Online Christian College Education
My name is Rajesh Khadka and I am receiving online Christian college education for free at Christian Leaders Institute. I am from the mountainous country of Nepal situated in South Asia between India and China. I am 24 years old. I completed my MBA recently from one of the colleges in Kathmandu. I am currently working in United Mission To Nepal for the earthquake victims with multiple integrated project components. I am designated as Finance Assistant. I was baptized in the year 2007 by my Pastor. Currently, I am a member of Asim Church which is a part of Asim Ministry. I am also serving as Youth Leader and worship leader. I am also the coordinator of Asim Ministry.
To recall my childhood, I grew up in a slum area of Kathmandu with not much money or possessions. My family had to struggle a lot financially. It was a difficult time for my family. Through God’s grace, I had some good people around me who were willing to sponsor my education. With their help, I was able to enroll in a good school and this made me prosper in the knowledge of God. I was slowly going through my grades.
Then the greatest tragedy happened when my father passed away when I was 12. This made me broken from within and the whole family was torn apart. Six months after the death of my father, my mom left me. Then, God sent my sister as my guardian and she raised me after those years. I stayed with her until my high school. She helped me a lot to make me the person that I am today.
My church pastors and leaders were also helping me through my tough times. I graduated from my high school with good marks and then got admitted to a university for my bachelor’s degree. During this time, I was working as Admin & Finance Officer in Space Overseas Pvt Ltd. I was also focusing on God’s Kingdom during this time. I was working with youth and Sunday School teaching. I sometimes led the worship at the Saturday service in my church.
Asim ministry consists of 12 different churches. One of the churches is in Bhaktapur district and the rest of the churches are in Dolakha district. Dolakha district is a mountainous district and consists of the rural areas. The ministry works through these churches and helps these churches to spread the Gospel of God to these places. The people are deeply rooted in their customs, traditional norms, and values. Most of the people follow Hinduism as their religion and are heavily influenced by their religion. The Christians are having a difficult time in preaching the Gospel of God in these places. Recently, seven Christians were arrested for preaching the Gospel of God. They were put in jail for more than a week and later released. Such are the conditions where my ministry reaches.
Despite all the difficulties, we are happy to reach out to the people with the message of God and give them the gifts of God with Bibles, templates, and other various materials. Being a coordinator of the ministry, I am responsible for getting together different events and setting out various strategies for reaching out to more people. I try to make several contacts within or outside of the organization for the betterment of the people and the ministry.
The recent earthquake in Nepal severely damaged the churches in the ministry. Eleven out of the 12 churches were completely collapsed and the believers had to attend fellowship under a tarp. This caused the ministry financial difficulty. The ministry had to go through a restoration process of these churches and this was possible through several helping hands and prayer. The restoration process is not still completed, but I am very sure that God has a plan for the restoration of these churches. I am optimistic about the direction where this ministry is heading.
My main aim in life is to serve the Kingdom of God. I want to reach the maximum number of people with the message of God. I want to tell them that there is hope even during the darkest of days and that the only hope in life is Jesus Christ. Through Christian Leaders Institute, I want to develop the insight and knowledge of biblical perspectives for reaching out to the people. I want to learn how to be an effective leader and how to be an example as I lead my youth, the church, and the ministry. I want to understand the will of God in my life through the study of the courses at CLI in this online Christian college education.
Thank you all for having such a wonderful concept of providing online Christian college education and required certificates. This will provide a wonderful opportunity for people like me who cannot afford the fees to attend a college. I am able to acquire God’s knowledge and wisdom from the place where I am now through CLI.
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Ordination Training
My name is Karey Gaston. I am receiving ordination training and ministry training at Christian Leaders Institute. I am 56 years old and currently live in Big Lake, Alaska. I have been married 35 years to my wonderful husband Ralph. We have 3 beautiful daughters, 3 awesome son-in-law’s, and 4 granddaughters. I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska and raised in the North Pole area. My husband and I met in Golden Colorado in 1980. Within a year of meeting, we moved to Alaska and have called it our home ever since.
I was raised Episcopalian but my family was never really active in the church. At 16 years of age, I became curious about God and started searching for a church. I was saved and baptized at a local Methodist/Presbyterian church at age 17, but had no one to disciple me. After being accepted into the Colorado Institute of Art at age 18, I moved to Denver. At that time, I was not walking with the Lord. It was not till 1986 when my husband was born again that I re-dedicated my life to the Lord. We were very active in church and the word of God but both were still struggling in our walk.
