even more excellent experience to come.
Bible Training and CLI’s Higher Education Courses
I have some basic formal Bible training and graduated from the Assemblies of God back in 2008. Also, I attended World Harvest’s Bible Training Center from 2010 to 2011 with a certificate in Biblical Studies. I also participated in a community college back in Jersey and was able to accrue 27 credits in Human Services and transferred them to Regent University and added nine credits in Biblical and Theological studies for a total of 36 credits overall. I have not graduated with either an Associate’s or Bachelors, but intend to do so with CLI’s new program that I have enrolled in. My plan is to continue my education and work my way to a Bachelor’s degree in Divinity.
Being a Christian leader where I reside is not only a challenge but also a training ground. We live in a state where there is much liberty in terms of various and diverse beliefs and lifestyles. Therefore, it makes it a challenge to stand for your faith and what you believe. We know that the standard is the infallible Word of God.
However, the proper education and training and taking full advantage of CLI’s Higher Education Courses on the Bible make it easier to share your faith in a manner that is equipping. Taking the courses here at CLI builds biblical confidence and assurance that one can defend what we believe and why we believe it. It is the training ground for applying what I learn in small bite sizes. Beginning first in the connection that I have with my walk with God, then with my wife, my children, my family, etc.
God Has a Plan for My Life
Growing up in the Foster Care system, I experienced injustice and abuse. I had no mother or father and was tossed to and fro from one house to the next, not knowing where I would end up today or tomorrow. I remember many times lying down and crying myself to sleep as I was stripped away from my sister and my brother and living in a total stranger’s home.
However, little did I know that God had a plan for me and my life. As the Word clearly states in Psalms 27:10 (KJV), “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.” That has been my story since day one. No matter where my feet landed and what my hands touched and what my heart felt, God raised me and continues to preserve me because HE has a plan. Being a student at CLI is helping to bring those realities to mind again. God is in control, and He is Faithful and will never leave me nor forsake me!
On the Solid Rock
In 1992, I landed at Momma Rosa’s house at nine years of age. At this home, I spent the next nine years of my life. I experienced hardship and abuse, but there God called me. He took my feet from the miry clay and placed them on the Solid Rock, Jesus Christ. Here, I received my foundational teaching, training, and doctrine at Solid Rock Baptist Church, under the tutelage of Bro. Charlie. I remember the place where I called upon the name of the Lord for the first time. It is when I moved in with Momma Rosa, and she took us to the church. There, I confessed with my mouth and believed in my heart that Jesus Christ is Lord of my Life. It was here where my life really began.
My Spiritual Dream: Minister of God, Servant to All!
My spiritual dream is to take that calling that God made towards my life and use it to develop, grow, mature and perfect the gift that God has given me in teaching and expounding on His Word through expository teaching. I want to bring knowledge and understanding to the church, the Body of Christ, through the gift(s) of the Spirit. Taking that special calling and submitting it to my heavenly Father through careful application of the proper training and teaching is my goal.
For he who teaches must first be prepared. I am constantly reminded of what 1 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) states, “Study to shew thyself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” My dream is to be adequately trained as a life long student of the scriptures. Then, one day, I rightly divide the Truth in equipping and raising up other believers to know God and to know His Truth as it is written in His Word. It is my dream!
Obstacles
One of the biggest obstacles that hindered me in fulfilling this dream is the expense of proper and accredited training. Thank the Lord for the Christian Leaders Institute! CLI’s free higher education courses are ideal!
Another barrier is how difficult it is to find suitable teaching and excellent teachers. There is a lack of spiritual mentors and spiritual fathers. Many leaders are afraid to pass down the wisdom and knowledge they have acquired for fear of losing acknowledgment or notoriety. These are some of the barriers that prevent the next generation of eager students who want to grow and develop in the calling God has for them.
God My Comforter
One humbling experience that I had helped me realize how much I needed Christ in my life. It was when my Biological mother passed away in an abandoned house when I was 13 years of age. She died, diagnosed with AIDS, and was found hours later in the cold. After that incident happened, I could not explain why God allowed it to happen. I gladly and willingly shared the gospel and disclosed to others why God sent His Son to this earth. However, I could not explain why my mother passed away or where God was in all of it. It was then that I realized that I knew God as my Savior but not as my comforter. I knew that I only had an understanding of God in my head but not in my heart.
When I was comforted by God through His Word and His people is when God became real to me. I struggled with not knowing and not being able to provide an answer to skeptics or to others who questioned my beliefs. But then, God used others to surround me in my darkest moments, even one of my Special Ed teachers, Mr. Sheldon Benjamin Morris. They came alongside me, cried with me, and reminded me that everything was going to be okay. Then, I felt the tangible love of God, and it was so comforting. I opened up and let my pride go. I accepted the love of God through Mr. Morris and others He brought into my life to surround me with care. It was a comforting experience in learning the deep love of God on a horizontal level.
Thankful for CLI’s Higher Education Courses
In closing, my constant hope and desire are to be able to utilize and exhaust the Christians Leaders Institute training. I want God to mold me, sift me, purge me, and perfect all that which concerns me. As in Jeremiah 18, where the clay has to stay within the hands of the potter, it applies to me.
With CLI’s higher education courses that I will complete, I know in my heart that I am approved of God to continue to move closer to my dream. One day, I will be accepted by others for Vocational Ministry. Galatians 6:4 (KJV). “Learning is humiliating,” Mike Murdock said. For me, it will be humiliating not to take advantage of CLI’s training and use this tool to properly learn.
Learn about credible online ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.