Bible Education Free
I am a Canadian and am excited to receive CLI’s Bible education free. I was born in Sarnia, Ontario. I am the fourth of five children (my older brother died of heart complications at about a month old). My parents were divorced by the time I was 4 years old. My 2 older sisters (aged 6 and 8 at the time) went to live with my dad as he felt they were old enough to care for themselves and therefore less work for him. As my younger sister and I were so young and unable to care for ourselves, my dad didn’t want us and so we went to live with my mom. We tended to move around a lot as my father changed jobs a lot and my mother moved as well in order to stay close to my older sisters. Shortly, after my parents’ divorce, my mother met my step-father.
As a means of childcare, my mother took us every Sunday to the local Baptist church. It was there that I found a different kind of love and support than that which I received at home. I became a Christian at a young age (grade 2) in Sunday school and was baptized and sought church membership at the age of 13. I felt God’s calling at a young age and as a teenager dedicated my life to do what God led me to do.
As life tends to happen, I grew away from the Lord in my teen years and early adult life. I moved into a group home and was introduced to a different lifestyle than I was used to of smoking, drugs, and alcohol, but God never gave up on me or left me. He eventually pulled me back to him and with acceptance and love for me. At the age of 20, I met my husband (who at the time was not a Christian). We married shortly afterward and had 2 children. My daughter Madison (who passed away December 19, 2017, at 18 years old from complications of epilepsy) was special needs (she had high functioning autism and epilepsy). My son Derek is 22 years old and has numerous learning and physical special needs.
Currently, I serve within my church in various capacities: as a greeter, an usher, on the finance committee and as a teller (counting the weekly offerings). However, I feel God is calling me to one of two ministries, either ministering to special needs adults or with parents who have lost children. I have experience in both these areas being a parent of special needs children and also losing a daughter at such a young age. I feel God allowed these experiences in my life so that I can minister to and be a blessing to other people who have had similar experiences. At this time, my church is working towards starting a grief support program. Along with one of our pastors, my husband and I are looking to facilitate this program to support people within our church as well as others in the community.
I believe that learning more about God and his word will be a good foundation to be able to support either ministry that God calls me to. So I searched and found Christian Leaders Institute offering online Bible education free. As I prepared to take courses with CLI, my church has been an encouragement and has also committed to being available to answer any questions I might have. CLI’s Bible education free is important to me as I cannot afford at this time to be able to pay for Bible College. We have to support our adult special needs son. Bible education free at CLI allows me to concentrate on my studies without having to worry about how I will pay for it. God always provides a way for his plans!
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Joey says of his Youth Pastor dream: “My spiritual dream is to write books that answer questions for people who are afraid to ask someone in person and to become a Youth Pastor…”
Youth Pastor Dream
My name is Joey Sanders and I have a writing and a Youth Pastor dream. I live in a great town called Pella here in Iowa. Being a Christian Leader here is amazing because I get to be involved with people and I have a lot of resources to go to in this community. My wife and I moved here in June of 2018. We both attend Third Church here in Pella and it is such a great congregation. So many opportunities to help are always available.
My childhood was okay. I started going to Bible school on Sundays and Wednesdays when I was six years old at the First Baptist Church in Centerville, Iowa. I was exposed to the knowledge of God at a young age. My mother did not have very much knowledge in her life. While I was with my mom, we were exposed very little to God. In 2003, when I was about 7 or 8 years old, my brothers and I were taken away from our mom and placed with our dad on Christmas Eve. It was a very confusing time. My dad was great while I was growing up. Due to him having to work to support three kids by himself, he always worked. I was the one that had to keep my brothers in check. My oldest brother, Tim, has autism. My little brother Xavier also has autism. I am the middle child. Growing up, my dad sought to keep the Spirit of God alive in our home. Somedays it felt like God had left when times were dark, but we always managed to get through everything no matter what it was because “With God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:26.
My spiritual dream is to write books that answer questions for people who are afraid to ask someone in person. I also have a high school Youth Pastor dream to help them become wise and grow in their faith so they do not let their faith slip away. Even though I grew up knowing God, my faith still slipped.
I gave my life to Jesus through baptism on August 7th, 2011 at the First Baptist Church in Memphis, Missouri. However, I did not follow the Christian lifestyle. I was angry, bitter, resentful, and lustful. I was acting up in school and disrespectful toward my parents. When I was seventeen, I left my dad’s house to move in with my mom back in Iowa. Almost a year later, when I was a senior in high school, my girlfriend at the time gave birth to a baby girl. I finished high school a semester early and my faith started to falter. I always had the problem of “fitting in” with others. The people I was around daily wanted to get drunk, do drugs, and smoke cigarettes. I started smoking cigarettes at 10 but had stopped after my dad caught me. I went back to smoking at 18 years old. I was never big into the drug scene but I did get hooked on alcohol. In 2014, I moved back to my dad’s to live with my oldest brother to help him out. By then, my daughter’s mom and I had split for good. That is when my whole world started spiraling out of control.
