Finding the Way and Finding Ministry Training at CLI
My name is Marius van Dyk. This story is about me finding the way to God and free ministry training at CLI. I live in Krugersdorp in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. I was born in this small city of currently 300,000 inhabitants and moved back here in 2011. Krugersdorp is a city on the Western Edge of Johannesburg founded in the great golden era in the late 1800s. It is named after a former President when it was called the Republic of Transvaal. This is a historic town with a lot of history. It is also the Home of The Cradle of Humankind.
My Youth
I am the oldest of two brothers and one sister. My childhood was good, and we grew up in comfort, though not in wealth. My father was a construction worker and my mother a stay at home mom. As a white South African, we grew up sheltered and protected. Never interested in politics, I never tried to learn more about the situation in this beautiful country. We were sheltered by a government that kept us in ignorance about what was going on in the country as well as on the rest of the continent. Only as we were growing up, and specifically after 1976, we learned about the real situation.
I finished High School in 1979 and went to University. I completed my first two years there and then decided to complete the compulsory national service we all had to do. All went well, and I met my wife. We married in October of 1985 and were blessed with three children. We divorced after 16 years of marriage.
I grew up in a house where worship was not something that was done at home. My parents were members of the Local Dutch Reformed church. We were in church and attended Sunday School every Sunday. I studied the work given to us, and I was confirmed in the church at the age of 17. That was it for many years.
Work Struggles
I lost my last permanent position in 2001 after I was retrenched. I started working freelance and together with my father started a small construction company in 2005. This came to an end when he passed away in 2008. I then had a few temporary positions and have mostly worked on a retainer basis. I lost my last retaining assignment in May of 2018.
Since then I have been trying to get new assignments but without any success. I have been trying to consult as a freelance Property Business Adviser as well with limited success. I will not go into detail why the limited success. But, it has been a time of real financial struggle where I lost everything I worked for.
Beginning of Finding the Way
HOWEVER, it has also been the time when I rediscovered God. I have not been to a church on a regular basis for 30 years. I joined a non-denominational church in May of 2019 (through Divine direction). My journey back to God did, however, start a few months earlier than that.
Here, I have to tell you that I love reading and that I read a lot. I have an affinity for books and have a fair collection of my own. I never throw a book away and always rescue books that have been discarded by others.
During December 2018, I walked out of my apartment into bags of old books being discarded by my neighbor. There and then, I sat down and started opening the bags. I checked what was being thrown away. They were all religious books to assist with worship. I rescued many of these books.
Experiencing and Finding the Way to God
The first book I took at random was Experiencing God written by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King. Those of you that are familiar with this book will know that is is a book to help people discover God and to help with the journey over a 12 week study period. I started!
This study fascinated me, and after finishing the first 12 weeks, I immediately did it again. I learned about God, about talking to God and listening to God. Since this time, I have not stopped learning.
Time for a pause and a short step back, I have always believed that there is a God. I have for many years started my day with a short time of worship. This included reading a passage from a Billy Graham daily Devotional Book, quickly reading the verse referred to and a quick prayer. That was it for the rest of the day, every day.
Finding the Way to a New Church Home
After I finished the second study of Experiencing God, I started to really feel the call to go back to GOD. Soon after that, I joined a local church and through them started to experience GOD more frequently. For the first time in my life, I attend a Home Group Worship every week. I am involved in helping at church, and I discuss my personal beliefs with the leaders of the church. Now, I am part of a wonderful and supportive church family.
During the past six months, I walk every morning for an hour. This hour is a continuation of my worship time every morning (no longer the same as described above). During my walk, I read aloud from my Bible Journal the verses given to me after prayer. I say aloud those scriptures I memorized, and I pray. I pray for the suburb, the city, this province, and this country. Every day, I ask God to help me to introduce HIM to those that do not know HIM. I pray that all people can experience the absolute joy of loving Jesus.
Finding the Way in a Dream
Before I continue my story, I must add that I was a skeptic when it came to prophecy. I believed that it was something that happened in the Old Testament times. I am also someone that dreams but never ever remembered what I dreamed. This changed during the early morning of August 29, 2019. I woke up as alert as if I have been up for hours, and I remembered every part of the dream that woke me. I was told that I must start work to make Jesus known to all those who do not believe and to those who believe but have wandered away. It was too much for me at that time.
Over the next few days, the knowledge of all this would not go away. I then decided to pray specifically to GOD to show me and to direct me in what HE wants me to do. Everything I read and listened to confirmed this dream.
