Jean’s Ministry Journey
My name is Jean Baptiste Kwizera, and the following is Jean’s ministry journey with the Lord. I am a Rwandan of 47 years old who was born in Uganda and raised in a small community in the eastern part of the RDC- Congo. However, I am now living in Kigali-Rwanda, my most loved home country. I am a pastor of a local church new church that is struggling to be officially registered, married to Tchabu Lelengi Liliane and father of five children.
Early Life and Conversion
My mother and father were both Roman Catholic Christians. So, it was our custom every Sunday morning that my mother would go to the first service for parents, and we children went to the second service that was for students. The third service was for the youth. Though I followed every step to be a “good” Christian and did my best to be a “good” person, I was hopeless, fearful, and lived a life without a purpose. There was an emptiness inside me, and I also felt superficial in my Christianity.
Evil spirits tortured me at least once every week. However, no one else knew about it except my young brother and me as we shared a bedroom. I feared to tell my parents about the evil spirits, so I decided to keep silent. I lived that hopeless and fearful life for almost a year.
Jean’s Ministry Journey: Christ Came Into My Life
One afternoon on my way from school, I met a young man that I never met before. He introduced me to Jesus Christ in July 1991. For the first time in my life, I realized that I was not a Christian. The essence of his message was: God created man to have fellowship with him, but man broke that close relationship with God and chose to go his own way. Fellowship with God was broken, but God continued to love us. He said, “the wages of sin is death [Romans 6:23],” and someone had to pay the penalty for me. God loved me and sent his Son, Jesus, to die for me. He said, “If you want to become a Christian,… we’ll pray and ask Jesus to come into your life.” I remember looking to my colleague standing next to me, and he said, “I want to be saved.” I said, “I want to, too.” We walked down the road and prayed the sinner’s prayer. I asked Christ to come into my life.
Jean’s Ministry Journey: Calling to Ministry
We were the first fruits to our new evangelist in the area, so he suggested to teach us how to pray. We had three days together, and he taught us to pray with our own words. He taught us how to share what we had discovered (forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus Christ, eternal life with God, and the authority we have in the name of Jesus).
We evangelized with him and the youth responded to the gospel. We decided to have a meeting every Thursday from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm in a classroom. It came to happen that in two months the group had an attendance of over 300 people. Our brother evangelist left us and went back to his home town, which was 470 km from where we were. How can two secondary school students and new Christians of only two months of salvation experience lead a church of other new Christians? By God’s grace, a married couple helped us as our representative.
One night, the evil spirits came, as usual. This time, I took authority in Jesus name. I opened the door and walked around our house three times, commanding the evil spirits to go and never come back. After that prayer, the evil spirits never came back. I was delivered. There was a revival movement that was increasing. In 1994, my brother and I had planted three other churches.
Jean’s Ministry Journey: Move to Rwanda and Struggles
After the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi in 1994, my family decided to leave the RDC- Congo and move to Rwanda. We settled in the eastern province of the country. The conditions of life were hard. Things were upside down after the war, and I moved from the east region to join my cousin. He had a business in the capital city of Kigali. I came to a point where I doubted my experience of being saved because I found myself in a new community of unbelievers. Also, the Christian survivors of the war were doubtful about the loving God who would allow over one million innocent people to be killed. Unprepared to face that kind of situation, I no longer shared my faith for almost three years. Thank God that He restored me.
Jean’s Ministry Journey to Ministry Training and Ordination
After I joined the church community again in 2000, I started to share my testimony and the gospel with others. I was interested in everything related to the Christian faith on the internet and other places in the area. I attended many short pieces of training on different aspects of the ministry. The only formal biblical training I had was with Moore theological college in partnership with AEE. May of 2019, I completed level 2 of the Primary Theological Certificate.
In 2009 I received ordination as a pastor. From that time, I served as a full-time minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ in Miracle Center Church until 2017. Called to start a new church, I presently work with Morning Star Rwanda. My biggest joy is merely telling people about what Christ did for me, teaching other Christians to do the same, and helping them to mature in the Christian faith as we wait for our Hope to come.
Jean’s Ministry Journey to Study at Christian Leaders Institute
After the new law in 2018 on governing faith-based organizations, every pastor must possess a bachelor degree in theology or Biblical studies. I was in trouble. After many attempts to find an accredited college offering Biblical education that fits my financial position, I remembered that in 2012, I once landed on the Christian Leaders Institute on the internet. I had tried to join but failed to start classes. Thank God for CLI. I know that now, this is the right place for me. I have a firm conviction that I will never regret joining this blessed institution. Our faithful God will always sustain and lead every one whose heart is ready to serve the Kingdom.
Learn about ordination with Christian Leaders Alliance.
Ministry Story from Nigeria
My name is Tolubori Ayo-Alabi, and I am from Nigeria. I am married to an Apostle and Evangelist, and together we are in the work of faith, glorifying Jesus in our calling.
