“CLI is so important to my ministry dream because once I complete this Bachelor of Divinity Degree I can apply to a school to work on my Master’s degree.”
CLI Bachelor of Divinity Degree
My name is Catherine Collins, and I am a citizen of the United States of America. When you know the rules to follow by your city and state, it is easy to do ministry in our country. It is great to be able to bring a soul to Jesus Christ. I came to know the Lord as a child. I went to Mt. Calvary Lutheran School from 1st grade to 7th grade. My mother taught me how to pray at 4 years old. I had a solid foundation before attending the public school system until I graduated from Murphy High School. I developed a personal relationship with the Lord as a young adult when I was 24 years old.
I met my husband, Raymond Lee Collins, Pastor. He talked with me about being Spirit-filled. We were married twenty years before he died. I was baptized at Christ Temple Apostolic Church by Bishop James E. Finley, DD (Pastor). I received the Holy Ghost at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church where Theodore Golston was the Pastor.
My Ministry dream is to continue pastoring with more knowledge and understanding as the Lord leads me. This class at Christian Leaders Institute has strengthened and renewed my Bible connection walk with God by giving me a clear picture of myself and giving me more knowledge on leadership. This class has also helped me to polish my skills as an effective leader, I give God all the glory for helping me to find this school. I really thank God for CLI.
The word I identify with the most is ” Pastor.” Before my Pastor died this year, he ordained me for this new title that God was elevating me to do. The key experience in my life that prompted me to pursue ministry always was my love for Christ and my love for God’s people as I answered the call for leadership.
Some unique challenges in my geographic area are young people and young adults dealing with drug addiction and high divorce rates. My local church, Christ Temple Apostolic Church, has supported me really well in the past. The church has a new pastor now since the death of our Pastor. It’s hard to transition to somewhere else at the present moment. I am working out of another church until God blesses us with a new building, that is why these classes are so important to me.
My family’s role in my ministry calling is very supportive and I thank God for it. My son plays the drums and is the minister of music. My daughters help with the choir and youth ministry. My sisters are evangelists, and my mother is in charge of the hospitality ministry. CLI is so important to my ministry dream because once I complete this Bachelor of Divinity Degree I can apply to a school to work on my Master’s degree. This will open up many doors of opportunity for me.
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Christian Faith Journey
My name is Jason Dobbins from Denver, Colorado. I am on a Christian faith journey which has led me to Christian Leaders Institute to receive free ministry training. I have found that being a leader in Denver has a lot of challenges. We have a small Christian population and influence here. But, I would like to change that and make the church more relevant to the culture and community here.
My first encounter with Jesus on my Christian faith journey came at five years old. My mother and my family (not believers at the time) were influenced by watching a scary movie to feel protective of me. This feeling led to my mother remembering the Lord’s prayer her grandmother taught her when she was young. She spent three weeks by my bedside telling me about Jesus and teaching me that prayer. I fell in love with Jesus and the idea of God at that young age and made Him a big part of my life. I said that prayer and a lot more every night of my life into my early 30s.
Without discipleship and a family attending church, I was left on my own to figure things out. This did not go very well as social influences easily misled me. The Lord and my prayers became my only refuge from a life of continual sin. With no understanding of what it even meant to be a Christian, I got into trouble which led to me ending up homeless at 15 years of age. I joined a gang and sold drugs to survive. However, my heart was soft for the Lord, and in this darkness, He led my heart out slowly after many years of sinful living and mistakes including a failed marriage.
It was not until I was 34 years of age after a life of going back and forth with the Lord and misunderstanding His will for my life that He called me powerfully. My entire life was turned upside down and will never be the same. Me undoing the damage and layers of social conditioning took years on my Christian faith journey. The Lord led a strong Ghanaian pastor into my life who became my mentor and disciple me.
It surprised me to find out how intense and hardcore the Christian life is. The warfare and suffering shocked me, and I almost gave up. But the grace and mercy of my Lord Jesus Christ got me through this time, and I have learned to exercise and build my faith muscles through God’s Word and the power of Christ.
After I surrendered my life to the Lord, I married a Christian woman, and we now have four children. I have been in leadership roles over the past ten years. I have been leading men’s small groups and a food bank and evangelism ministry. I have also counseled and discipled other new believers. I have enjoyed leading or participating in worship for the past nine years as well. My ministry goal is to fulfill God’s purpose for my life. I wish to pour my life out for the Lord and serve Him with all my heart, mind, and strength.