Finding the Way to Free Ministry Training at CLI
Today, I believe that my re-journey with GOD started on that fateful day when I discovered Experiencing God. First, I needed to learn to talk to GOD again and then to listen to HIM when HE spoke. HE could only give me an assignment once I have learned to listen to HIM. I prayed and asked God to equip me for this journey He sent me on. It was put in me to research local Qualifications in Theology and Ministry, which I did.
I found a selection of South African Universities, but the cost for these studies is prohibitive considering that I have not earned much over the past 16 months. I would never have been able to pay the tuition fees. A friend, knowing what I am doing and what God directed me to do, sent me the link to the Christian Leaders Institute. After reading and studying the website and praying, I enrolled.
So here I am, ready to be equipped to serve GOD in any way He wants me to go. I look forward to the rest of my journey with God.
Learn about ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
My Spiritual Evolution
Hello, my name is Melissa Hale, and here is the story of my spiritual evolution. I am from the United States in sunny central Florida. I am a mom of five children and a wife to an amazing husband. Florida is where I grew up and went to a beautiful church. One Sunday after church, I clearly remember telling my dad that I wanted to give my heart to Jesus. I was only five years old. Even then, at that moment, the Holy Spirit touched my heart, and I cried as I asked Jesus into my heart.
My Youth
I grew up in the church under the preaching of some of the best ministers and teachers. I spent my weekends as a child listening to sermons on Moody Radio and continued the tradition to adulthood. As a teenager, I volunteered in every ministry position I could. Eventually, I became a leader in several ministries as a teenager. I experienced many things in my life that made my faith strong. But most of all, God’s word was constantly interjected into my life.
As I grew up, I felt a call into the ministry, but women in ministry were few and far between. It seemed like the only thing that could “support” me would be if I went to school and became a pastor. However, that seemed strange. So, I decided to become a teacher or a child psychologist or a pediatrician. Once I began college, I found that my passion was not for any of those things, and I quit school.
Marriage and Tragedy
Not long after I became an adult, I married my high school sweetheart. While life was never easy and always seemed hard, joy was our underlying life goal. We always said, “We may not be rich, but we are rich in love.” Thirteen years of marriage and four children later, I had received a promotion at work. Our monetary struggles looked like they were finally over. We had a fantastic celebration on Christmas Eve with our extended family. Just one week prior, my husband gave our son a brand new bicycle on his ninth birthday.
On Christmas Eve in 2011, I left home to buy food for our Christmas Eve dinner. I took two of my children with me. The other two boys were planning on riding their new bicycles with their dad while I was gone. I left for one hour, and as I approached my house, I saw an ambulance and a police car. Slowing down, I turned, and people began flagging me down. I was bewildered. I rolled my window down. Then, I saw my nine-year-old son screaming, “He’s dead, He’s dead. Daddy is dead.”
My Husband’s Untimely Death Leads to My Spiritual Evolution
I will skip over all the details because some days, I do not feel like writing them all out. To say that this moment in my life was a faith shaker is an understatement. Losing a spouse on Christmas Eve is terrible. But worse, the bicycle my husband gave our son for his birthday was the culprit in this mess.
It was a freak accident that was not designed to shake my faith. It was designed to decimate me, to decimate my family, to decimate my children. It was designed to destroy my calling and the calling of my children. No, it was not a faith breaker; it was a destroyer. I knew that God called me. Not months before the worst day of my life, I heard God’s voice telling me that the dreams and calling I had as a child were still there. I knew God was calling me into ministry.
I heard it said, “Don’t play with fire, or you will get burned.” In my life, I was in the fire, and I was consumed, but I was also remade. Quickly, I knew I had two choices: Die emotionally and spiritually or live. As you can see, I chose life!
My Spiritual Evolution Defined
Someone asked me recently, “Did you have a relationship with God before your husband died? What is the difference now?” My answer is this: Before my husband died, Jesus was my friend. Someone who I would talk to and serve, but it didn’t go too far. We were good pals. Afterward, Jesus was my breath, my life, my Savior, my lifeline. He never left me. When I cried out, He answered. When I felt like I would die from the loneliness, I felt His tangible presence. I realized that without Him, I am nothing.
I call it my spiritual evolution because I know that I am still in training for what God has called me to do in this life. The definition of evolution is “the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.” My relationship with God slowly changed into something unable to be explained.
New Blessings and My Calling
God blessed me with a second husband, someone who loves my four children. Together, we have a son. One year after my husband passed away, my life renewed. God kept His promise to restore what the enemy stole from me. God gave me joy and a double portion at that.
