Free Evangelism Training
God’s grace is sufficient. This is my story of God’s redeeming grace in my life. My name is Jacob Nehlsen, and I am receiving free evangelism training at CLI. I was born and raised in Wisconsin. I am married to a wonderful, kind, supportive woman named Hannah.
My Early Years
I grew up in a Christian family and was introduced early to the Bible. I committed to following Christ at a young age. Continuing to grow up in the church, I learned scripture. But for much of my younger years, I had a hard time making it a genuine commitment.
When I was in middle school, I was introduced by circumstances outside of my control to a life of sexual promiscuity. I didn’t know why or quite understand the impact it would have on the rest of my life. In my sinful nature, I continued to partake in this lifestyle for about a year. God convicted me of this, and I was set free from it. However, this lifestyle led to an addiction to pornography.
In 8th grade, I rededicated my life to God and started living the best I could for him. Unfortunately, the more I tried to shake it, the more pornography stuck. I would go for months of being successful. Then, in one fell swoop, I fell back into my old habits. While I continued to grow in my relationship with God, this continued to fester in the background. It wasn’t until my engagement to my wife that I finally dealt with it head-on. By Gods grace, I have been freed from that lifestyle for almost three years now.
Evangelism Calling
My wife and I desire to be involved in evangelizing the lost. Right now, we feel called to the U.S. and in particular some of the areas where there is little to no church activity. I desire to become involved in a church where the average layman is trained and equipped to be a powerful witness and follower of God. We dream of a church where love and unity may be restored for followers of the Bible and of Jesus.
Christian Leaders Institute has given me the opportunity to study on my own, while I work and support my wife as she goes to school. I desire that every local church can provide leadership and the biblical training that CLI does! The opportunity to study free evangelism training here is allowing me to become equipped as a Christian leader. This free evangelism training is for when we evangelize these areas with a low church to population density.
Life Changing Events
Two main life events drive my passion for a radical church and my free evangelism training. First, my wife and I were considering missions, and we went for three weeks to an orphanage in Kenya. We were way out there where they were surrounded by tribes who are very active in demonic activity. We saw worship and dependence on God like never before. These brothers and sisters worshipped God like He was all they needed because He is all they have. My wife and I both concluded that foreign missions were not for us for now at least. We both became burdened for the church in America. We came back from that trip with a new desire and passion.
Second, we found ourselves dealing with death in our families and friends. A couple of months later, my precious brother took his own life. These are the moments of make or break in one’s faith. The questions and thoughts that go through your head. The self-doubt. The self-pity. What could I have done differently? If only I had said this. Also questions to God. Questions that reveal what you believe about God and His Word. How could you let this happen?
God Is In Control
I tell you, God is my refuge and my strength. When my soul is in turmoil, I cry to God. When there are pain and tears, God is my rock on which I stand. My father-in-law called me up and walked me through the book of Job. The Bible says that he did not sin by asking God questions, because he did not blame God, and he did not curse God. And one of God’s final responses to Job was a series of 77 questions to which Job kept replying, “I don’t know.” Job concluded: “You are God, and I am not. Your ways are above my ways. How can I understand the things of God?”
This day was by far the hardest day of my life, but in it all, I know God is in control. My brother made his decision in the midst of pain, sickness, depression, etc. God allowed it to happen. This day and the months that followed changed my perspective on life. While pursuing God, I was not entirely devoted to God. I received a new hunger to live for God’s kingdom. This world is not my home. Pain and hardship is part of this life here, but not the life in my house with my Heavenly Father. Through this all I can empathize and connect with those who struggle with depression. I can sympathize with those who have been through a deep loss. My life is for God and the furthering of His kingdom.
Free Evangelism Training is a Blessing
The ministry of CLI and this free evangelism training are a blessing to us. I look forward to getting to know some of you Brothers and Sisters. These classes have been invaluable in providing an education that I would have a hard time accessing otherwise. Thank you for what you guys do!
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Free Pastor Training
Follow Logan on his journey as he answers God’s call to become a pastor with free pastor training at CLI.
The Grace of God: How His Pursuit Changed my Life
My name is Logan Roberts and I am receiving free pastor training from Christian Leaders Institute. I live in Northeast Ohio with my wife and our daughters. When looking back over my life, I can see how God was calling me from the darkness. He called me into a life lived with, for, and in Christ. I was very stubborn though. I didn’t submit in humility and love to God’s pursuit of me until August 2010.