It is an awesome thing standing for the glory of the gospel in my little town of Abeokuta, in Nigeria. I am a teacher of the word and a music minister, I also enjoy preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone I come across in my town and every place of opportunity I am invited to. Being a Christian leader for me is about exemplifying Christ. It’s a privilege to have few people around us whom we have preached the gospel to and are nurturing in the word of God, to grow into maturity. I trust the Lord to inculcate immediately what I have learnt at CLI into our discipleship pattern in our small group meeting.
I was born 37 years ago, into a family of three at the time, and two years later, my younger sister came along. My parents weren’t spiritual, although my grandfather, being an elder at THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH had a peculiar family altar which he never joked about. I recall him always ringing the bell as early as 5am every morning to wake us up for family devotion. I spent a lot of my childhood in church, following my granddad and parents to worship services. But really, it didn’t mean anything to me, because as at the time, I didn’t really know what I was doing, I just went to Church for fun, and to play with my friends.
At about age 14 in my junior class at the hostel, I got born again, through an itinerant minister who came to preach the gospel to us. I was convicted of my sins as I became aware of the overwhelming love of Christ for me. I repented and confessed my faith in the Lord Jesus at the end of the meeting. After this meeting, I tried to be pious at the hostel, but it only lasted a week, afterward, I went back to doing what I used to do, listening to worldly songs, cursing, abusing, etc.
Meanwhile, I have always liked the sound of lead guitar, particularly when one solos it. At 22, I decided to buy a box guitar, and play around it. When my dad who was separated from my mum at the time came to our house and saw my box guitar, he exclaimed and told me a story which is very significant to my calling and assignment in Christ.
He told me how my mum had six miscarriages after our firstborn, and eventually, conceived me. At about a few weeks from delivery, a word came from the Lord to bring my mum to church and pray over her. While the prayer was going on, a prophetic word came that He “God” was going to work miraculously to bring about my safe delivery, since the devil was against my birth. Although the due date was in a week, the water broke that very morning the prophetic word was giving, and I was safely born. Additionally, the prophet who prophesied over me also told my parents to present God with a guitar, by blessing the church with it.
At my Christening, the guitar was presented, and as the gift box was opened, and the guitarist strummed the guitar, another prophetic word came forth and God said; “As the sound of this guitar went forth, so shall my glory be seen in this child’s life to the ends of the earth.”
Therefore, my dad seeing me with a guitar was a reminder from God that He was not a man, and whatever He said HE WOULD DO, He would do. It was actually a visitation from God to affirm and remind my parents of His word.
At this time, although born again, I didn’t know the lord as my LORD. I lived as I liked, and it was as if I wasn’t even born again at all, until I had a one on one encounter with the Lord Jesus, through the baptism of the Holy Ghost at age 24 in 2006. This baptism of fire birthed a defining moment in my walk with the Lord and separated me forever from the world, sin, the devil, and every work of the flesh.
I was in my 3rd year at the university, studying History and Diplomatic Studies when I had this encounter. I had traveled to another town to visit a female friend who wasn’t born again. Our coming together was characterized by smoking, drinking, and living as we pleased. I had planned to stay the weekend at her place and as usual, have fun, but God had another plan. Like Apostle Paul, God hijacked my plan and gave me His plan from that moment on. The date was 17th of June 2006, around 12:30 am. I found myself at a church, surrounded by believers who were praying in the Spirit over me. Suddenly I became more conscious of the realm of the Spirit than the physical. I heard a voice in the tongue, and I found myself thinking aloud and saying, “how come I am hearing one voice, since there were many people who gathered around me, praying over me?” Later on, in my walk with the Lord, I realized according to God’s word that when brethren come together and pray in the Spirit, we pray the specific will of God in one accord. Rom. 8:26-27,
In this windy encounter with the Lord, it was only me and Him, although there were people in the church auditorium, it was personal. My ears were opened to Him. He told me “You don’t read your Bible”, and I told Him I would read it. He told me to say goodbye to everyone, I was a bit reluctant to do that at first, until I experienced the chastening of His voice. The louder the voice, the hotter the feeling, and quickly, I yielded. I noticed that every time I yielded to Him, I experienced peace and calmness of soul. This way, He dealt with me in this encounter until I yielded all, and the bell rang, and the tongue finished, and I came to my consciousness. Matt. 3:11, Luke 3:16
This was the beginning of my true walk with the Lord. After this encounter, all hell broke loose against me. This period which lasted about 3 years was a trying time in my life, and it was when I knew I needed the Lord like never before. What brought me out of that season of my life was the revelation of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Saviour, and the overwhelming love of God the Father. Having received the empowerment of the Spirit, I grew in the grace of God through His word and prayer, and I overcame the fiery darts of the enemy against my mind, through His finished work. This has now become my life force – a life of deep fellowship and intimacy with the Lord Jesus. Eph. 6:16, Rev. 12:11, Rom. 1:16-17
I first knew the Lord as my Saviour, my salvation experience was obvious, I learnt from it. I saw Him saved me from sin, death, the world, and Satan. But knowing Him as the Lord is the true essence of my Christian walk after salvation. Now, I know Him as my Lord, my Master and Owner. I live for His glory and His will. As my Lord, I follow and yield to His word, as He leads me per time. Glory to His name forever. John 14:23
I trust the Lord to use my Christian Leaders Training to deepen my walk with the Lord, and being a woman in ministry, to use it to help others come into a loving and living relationship with God, using the 7 connections pattern, to build a lasting and reproducible discipleship structure. I hope to learn more new things, particularly patterns and more efficient strategies for life and ministry.
