My Ministry Study Journey
My name is Jamie Welch, and I am on a ministry study journey at Christian Leaders Institute. I was born in Washington, D.C. and now live in King George, Virginia. Currently, I work in a doctor’s office as a Registered Nurse that specializes in women and pediatric care. I have been married to my husband for five years, and we have three beautiful children together. Additionally, I am passionate about holistic health care and am a wellness advocate for Doterra essential oils.
Early Life
My church life was sporadic in childhood. My earliest memory of church was pleasant at about 3-4 years of age going to “play” in the childcare of a church. In middle school, my parents and I attended a nondenominational church where I chose to be baptized at the age of 13. Some of my earliest memories of learning about God were through my grandmother. There was something distinct she told me about God not watching over children after the age of 12 unless they were baptized. I have heard nothing similar since then but nonetheless, I felt like I wanted to do it. At the age of 16, I worked in a Sunday School at a church. It was a paid position and it paid well for the age I was. I enjoyed working with children. It was mostly younger children – infants through about three years old.
I moved to Los Angeles California when I was 18 years old to pursue an acting career. I ended up with a few small roles in shows like General Hospital and How I Met Your Mother, but nothing substantial. Four years later, I came to a crossroads. My husband and I fell in love. However, he was moving across the country a few months after we started dating. At this point, I was the closest I had ever been to a leading role in a pilot series. I went through many auditions, callbacks, chemistry testings, and network testings. I asked God to help me decide if I was going to stay in California or move to Virginia to be with my love. Ultimately, the pilot canceled, and I moved to Virginia.
New Beginnings
Our relationship had its share of good times and bad. It was complicated by him having a five-year-old son that he had full custody of. Five months after I moved back, we got engaged and married seven months after that. We attended New Life Church where my husband’s family attended for years. We took a marriage class through the church called Love & Respect. Additionally, at this time, I volunteered in the infant room during Sunday services. We stayed there for many years. After we had our first daughter who is now three, the dynamic of the church changed which led me away from it.
I finally found my new church home, Lifepoint Church. We are a small location meeting out of a high school that is a part of a larger network church. In January, I decided to recommit my life to Jesus, a person I have always known but drifted from for some time. I immersed myself in the teachings of our Pastor, began unpacking the Bible page by page and joined a small group. This small group included me and five other women that met for about three months. We went through a process called Freedom and attended a weekend conference at its conclusion. During those weeks, chains broke and weights lifted. Praying with people became the norm for me.
Throughout that process and especially after, things in my household really began to shift. A marriage and a household that I was pretty hopeless about did a complete turnaround. Our middle child was very sick for months and months contributing to a large portion of our marital stress, but things were getting better. However, the best part was my husband praying with me about our daughter; it was a pivotal moment for us. Putting God back at the center of our marriage is the difference this time. There are light and peace in our home that was missing for many years.
Ministry and Ministry Study Journey
My ministry study journey is really just beginning. Although I volunteered or worked within churches for almost half of my life, I never had the confidence and knowledge that I could minister to others. During the freedom conference, I felt God speaking to me during two of my prayers with the women. One woman said that I had to let go of some pride and when those walls fell that there were opportunities for me to lead and minister. Another woman told me I had my Father’s eyes and could see His peace within me. I knew that I wanted to do more. I began asking God to show me how I could serve.
One afternoon, I was with a good friend of mine who is younger and looks to me for advice. We were talking about her upcoming nuptials. She had some issues with the person who was to marry her and her fiance. Before she even asked, I knew I wanted to do it. Later on that afternoon, she asked if I would officiate the ceremony, and I immediately accepted.
Other opportunities would come up within the same time frame. Past friendships of strong Christian faith began to resurface and help keep me in the right direction. Opportunities to pray for people and speak openly about Jesus presented themselves within my workplace.
Ministry Study Journey to CLI
I am excited about the opportunities that continue to come up. As with anything I do in my life, I want to make sure I am fully prepared. That is why I signed up for some ministry training through this free study program at Christian Leaders Institute. These classes are just what I need for my ministry study journey.
Learn about ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Ministry Leader Journey: My Journey into Ministry
My name is Osei Owusu-Ansah Emmanuel, and here is my ministry leader journey. I am from Ghana, West Africa. I was born into a Christian home. But at that time, the zeal in serving God and having reverence for God was not in me very much. I grew up almost abandoning a walk with God. I choose the path of the world from my high school days until I came to the University. Even during the first two years on campus, I was still living in the world. Thanks be to God! He showed me deep love and kindness. God placed a Christian brother in my life who never gave up on me. This brother kept encouraging me and drew me nearer to God.
