Youth Minister Journey
My name is Chadwick Culton out of Grand Junction, Colorado, and I am on a youth minister journey. I am a member of Living Water Baptist Church in Fruita, Colorado. Currently, I am an intern youth pastor assisting our youth director with teaching, counseling, and connecting with the young people in our community. I married in 2011 and have a daughter aged eight and a son aged seven.
I grew up in a broken home, and my parents divorced when I was seven. My father was not in the picture, and my mother was a drunk. I found comfort in the church. It became a place of refuge for me. In middle school, I switched churches and attended a youth group where I found the need for a savior and received him. However, I did not surrender my life entirely. I shared Jesus with my peers, but I continued to live like the world until the world overtook me. I married a girl I met in the youth group who gave me two beautiful children. However, my heart was in the wrong places. I drank and partied while drugs took over my life. I eventually committed adultery. My failures led to me almost losing my family.
Getting Off the Fence on My Youth Minister Journey
I chose to leave and work on my life, and I turned back to God but was still not entirely devoted. My wife began to trust me again and moved back into my life. We worked on our relationship. I did not give all my life to God. A few years later, my stepdad passed away. He was my biggest role model and raised me. I may not have had my biological parents, but when he came into our lives, we had a dad that filled the void. Soon after he passed, I turned to God and asked him why. God responded with a guest speaker at our church, Pastor Jay Law. He preached a sermon on God’s plan. I fell to my knees, asked for forgiveness, and made a full dedication of my life to God. Soon after, I also listened to Paul Washer on what it means to be saved. Then I knew God was using me for something. I got involved in our church and started attending a mentorship program for future pastors.
Finding CLI on My Youth Minister Journey
I pray that God uses me and others like myself for his plan. His plan is much higher than ours, and he calls us to be for him. We are either for him or against him. There is no grey area, so it’s time to get off the fence.
God is calling me to youth ministry. I want to help them understand that trials will come, but they need a strong foundation of full devotion to God. This free ministry training at Christian Leaders Institute is fantastic! I want to grow and learn as much as I can. Thank you, CLI, for all that you do.
Learn about ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Chaplain Minister Call
My name is Laurie Lange, and I have a Chaplain minister call on my life. I live in Connecticut in the USA with my husband and our four children, who I homeschooled. I’m excited that as my children are getting older God is also beginning to prepare me for what’s ahead.
My childhood was a very difficult time. When I was three, my parents divorced. My mother struggled with mental health issues, and my father decided to not take an active role in being a father. Off and on throughout my childhood, I experienced several different kinds of abuse. Little did I know, as none do at that age, God would use those things to prepare me for a ministry. Therefore, I am called to work with children, the forgotten, the abused, and those going through a crisis.
God’s Chaplain Minister Call
When I first went to Bible school in Dallas, TX, in 1994, my focus was on Music Ministry and Missions. They felt like a good fit for me at the time. But a few years later, I found myself married, and then, one at a time, four children followed. I began to question God and the “ministries” I originally felt called to do.
However, He had already placed my ministry right before me. I’ve been in children’s ministry for 25 years. The more I allowed God to use me, the more He allowed me to see that it was my calling. I will be involved in Children’s Ministry forever, most likely! However, through children’s ministry, God has shown me how many children and families are hurting, need direction, and, sometimes, immediate spiritual and emotional care. This ministry is something that a social services office cannot offer. I began to look into Disaster and Crisis response ministries and through training have come to realize that God has a chaplain minister call for me.
Chaplain Minister Call and Ministry Training at CLI
There is still much to be revealed but I do know that training is a crucial step. I had wondered how I was going to continue Ministry training without any funds. I’m so excited to have found Christian Leaders Institute and CLI’s Leadership Excellence School. I pray that as I train and learn new things, God will make my path clearer.
God is near to the brokenhearted, this I clearly know. He’s brought me through a difficult childhood, PTSD, some mental health issues, and many physical ailments. He has shown Himself strong through it all. It has nothing to do with me. I pray that I can be a vessel to show others going through crises his healing power. That power will bring them to a place of comfort through the power of the Holy Spirit. May I help guide them back to a place where their lives are once again in those calm but windy places of the Spirit’s movement.
My Ministry Mission Journey
I am Francis Igbru from Rivers State, Nigeria, and I have a ministry mission. Although Nigeria is a multi-religious country where 50% are Christians dominating the southern region where am from, up north Christians are being persecuted and murdered for their faith.
My Youth and Conversion
I grew up in a Catholic background, where I spent my early life. I stopped going to a formal church setting for many years in my teenage and young adult years. While in college, I met my wife, Dafiri, who came from a good Christian upbringing. After meeting her, a change started that took some time to manifest. I became more committed to attending church services on campus, which was a missing piece in the puzzle of my life. However, in all this new commitment, I was also a member of a dreaded secret cult on my campus.
Something happened one day when I went for a joint campus fellowship meeting on another campus. I knew we had rival cult groups there that might want to harm or even kill me if someone identified me. That day, I sat in between windows using the brick wall as a shield to prevent passersby from seeing me while the meeting was going on. I heard a voice in my heart asking where is the protection I thought I had in being a member of a cult group. I saw how empty my life was without Christ. That day, I made up my mind to give my life to Christ without an altar call. In the service, I sensed the call of God Almighty.
Thank God, I responded! I told myself if I should die, let me die knowing the Lord. After that encounter, there was this boldness I received. I was free to fellowship with other brethren in that meeting.
Ministry Mission Training at CLI
My dream is to communicate the very life of God to believers and unbelievers so that they will know of the love of God in Christ Jesus. I am still pondering on how I stumbled on the Christian Leaders Institute. For me, it brought a new light to my journey in ministry mission. After finishing the first course, I long for another. Thank you guys for making us fulfill our calling as able ministers of the Gospel through quality teachings, study materials, and practical experience from various facilitators and writers of the materials and classes.
Learn about ordination with Christian Leaders Alliance.