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Ministry Training Journey
Hi there! My name is Bre Lashae. I am on a ministry training journey which has led me to Christian Leaders Institute. I am twenty-nine years old, and I have two children. My first born is eleven, Camryn Paige. My second born, Joseph Aceton, is two.
I was born and raised in Petersburg, a very small town in rural West Virginia. I am the eldest of four. I was not brought into this world by God-fearing parents. So I had to learn on my own through hardship and circumstance. My mother walked away when I was only nine years old, and my father was heavily addicted to drugs. I have gone to bed hungry more often than not, and I was forced to fend for myself at a very young age. By seventeen, I was an alcoholic. I was pregnant with my first child, expelled from school, and homeless. I had no one. I was lost.
As life went on, and I got older, I began to sell methamphetamine and black tar heroin to supply my drinking habit, feed myself, and ensure that I wasn’t alone. I found that, when you’ve got something everyone else wants, everybody will be your “friend”. I was “popular” for a moment’s time, but in my heart, I was completely empty. Inside me, there was a void that no one or nothing could fill.
I was destructive. Dangerous. Suicidal even…and that’s when God began His work. He placed a young man in my life who had been raised a Christian. I watched and listened intently when he prayed. I wanted that sense of trust and hope that God instilled in him. I too began to pray when no one was around. I cried, begged, and dropped to my knees, and I asked God for a way out, even if it meant I had to die. I was so tired.
It was no more than two months afterward that I was on my way to federal prison. I was twenty-one. I fought constantly and spent most of my time alone. Finally, in that cold, filthy cement cell, it was just the two of us…me and God. I was right where He wanted me. I was given a KJV Bible and permitted to leave my quarters only on Wednesdays when I was given one-on-one counseling with a pastor. I was shackled and cuffed, but still, I went, dragging those cold, heavy chains on my skinny, exposed ankles.
Four and a half years I spent worshipping and learning at the start of my ministry training journey. Always hungry for more, my heart was changing, and I felt more alive than ever. I was baptized; reborn. My God saved me from a lifestyle others are not able to escape. Life has been a trial, and I often find myself wondering “why?”
Upon my release in the year 2015, the trial had only begun. My family was very poor. My anxiety was through the roof, so I chose to sleep on the neighbor’s screened-in porch instead, for the sake of privacy and my own sanity. Less than a month later, I received a call that my best friend was very sick, and it was possible that he may not survive through the night.
I sat in the ICU, holding his hand for eight days. I prayed to God and fasted. I fervently prayed for a miracle as my best friend lay there with tubes hooked up to him. I recall the terrified, exhausted expression on his face when we locked eyes. I didn’t know what was best for him. And so, I held his hand and prayed for comfort. I held his hand and prayed that he accept Jesus in his heart. I whispered to him, hoping that I could lead him toward salvation as I watched his veins turn black with poison. This was my reunion with my best friend, my big brother. The one person I could count on.
Despite my pleas, he didn’t pull through. My faith was tested, but I held on. I threw myself into my new job, and I left home. At the new job, in my most vulnerable state, I unwisely got into a relationship with a self-proclaimed satanist, an abuser and an addict. I saw a mission, thinking I could “save” him, and in turn, forget about my problems. Instead, I was trapped in a terrible, manipulative, abusive relationship for three years. I gave birth to a son. I struggled in my faith, I fought with my God. I moved 500 miles from my family, and ultimately, became totally isolated from everyone and everything I held dear. But, lo and behold, my Savior rescued me from sin. My God rescued me from confusion. My Father rescued me from myself, and he brought me home, once again.
That hideous serpent will do ANYTHING to make us feel we are nothing. But God has brought me into the light, and I know my purpose is greater than I’ve given Him credit for. I feel the desire to share my testimony with other struggling women and girls. I pray that I can make a difference with God as my teacher and my guide on my ministry training journey. I pray that I can help others out of the darkness and into a place of unending love and light in Christ.
The devil is a liar, who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. But he will not steal, kill, nor destroy me. My name is Bre Lashae, and I am a survivor. A victor in Christ Jesus my Lord. A humble servant of Jesus Christ on a ministry training journey. And I’m ready for this ministry training journey at Christian Leaders Institute in His loving name. I will go where He leads me and do what He wants me to do for Him.
Learn about Ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.