Early Struggles
My upbringing was not in a Christian home. We did not go to church. I even made fun of some neighbors who did and tried to share their faith with me. I went to a vacation Bible school over summer vacation to my aunt’s house in Tennessee when I was maybe ten years old. Silently, I mocked it the whole time in my head. However, she bought me a study Bible, and I was interested in it. I remember reading Genesis, John, and Revelation. I found it compelling, but not enough to devote my life to it.
All the way through my senior year of high school, I had a small amount of interest in God surrounded by darkness. I was into being a weird art kid. I made sure I looked the part as well. Partying and drinking were a part of those years as well. After high school, I had no plan. So, a year afterward, I randomly decided to join the Ohio Army National Guard.
Into The Darkness
I was in the National Guard from 2007 to 2013. A friend of mine from school had joined, and I contacted him. I got his recruiter’s phone number. A few months later, I graduated from Infantry OSUT training and with the same unit as my friend. I had a son during the early years of my military time. In 2008, I deployed to Egypt. While I was gone, the relationship with my son’s mother fell apart. When I returned home a year later, we tried to reconcile, but it was too late.
When we found out our son had cancer, we were frustrated and confused by it in the midst of our failed relationship. She met someone else and married shortly after. She and my son moved to North Carolina. I shut down, lost interest, and turned into an absent father. I was devastated by the whole thing.
Life seemed to fall apart, so I drank and partied away months of my life. I crashed my car into a brick wall in January 2010 and was charged with drunk driving. Then, I lost all my friends because I couldn’t handle losing my only means of dealing with life (no matter how harmful that method was). That still wasn’t enough to turn me to God. Instead, I tried to become an intellectual, but that quickly failed. By the summer of 2010, I was partying again, only worse because I knew I had a problem.
God Called Out of the Darkness
My friend and I had National Guard training coming up. We would be gone for three weeks, and I showed up hungover and depressed. He was different. He was going on and on about this youth group he was helping lead at some church. Throughout the next few weeks, he shared the life-changing story of how the gospel changed him. Jesus Christ was now his Lord and Savior. Therefore, it felt amazing to be free from the baggage he had been carrying around. He wanted to devote his life to Christ and the church.
He had some books with him. As we talked, I got interested in and borrowed one. It had much to say about God’s love for me and was filled with scripture references. So, I bought a Bible on the post to read the texts. I was hooked. I was new. Something gripped me about the Bible and God that had never done so before. God became real, and the Bible became alive. And, Jesus became a person in my heart, mind, and soul. I felt the Holy Spirit convicting, reforming, and restoring me into a child of God.
Free Pastor Training at CLI
It’s been almost nine years as I write this. God put a desire in my heart to become a Pastor. I still feel strongly about this, and I continue to follow and live out my faith as a husband and a father. My wife and I have been married for almost eight years. At this time, it is in my family that I find my primary role as pastor fulfilled. We are part of a church plant. One day, I hope to see myself pastoring in this context.
My spiritual dream is to see Titus 2:11 become a reality all over the world, for all people in all times and places. “For the grace of God has appeared, bring salvation for all people.” (ESV). I considered pursuing more traditional means of obtaining an education. However, I’ve found that this nontraditional path I’m on is the path God has set before me (and we see it throughout the Bible). My prayer and hope are that the free pastor training I get at Christian Leaders Institute/CLI’s Leadership Excellence School will prepare me for ministry as a Pastor.
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Ministry Training Guidance
Hello! My name is Nickie Burr, and I am seeking ministry training guidance at Christian Leaders Institute. I live in a small town in the state of Arkansas, in the USA, population just over one hundred. In 1996, both my husband and I received Christ as our personal Savior at the age of thirty-six. We have been serving in our local church in a variety of positions ever since. Up until May of 2018, I had served as a full-time volunteer elementary school supervisor in our little church school for thirteen years.
Since the closing of our Christian school, I have been seeking the Lord as to what His plans are for my future. At this time, I am still somewhat unsure. So, I am trying to take care not to fill my days with too much nonsense and drown out His still small voice when the direction comes. I do believe that the Lord has been leading me into small group leadership. Through this work, I can help the hurting women come to know God’s forgiveness and hope for the future. I hope to do this by sharing God’s love through Christ’s death and resurrection with them. There is a special burden on my heart for women suffering silently in the aftermath of abortion.
I desire the assurance that I will be leading in the absolute truth of God’s Word. I believe that the opportunities available through the Christian Leaders Institute will be a stepping stone to that end. At the age of fifty-nine, returning to school has been hard. However, I am willing to give it my best effort with the Lord’s help, of course. Blessings on all of you at CLI for all you do to minister to those of us with a desire to be used of God to minister. Thank you, CLI, for this opportunity!
Learn about women’s ministry ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.