I searched through the internet for free ministry training for several years, without results, until recently, when I came across Christian Leaders Training, totally free! Sincerely, this free opportunity is an answered prayer for people like me who are truly called into the work of the ministry and cannot afford to pay through their nose to acquire necessary training requirements to fully function in ministry without educational limit.
Equipped Christian Leader
My name is Alida Munro, and I am studying at Christian Leaders Institue to become an equipped Christian leader. I am 43 years old and from South Africa. Here in South Africa, it is not common for a woman to be a Christian leader. It is mostly men that carry the title. I know a few women who take the title as Christian leaders, but it is also in communities and churches where they are accepted.
Church Experiences in My Youth
I grew up in a Pentecostal Protestant house and church because of my mother. That was her background, so I followed in her footsteps. I fell in love with Jesus at a very young age, always going to Sunday school. My father got saved at the age of 35 years old and served in the Pentecostal Protestant Church as a Church Councillor member.
I used to sing in the church choir as well as a duo with my younger brother. Eventually, I sang solo up to the age of 14 years (also the age I got baptized). At 14, I gave up on singing because of something that a church member told me, and I did not agree, so I never went on stage again. Dark spirits tormented me from a very young age. But, the dark spirits stopped haunting me when I was about 16 years old.
First Encounter with Jesus
The very first encounter that I can remember with Jesus was when I was ten years old. I was standing in front of the ocean right after learning from my father that our food source ran out. I stood on the beach speaking to Jesus saying; “Jesus, if you are real, please let an orange wash up out of the sea for me.” A ship passed by on the ocean dropping fruit. In a matter of seconds, an orange washed up out of the sea and landed right by my feet. I ran to my father, telling him about it, and wanting to share it with my family. My father told me to have it for myself. Since that day, no one could convince me that Jesus does not exist.
Struggles on My Journey
I used to be a people pleaser and not a God pleaser. In 2004, I wandered from God’s path. That resulted in me getting messed up with wrong friends, wrong men, and corrupt people in general. My life spiraled out of control entirely, not once, not twice, but three times in the past 29 plus years. I have two failed marriages where I was abused in every way you can imagine. Out of these two abusive marriages, three beautiful children were born; one son and two daughters, who suffered immensely because of all my bad choices.
I received the diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder in 2016, which made my life even more difficult. In the same year, I was re-baptized. This year was also when I realized I wanted to walk in leadership circles in church.
Seeking God and Desiring to Become an Equipped Christian Leader
I began looking to Jesus after I faced death in my second marriage when my husband tried to suffocate me. I realized that something was wrong with that picture, and I started seeking God’s face earnestly to find out where I went wrong. God showed me that I was idolizing my husbands, my father, my brother, and everybody else who was not serving God in truth. That is why I could not hear God speak to me for more than three years.
When I sought God, He spoke to me through visions, dreams, and Scripture. I knew that I had to leave everything that was bad for my children and me and go where God led. So my real journey with God started in 2012 where everything turned into hell against me and around me, but I had Jesus. Jesus is who kept me going.
Spiritual Dream
I dream of helping abused women, children, older people, and animals. I also dream of bringing God’s message of peace to families, churches, communities, countries, and continents. Being a good steward of the earth God has given us is another goal of mine. I hope to use my Christian Leaders Institute training in my ministry dream. It will help me be an equipped Christian Leader for bringing God’s gospel of peace to all nations.
Christian Leaders Institute and Becoming an Equipped Christian Leader
I enrolled in free training at CLI because I could not afford to pay for a college education. One day, I searched the internet, and I found the Christian Leaders Institute, and here I am. I am so thankful for the opportunity to study at CLI and become an equipped Christian leader. It is a life long dream come true.
My husband, Leon Munro, inspired and encouraged me to study further because he knows it has been a dream of mine. So when I discovered the Christian Leaders Institute, he told me to give it a go, and I did.
I want to thank every person making this possible for me to study at Christian Leaders Institute. I want to become a vision partner when financial blessing comes to give back to the organization God has blessed me through. Most of all, I want to thank God Almighty for giving me the chance of a lifetime fulfilling the dream He gave me.
Learn about ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.