I realized I needed Christ to live. This is when my wife and I started going together. She has always known God and even knew more about Him then I did. She gave me an ultimatum and told me, “I am wanting to do things God’s way in my life and if you cannot do the same, then we cannot be together.” I thought about it and did some reflection on my life and I thought maybe I should give it a shot. We were living in Centerville, Iowa at the time and started to attend Drake Christian Church. We talked about moving to better ourselves, so I started to apply for jobs and was accepted at a job in manufacturing in Pella.
Since my wife and I have been together, we tried to conceive but we were not able to do so. After we moved here to Pella, my wife and I prayed separately about conceiving. Three weeks after we moved, we found out that she was expecting. It took us over a year to conceive. We are expecting our baby girl Journie Renee Dawn Sanders on March 22, 2019. God has blessed us and that is when I decided I wanted to help others who have been down the path I have been. I want to bless others by sharing the gospel so they can follow Jesus because He is a life changer!
I heard on a Christian radio station one day about Greg Laurie’s Harvest Ministries and I signed up to get his daily devotionals in my email. He has been a huge influence in keeping me straight with my walk with Jesus. I also follow the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I took a class called “Know Jesus” through this association and got a greater knowledge of who Jesus really is.
Free training to realize my Youth Pastor dream is important because I cannot financially afford to learn more. I want to go forward with my calling from God to serve Him. I am going through this training at Christian Leaders Institute to get ordained as a minister to follow my Youth Pastor dream. I pray and bless anybody who comes to this training at CLI to get the training they are looking for and to be successful with it. May God bless you always!
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Read how CLI has made it possible for a disabled single mom to pursue her associate ministry calling.
Associate Ministry Calling
My name is Tanya Mulneix and I have an associate ministry calling on my life. I am blessed to be from the United States where we may worship and serve God freely. I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior when I was 10 years old at my church’s Christmas play. I was raised in a very legalistic and strict manner. We had too many rules for “being a good Christian” to list or remember them all. I lived under “the law” throughout my childhood.
I felt God calling me into ministry as a child, but when I discussed it with my parents I was told I couldn’t be called into ministry because I was a girl. I wasn’t allowed to ever be a spiritual leader. “Maybe you can marry a pastor or missionary” was my parent’s response. Yet, my brother’s calling was celebrated, and he preached his first sermon at 10 years old.
Because of my strict upbringing and knowing I could never live up to those standards, at 16, I rebelled. I started dating the wrong people, wearing “taboo” clothes, makeup and painting my nails – everything I wasn’t allowed to do. I ended up with a teen pregnancy, which ended in a miscarriage and severe depression. I tried to kill myself, but God wasn’t finished with me. I joined the US Army. I loved being in the army until a superior officer raped me. I didn’t tell anyone what happened to me for several years.
My long road to healing from the miscarriage (and two more miscarriages before I was able to have my children) and the rape brought me back to God. But this time, I was taught that we are no longer under the law, but that we are covered by His grace. I also felt God’s associate ministry calling on my life again to minister to and help others. My ministry dream is to be an Associate Pastor or Chaplain or Christian counselor. I want to work behind the scenes helping people with and through their biggest challenges in life and directing them to the love and grace of Jesus.
In December 2017, my family and I started at a new church. We had been happy at our old church and weren’t looking for a new one. But I am a low-income, single mom of 3 teens, and I found a program at another church helping low-income families with Christmas gifts. I had no gifts for my children, so I inquired on the process for the gifts. Requirements were that I had to attend 2 church services; one to register for the gifts and one to pick them up. I almost didn’t go, because I was dedicated to the church we had been attending and the children and I served on several teams. I prayed about it, and the kids and I went to the new church. Our first Sunday there they were holding baptism. My son (who is autistic, struggles to fit in, been saved for 8 years, and was never comfortable enough to be baptized) wanted to be baptized that day. It blew me away. We returned 2 weeks later to get the gifts, and it was another great service. After praying for those 2 weeks, I knew this was the church where we belonged.
As I got to know my Pastor, he encouraged me more and more to pursue my associate ministry calling. He directed me to Christian Leaders Institute and has really encouraged me along the way. I didn’t think I could ever pursue a ministry education. I am a disabled, single mom. I barely have enough food or gas to get through a month. Paying for education wasn’t an option. I had applied to go to Liberty but was told that I couldn’t get student loans to pay for my education because I collect Social Security Disability. CLI has made a way for me to pursue my ministry calling and dreams. Without CLI, I wouldn’t be walking the path God set out for me. I would still be running from God’s plan and feeling I could never be what He wants me to be.
I feel my walk with God has been strengthened through this course because I’m no longer trying to hide from God. I am seeking His will and striving to do His work. It has also brought me and my teens closer to God. They are fully supportive of my educational and ministerial goals and look forward to their own ministries. I am open to relocation as the Lord prompts and leads me.
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