I finally gave my life to Christ and began loving God all the more. I was involved in almost all the church activities my church offered. The church I joined gave me the best teaching and training to remain in the Lord and grow in Him. I began building a personal relationship with God. I was baptized by the Holy Spirit and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
God’s Call and Ministry Training at Christian Leaders Institute
On my ministry leader journey, I began hearing and sensing the call of God upon my life for the ministry. Since then I have walked in this call. I rose to become the President of my church fellowship group on the university campus. Now I am taking the free online ministry training classes at Christian Leaders Institute. I am eager to see where God will lead me in my ministry work for Him. Thank you, Christian Leaders Institute for this wonderful opportunity!
Learn about minister ordination options at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Training Opportunity at CLI
I am Sitanun Chatjirarut from Thailand, and I am excited about the free ministry training opportunity at CLI. Born to a Christian family, I was a stubborn kid. I never wanted to do what my parents told me to do. I believed that I had my way, my own life, and also my faith. God is my parent’s faith, not mine. However, I can’t go against my parents in everything, so I had to go to church every Sunday since I was young with a closed heart. I never read the Bible or listened to the sermon. But, I don’t know why sometimes I felt that God exists and he is with me and takes care of me.
When I wanted something, deep down, my heart told me to pray and ask God. So, I always prayed to God. Same as with everyone’s prayers, sometimes God said yes, sometimes nope, sometimes wait. I never realized his other answers, only yes. Many times, I blamed Him and lost my hope in Him over and over again because I didn’t understand.
Checked out Buddhism
One day at school, it was Buddhism Camping, and everyone needed to be involved. I was part of it, and somehow, I was touched by the monk’s teachings. I decided to turn myself to Buddhism and studied about Buddha’s teachings since I wanted to be a monk at that time. My mom was angry and stopped me on time.
Bad things kept going on in my life. I realized that Buddhism was not what I wanted and couldn’t fulfill my heart. I was still empty and broken as always. However, I didn’t open my heart to Jesus straight away. I just started going to church again, even though my life was up and down.
Struggles
I got bullied at the schools and university. I got beaten up and cheated on by my boyfriends. My last year at the university, my Grandfather passed away one month before I finished. A year later, my father passed away the day after I started the first job in my life. So, I missed my last chance to talk to him four hours before he passed away. Then, a year later, my grandmother passed away too.
I was exhausted with my life, and I wanted to give up many times. Eventually, I had a depression disorder and needed to go to a doctor every month. I asked God, “If you exist, why me? Why did all of this happen to me? Did you abandon me like this? Why leave me slowly dying?”
God Made a Way
Shortly after, I got to work with my friend. Her parent was a Korean missionary in my city when we were young. When we grew up, we worked together as Korean-Thai translators. So one day, we received some work from an English ministry in Korea to translate the sermon to Thai every week for a whole year! That was the first time I could focus on God’s word. I realized that God was speaking to me in every single word I translated. He was calling me to the mission at the same time. My heart was opened wide to accept Jesus into my life.
From that time, my life started changing a tiny bit every day. But my faith still was not stable, and I still lacked understanding of the Christian life. Therefore, my faith was still up and down because I didn’t surrender my life to Jesus.
Also, my depression was still going on. So, one day, everything became too much to handle for me anymore. I decided to commit suicide by taking pills. My mom found me and sent me to the hospital. I woke up in the ICU with all kinds of tubes in my nose, in my stomach, and my arms. It was too painful to breathe. I would rather die than handle this painfulness. The two nights in ICU was long-lasting. But, I felt God at that time and knew that he saved my life.
New Life and Ministry Training Opportunity
So from that, I was born again in Christ and gave up my life to him. Because I was dead and God gave me life again; it’s not my life anymore. I decided to live for him and to go out for a mission after that.
Almost a year later, I joined a ship’s ministry with OM International. I served on board Logos Hope for a year. I traveled with LH through 13 countries. I’ve been learning and growing so much in my relationship with God and also learning more about myself. I finished my commitment to the ship’s ministry after eight months.
I’m still seeking God’s direction in my life. I want to continue on the mission to help people in need. I want to share the love of God to unreachable humanity, especially to children in the Middle East area. The free ministry training opportunity at Christian Leaders Institute will help me to grow in Him and discover where God wants me.
Learn about ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.