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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Mission Ministry Call
I am Laila Kumar and I have a mission ministry call from God. I am from the Philippines but now reside here in India because my husband is here. I know God has a plan for me to share His word with everyone. I came to know Christ at a young age in the month of December at our Sunday school. It was there that God showed me the Way. I’m so thankful because I am chosen to be His child.
My ministry dream is to open a mission church here in Jammu Kashmir, India. By God’s grace, I hope to lead people to know Christ as their Lord and Savior and to live their life for His glory.
This first class at CLI strengthened and renewed my walk with God by opening my eyes and showing who I am and why I am here in His word. It has taught me things to consider in my daily walk with Him. It helps me know my God and Creator, to walk closer to Him, to trust Him, to lean on Him. I am to be a light for Him wherever I go on my mission ministry call.
I identify most with being a Pastor and Evangelist because it has a big influence on me as I am a servant of God. God uses them to be an eye opener, to see the need for Him. This is my purpose and why I am here and what my mission ministry call is as a child of God.
The key experience in my life that prompted me to pursue ministry is the grace and the goodness of God in my life. He forgave me and gave me peace and hope in my darkest days that no one can snatch away from me. Now I can share with others that God is always there and will never leave them. He is the only one who can give eternal life. I want others to experience Christ in their life and live for Him too.
The unique challenges in my geographic area are that the people don’t know the truth and they are slaves to old traditions and religions that lead them astray. I want them to be set free from this by knowing Christ as their Lord and Savior. My local church “Patotoo Online Ministry” with my pastor and mentor Pastor Irwin Noriega is on 24 hours and he is always teaching us and mentoring us. We’re blessed to have a pastor like Him, fully dedicated to serving God as well as His family. He is the one who encouraged me to take classes at Christian Leaders Institute where he also studies. He is the one who fired me up to study at CLI to learn more. He is always mentioning CLI and serving in God’s kingdom in his preaching. Deep in my heart and my mind, someone was telling me, “it’s you”, and I know it is the Holy Spirit.
I am thankful to God. I know God has a plan why I am here at CLI and why I came to know and learn at this institute. CLI is important to my ministry dream because it is an eye-opener to me to see what I need to consider to change in me and grow in Christ. Things need to be strengthened, especially to being a responsible believer in Christ in my daily living in dealing in every situation with my family, myself, my neighbors, my community, and so on. Mostly I need to seek God and know Him more and more. I seek to trust and to follow what He wants me to be. I am not to lean on my own understanding but to lean on Him.
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.