Sharing my testimony, I have been honored to speak all over the world. I encourage women to live out their calling – even though they are just “moms” or “wives” or “a woman with no education.” Many are called, but few are chosen because people do not answer the call that God has for them.
I have been serving as a Children’s Pastor at the church I attended after my husband died. It was the church where he gave his life to the Lord. I have been on staff in sunny Florida for almost two years. I feel like I have one of the most important “jobs” in the world right now. It is teaching the future generations who God is. I recently lead a missions trip to Nicaragua, where we ministered to hundreds of children.
My Spiritual Evolution Leads to a Ministry Degree at CLI
Each year, I find myself wishing that I had a degree in ministry. I decided to stop wishing and start making it happen. Currently, I homeschool four of my five children and tutor once a week, plus weekly services and staff meetings. I am glad for the opportunity to fit classes into my busy schedule. The cost of a seminary degree is out of reach at the moment, since I am still in the trenches of raising children.
I am thankful for the visionaries at the Christian Leaders Institute who have developed the generosity driven model of education. Therefore, people called into ministry can study free of massive costs associated with quality education.
My life now is filled with happiness and hope in Christ Jesus. My daughter is planning on being a full-time missionary, while my oldest son is the Worship Leader for our youth at church. Our family loves to go on missions trips, preaching the gospel across the globe.
Reflecting God in My Life
I do not know what my future holds in this calling. I understand that the credentials of a degree in ministry will open new doors, as I continue to live out God’s call on my life. Currently, I have no plans to leave my position at church. I pray that as I learn more about God’s word that my understanding will be increased and reflect in every part of my life.
Learn about degrees at CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
My Women’s Ministry Call: My Road to Redemption in Christ
My name is Shelly Ashe-Haun. This story is about my women’s ministry call from God. I was born in Salem, Indiana, but I have lived in Knoxville, Tennessee since I was three. I am so blessed and have the most beautiful life, but that has not always been my story.
My Struggles
From about the time I was sixteen until I was 26, I let personal tragedy decide how I dealt with life every day. I partied daily to cover up how I felt about myself and life in general. I got myself into dangerous situations and lots of toxic relationships.
When I was 26, I became pregnant with my now almost 9-year-old daughter. I was in one of those toxic relationships. It wasn’t until then that I realized I had to change to be the mom and woman that my daughter needed me to be. Therefore, all toxic relationships ended. At this point, I was trying to finish my college degree, work full-time, and be a single parent. I could do it all alone. Little did I know, the entire time that I was pushing God away, He was the one pushing me forward.
God Speaks to Me
In 2016, a family tragedy broke our family. At the time, I was working at Calhoun’s on the River, a famous restaurant in Knoxville. The day after my aunt passed away, I was walking down the long sidewalk to work, wondering how I was going to make it through the day. The guy I had been talking to, but not dating, stood at the back door on the dock waiting for me. He stood unmoving until I got to the top of the steps where I fell to pieces. He caught me and helped put my pieces back together.
As I cried, I heard the Lord speak to me for the first time. He said, “I will walk with you through the valley of the shadow of darkness. The one I have sent you will bring you comfort, peace, joy, and love.” These words were the Lord’s blessing over my husband and me! We have now been married for over two years. We have a daughter and two sons, and our family is complete!
My Women’s Ministry Call: God Speaks to Me Again
About six months ago, I was sitting on the front porch. I felt like something was missing. Not something was missing between my husband and me or between our kids and me. Just something missing. Then I heard the Lord speak to me again, “I will walk with you through the valley of the shadow of darkness. The one I have sent for you will bring you comfort, peace, joy, and love!”
At that moment, I realized God was not just talking about my husband, Derrick, but about JESUS! In Jesus, we never walk alone; in Jesus, we will always find comfort, peace, joy, and love!! That’s what was missing the whole time.
A friend of mine for over 20 years works at the dentist’s office where our kids go. She told me a couple of weeks after my front porch revelation that she and her husband have completely changed their lives. Now, they attend this church here in Knoxville. She invited us, and our lives have not been the same since! We have found fellowship, faith, a church family, and I am happy to announce I was baptized on August 25th!!
Ministry Training at CLI for My Women’s Ministry Call
Praise the Lord! He never gave up on me! God wants me to use my past for a purpose to help young girls and women who have struggled or struggle with the same issues that I had. My women’s ministry, with God’s blessing, could help protect other women from going down the same long, scary road I did.
Now with this free ministry training at Christian Leaders Institute, I can do the ministry work that God is calling me to do. This training prepares me to be the Women’s Ministry leader that God can use for His glory. Use me, God, send me!
Learn about ordination with the Christian Leaders Alliance.