In June of 2002, after a spell of about 8 months of not going to church, my daughters asked me to start taking them back again. Within 2 weeks of attending church, I had a moment at the altar that I feel changed me for life. I once again re-dedicated myself to the Lord and became so desperate for His love that I truly laid my life down on that day. My husband was not at a point to come back at that time, so it was a struggle. But I just kept pressing into my relationship with God.
By August of 2002, I found a local church to be my home. In 2003, my husband was arrested and went to jail for 5 ½ years. I went through the darkest time of my life but never felt alone. I sensed that God wanted me to stand by my husband, and I did. He surrendered his life over to the Lord and began walking with Him right where he was within the prison system of Alaska. In 2005, I was introduced to a ministry that was starting out up here called Blood ~N~ Fire Ministry of Alaska. I felt led to become involved but had no idea of what God wanted me to do. In faith, I stepped out.
Our mission was for the poor and broken-hearted to feed, clothe, and find shelter for them. We started out delivering food and clothing for families in need. Within the first year, I became the Secretary/Treasurer. The following year, I became President of the Board of Directors. This is a position that I held until October of 2014. At that time I stepped down to take on the Executive Director position of which I am currently serving in.
Blood ~N~ Fire Ministries serves our community with a Food Pantry helping an average of 600 families per month. A Clothing Pantry dealing strictly with new clothes serves 50 families a month. Our program, The Knik House, is a Christ-based transitional housing program currently serving 23 men, 10 women, and 5 children. We are supported mainly by churches and individuals support.
In January 2014, my Board of Directors voted to have me ordained as a pastor for this ministry. I was surprised that they could see me in such a position. Through prayer and seeking the Lord, I realized that He has called me as a pastor. I have been working within that gifting for the last 7 years. I spent some time researching online possibilities that could work with my need for on-the-job training. I soon realized that I was lacking a strong knowledge of the Word of God. That is when I found Christian Leaders Institute. At the time I started, CLI was not doing ordination training but I understood my personal need for a deeper foundation. So I decided not to concern myself with being ordained. After 3 months time, CLI began offering ordination training so I was able to begin moving in the direction necessary to properly equip my calling.
Our local church has supported us financially and spiritually for the last 11 years. The ministry started under the Crossroads Community Church umbrella in 2005. We became our own 501c3 in 2007. The outreach that we had in our community allowed us to reach out to many people that would not attend a church or had been victims of past hurts.
My mentor, Sondra Markwardt, looked up the CLI curriculum to see if she felt that it would be a good fit for me. Sondra is a recognized leader, a pastor, and the wife of Pastor Phil Markwardt, my pastor for over 11 years. Phil is now a Chaplain for our local prison system. After Sondra’s consent, I decided to move forward with the studies provided by CLI.
The ordination training and ministry training that I have received from CLI has been life-changing in how I am able to minister to clients on a daily basis. My knowledge and hunger for the Word have increased greatly. I would not have been able to accomplish this without the availability of such online training. I was able to move at my own pace while working 2 jobs at the beginning of starting this schooling. For this, I give you my gratitude.
In closing, I ask for your prayers for the purity of heart, the oneness of mind and spirit for our Board of directors, staff, and volunteers. Please pray for the wisdom of the Lord for continued expansion of this ministry and outreach. And most importantly, that we would continue to be a light within our community, and beyond.
Learn about ordained minister study programs at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Ministry Training Calling Journey
My name is Porche Darlene Colvin and I am on a ministry training calling journey. I am from Baltimore, Maryland in the United States of America. Where I am from, it is very challenging being a Christian leader. With a town full of many non-believers and a hate for growth, I simply pray for my city daily. As a child, I was in church literally every day of the week for ministry. I was very dedicated and devoted to all the ministries I was involved in. I loved going to church and having a great time praising the Lord.
I have known the Lord all my life, but it was when I was incarcerated in 2016, I really found him. He became real once I fled from my wicked ways and thoughts. I walked and talked with him daily and have not left his side since.
My spiritual dream is to empower those who are faithless and weak in faith and help lead them to Christ or closer to Christ. My biggest obstacle has been facing the fact that not all of those who call themselves “Christian” are genuine in their Christian walk.
I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior as a child and through seeing His wondrous works. Now, having children humbles me daily and shows me how I could not make it without the help of Christ. I want to be a light to my children so they can see God’s wondrous works in my life.
Free ministry training at Christian Leaders Institute is a true blessing to me as I follow God’s ministry training calling journey for my life. I hope to use my Christian Leaders Institute training to go into places where the people need someone to lead them to Christ and on the path to righteousness.
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.