Pastor Training Degree
My name is George Thomas and I am getting my pastor training degree from Christian Leaders Institute. I reside in San Jose, California. San Jose is the northern California Bay Area. We are about 40 miles south of San Francisco, California. San Jose is also known as Silicon Valley because it is the heart of the computer industry. Living in the bay area everyone is very busy. Due to the cost of living, many families require husband and wife to work and some are working two jobs. The biggest challenge here is that most people do not have time to reflect and understand their need for God.
I came to God at the age of 17 years old. Basically, my life was torn to pieces by sin and the ways of this world. God had mercy and allowed me to come out of the darkness and step into his marvelous light. My call is to pastor a church that reaches out to those that are lost to bring them to God.
This first class at Christian Leaders Institute has helped me in focusing and receiving a formal education to receive a pastor training degree. The area I am living in has a high standard on education, so this will help me in reaching people in all levels of society. I do believe my calling is to pastor and I have the burden to do so.
The key experience that prompted me into pursuing the ministry was the calling of God. He dealt with my heart and I experienced a desire to share His gospel and reach as many lost souls as I can. This year will be 18 years that we have pastored here in San Jose. As with most works, there are times of rejoicing and there are times of sorrow and broken hearts. However, God gives us the victory. There is a peace in knowing that you are in the will of God despite the trials you face.
As mentioned earlier, here in Silicon Valley people are very busy because the cost of living is extremely high. We face challenges in trying to reach people that frankly feel like they do not need God. There is a commercialization of almost everything in this area.
The church that I pastor has been very supportive of the work here in San Jose. We have reached and continue to reach people that are tired of the system that drains them of true joy. We look forward to the challenge of reaching more people before the coming of the Lord.
I feel the pastor training degree from Christian Leaders Institute will help me in achieving my goal of learning more and being credentialed. I feel it will validate me to some who may have questions in the study and sacrifice it takes in being in the ministry.
Learn about local ecuministry ordinations at Christian Leaders Alliance.
My name is Emma, I am from Melbourne, Australia.
I lived with my parents and one year older sister growing up and all 3 abused me. I spent most of my time alone and crying out to God to take me home to be with him. I always had an understanding that He existed and that my home was with Him, although consciously, I didn’t have a relationship with Him.
When I was 32 years old, I took my own life through overdose. The doctors told a loved one that “IF” I wake up, I will be a vegetable and to expect it. I did wake up, and I am not a vegetable… although my IQ did fall from 141 to 110 which, at times, was difficult to accept.
On December 3rd, 2006 at 9:03am during a time management lecture in a business seminar in Orlando, Florida I met Jesus.
I was daydreaming and remember thinking I wanted what the speaker (Dani Johnson) had. In an instant, God gave me the revelation that Jesus is God, that Jesus is alive and He is living in me. Suddenly I was on the edge of my seat, restless, and wanting to stand up and cry out that Jesus Christ is alive, that He is God and that He just saved me!! At the end of the day Dani asked for (business) testimonials so I put my hand up. I walked onto the stage, she gave me the microphone and then I proceeded to tell the 800 people in the room my testimony of what happened that morning. Dani started bawling as did many others. Dani had been praying for my salvation since she first met me 3 months earlier in Australia.
It was exceedingly tough the first few years of my walk. After having been on the receiving end of abuse for the vast majority of my life, God had begun to heal my heart of the pain of my past… He took me out of the world for five solid years. No secular tv, no job, no magazines, no radio, just the Bible and GOD TV. He took care of my finances for the whole five years. The day my financial support was to end, was also the day I started a job that I’m still in today.
God has called me to Missions. I have been on three missions trips in recent years. His favourite thing to do on my mission trips are weather miracles. BIG weather miracles. Last year in Mongolia at the tail end of the season, the river was half thawed, I told the tour guide that when we wake up in the morning there will be a centimetre of ground cover (snow) as far as the eye can see. She asked me how I knew. I told her that I am a Christian and that I had asked God for it because I really wanted to experience it. She thought I was a bit loopy. I woke up in the morning and there it was, one centimetre of ground cover… I measured it haha I then entered the host Ger and without missing a beat told the tour guide with a big smile on my face “I told you that my God is powerful and answers prayers.” She, with a smile on her face, told me she was in the middle of telling the hosts all about what my God had done for me. Gers in Mongolia also house shrines to their god which is Buddha. We left that day and as we drove, it continued to snow. God provided over and above when He answered my prayer. This is one of a few weather miracles God has performed.
At this point, doing this course is so I can study the Word of God in a more formal setting which will bring me closer to God. God has His plans for why He is leading me to do this.
