Peer Support Coach Ministry
My name is Deborah Wright, and I am called to a Peer Support Coach Ministry. I was born in Detroit, Michigan, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1976, where I finished school and continue to reside. There are many opportunities for Christian leaders in my community, not just in the Church but also including some secular opportunities in the behavioral health and crisis shelter venues. These are examples of where my calling lies.
Early Years
I grew up in a broken, single-parent home where substance abuse was prevalent. I am eternally grateful for my great grandmother. She provided a children’s Bible and taught me prayers when I was a young child. Although my parents were not Christian, I did have the opportunity to attend Sunday School at a local Nazarene church in Michigan. It was there I approached the altar and asked our Lord Jesus to save me. I was 11 or 12 years old.
After moving to Arizona, life became unstable. As I entered puberty, I was always getting into trouble. Drug and alcohol abuse are critical factors to the sinful life I was living well into my early adulthood.
Change in Christ
At about age 33, I was in crisis. I had managed to destroy my marriage, my career, my friendships, and my family relationships. I also had nearly died of a drug overdose. It was then that Jesus sent someone into my life. A former co-worker that was also an ordained Christian minister invited me to church, and my life began to turn around! I am still amazed at the power of God’s love and the many miracles He has done on my behalf!
It was a long, hard walk to recovery, but I am free from drugs for over 24 years now! If not for the power of the Holy Spirit and having “eyes to see” how faithfully and powerfully the Lord worked on my behalf, I would not have made it.
My spiritual dream is to take my testimony of God’s love and salvation to hurting women and young people that are struggling with their recovery process. Jesus wants me to walk among these hurting souls as He did when He walked the Earth centuries ago. I am to minister love, hope, acceptance, and healing to the broken. Our Lord Jesus will go with me to reach out to those that desperately need Him.
Free Ministry Training at CLI
I am very thankful for the Christian Leaders Institute free ministry training. It will help me be the best ambassador for Christ that I can be in pursuing my spiritual dream and my calling. The CLI study program is such a blessing. I am thankful to be receiving quality ministry training free of charge since I will need to pay to become certified in the State of Arizona to work, volunteer, or serve in behavioral health and domestic crisis centers. I will work in what is known as a Peer Support Coach Ministry.
Peer Support Coaches are people with lived experience with addictions and successful recovery in their own lives. They work with people struggling with their recovery. I have a great desire to do this and to share my testimony and relationship with the Lord as well. I still have much work to do to prepare before stepping into this Peer Support Coach ministry, but God willing, it will happen.
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21 NIV)
Learn about ordination opportunities at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Online Bible Training in Las Vegas
My name is Donald L. Lowery, and I am receiving free online Bible training at CLI. I am from the state of Pennsylvania and the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, in the USA. I currently live in Henderson, Nevada, which is ten miles south-east of Las Vegas.
The Lord brought me to Vegas after I served fourteen years in the U.S Navy. The Lord planted me in a beautiful church named Remnant Ministries. Here, I’ve had the pleasure to serve the Lord in the youth ministry department and drama ministry. Currently, I serve the Lord in the media ministry.
Being a child of God in a city that’s known as the “city of sin” has its challenges all of its own. That’s why I believe the Lord sent me here, and my heart is for the church of tomorrow and the youth. The youth, especially here in Vegas, need someone willing to stand in the gap for them.
Young Life
I grew up in the church serving the Lord from my youth. My parents always made sure that I and my two brothers and two sisters went to church even if they didn’t make it. Growing up, none of my friends went to church so sometimes we didn’t want to go. However, one of the rules at our house was no church, no outside. Therefore, every Sunday, I was in church.
About the time I became a teenager, the Muslim faith rushed through my neighborhood like a storm, and when the storm clouds rolled back, many of my friends were practicing Muslims. It was hard enough being a kid from the south with a speech problem, and the only kid that was a Christian; now, my friends became Muslim. It seemed I was back on the outside looking in. But, I realize now that it was God separating me for his purpose and His plan for my life.
God Spoke
Even though I grew up in the church, my journey to know the Lord started after I left my parents’ home. I remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was in a night club in San Diego, and my friends just purchased another round of drinks. Plans were set for an afterparty. I was living “the life.” Then it happened. The music stopped. Everyone was still talking, but I didn’t hear them anymore. I heard a voice say, “It’s time to come home.” I looked around to see who was talking to me, but I didn’t see anyone. The same voice said, “The time is now.” At that moment, I got up from the table I was sitting at and went home. Soberer than I had ever been in my life, my mind was clear and calm. For the first time in my life, I was afraid.
Now don’t get me wrong. I have been scared before, but I never feared anything, nor any person. However, I didn’t know what respect was until the fear of the Lord came into my life that night. That night in that club, thinking I was living, the Lord came and saved me from the death that was surrounding me.
Spiritual Dream
My spiritual dream is simple: to reach the lost that don’t know they are lost. There is nothing sadder than to see someone who is broken and doesn’t know it. One of the biggest obstacles I faced in my growth into a more mature man of God is facing the man in the mirror, myself. I thought that if I’m a good person, then I’m okay with God. Even a sinner can do the right thing and can make good decisions, but I asked myself, “Are you in the will of God?”
Since I have aligned my will with the will of God, everything I do gives me the joy of God. The outcome of things is no longer critical. My goal is to stay in the will of God and know Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”
God became real to me that day I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. That day, I stopped holding back and just let go and let God. God loves me. Jesus stands in the gap between the Father and me, so I can come to Him in my sinful state and ask for forgiveness for my sins.
Online Bible Training at Christian Leaders Institute
My hope and prayer are that I have a closer walk with God. Through the online Bible training here at Christian Leaders Institute, I hope to gain better understanding and insight into God’s word. I will be equipped to go out and make disciples of Christ, my Lord, and Savior. CLI provides free online Bible training for those that are not in a position to pay for it. To receive this training is a blessing from God. He is using his people to help those who have the same desire to know him more intimately and to be able to do so with a financial blessing.
Learn about ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Free Ministry Training Online
My name is Ann Jeanette Ford, and I am excited to take free ministry training online at Christian Leaders Institute. I was born in Warrington, UK. My mother had relocated my siblings and me to Skelmersdale then back to Warrington for a few years. However, then she moved us to Stoke on Trent and back to Warrington. Warrington is where I live full-time with my husband and children. My childhood was very complicated because I didn’t have loving parents. Both of my parents were divorced, and they favored my little brother. I was christened as a baby, and I went to Sunday school off and on.
As long I can remember, I consistently talked about Jesus Christ and God himself to my family members. Sadly, this witnessing annoyed them quite a bit. Initially, I learned about the Lord in school (RE) and from movies on TV.
When I lost my new-born baby boy sixteen years ago, I felt a comforting presence near me for quite a while. This presence made everything around me, calm and peaceful. I saw a golden light shine across my little boy’s face as he passed away. That was part of my spiritual journey because I knew that God was there for me at the most painful time of my life.
Some nights, I dream about God. He is sending me a message from himself, but I can’t totally make sense of them. After certain events in my life led me to believe God is real, I sought out a Bible education. I hope to use my Christian Leaders Institute free ministry training online to make a big difference in the world for my Lord and Savior. I want to help others to know Jesus and to understand his love for them. Thank you, CLI, for this free ministry training online opportunity!
Learn about ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.