Free South African Christian Education
My name is Christopher and I am blessed to receive a free South African Christian education at Christian Leaders Institute. I grew up in a small South African city, in a family that professed to be Christian. However, that only meant going to church at Easter and Christmas. But I was no stranger to church. I sang in the choir of the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint George in Grahamstown from the age of 8 until just after I turned 13. I never questioned whether or not I was going to Heaven when I died. Salvation was not a message that I ever heard preached. I just assumed that Heaven was my destination. It was only when I was 16 years old that I was saved.
I attended a private boarding school in South Africa and a team of young evangelists from a church called “His People” was preaching at one of the boy’s hostels at the school over the period of about a month. Many of the children in that hostel were inviting Jesus to become their Lord and Saviour. Out of curiosity, two friends and I decided to attend a service on a Sunday evening. It was the first time that I ever heard the simplicity of the message of The Gospel preached. It was life-changing.
An altar-call was made toward the end of the service and I literally ‘found’ myself walking forward. I hadn’t made any conscious decision to give my life to Jesus. It was almost like I was being pulled forward by God himself. The young man who had been preaching lay his hands on my head and I fell to the floor, slain by The Holy Spirit. I came to my senses about 15 minutes later filled with an indescribable sense of peace and joy, and words that I didn’t recognize were tumbling out of my mouth. It was a dramatic encounter with a living God and left me without any shadow of a doubt that God the Father, Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit were real, alive and loved me. Outrageously.
I wish that I could say that I was a faithful disciple from that day on. But that would be a lie. This mountaintop experience was with me for about 6 months and for that time I walked very closely with Jesus. But then I started to question the truth, backslide, and eventually, I turned my back on Jesus completely. After dropping out of university, I was bitten by the travel bug and spent the next decade backpacking around the world. I call it back-packing, but a more honest description would be that I was running. Running from myself and running from God. I was looking for answers in all the wrong places, trying to forget that I already knew the Truth.
On my travels, I found myself spending 18 months buried in the Moslem Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. I was working at a youth hostel for a militant Palestinian family who had owned the building for over 800 years. It was originally a caravanserai on the Jerusalem – Damascus road. And so began one of the most interesting periods of my life. It was not my first visit to Israel and wouldn’t be my last. I had worked for a Jewish family on their Moshav near Yehud, a tiny village close to Ben Gurion International airport. And I would work for a Jewish family again on their dive-boat in Eilat on the Red Sea. In total, I spent three and a half years in the Holy Land and explored every square inch. I questioned everyone and everything. I became close to an English speaking Imam at a small mosque around the corner from where I worked in Jerusalem. I still remain friends with Uzi and Nitsa Dekel, the Jewish Moshav owners on whose farm I had picked and packed fruit. And the whole decade of my travels was spent having a party. I got into alcohol and drugs in a big way and lived a hedonistic lifestyle. Then God called me. Again.
I realized that I had addiction problems and chose to spend 6 months at a Christian Rehabilitation Centre in the middle of the arid Karoo region of South Africa; Family Outreach Ministries. One night, I had been talking with one of the counselors and the presence of The Holy Spirit in the room was tangible. Real. Unmistakeable. Mike and I wrapped up our discussion and I headed back to my dormitory beneath the light of a billion stars. Suddenly, I was pushed to my knees by an indescribable force. And for a moment God showed me one facet of an infinitely faceted crystal. He showed me one tiny aspect of Himself and it was limitless. I was crushed, humbled, and for the second time in my life filled with that peace. That joy.
God eventually gave me the woman of my dreams, and when we were both 37 years old we were married. Both of us for the first time. The following 5 years were bliss. Then sadly, my wife was killed in an airline crash in Libya, Tripoli en route to London. I can honestly state that it was only my relationship with God that got me through the next few years. Yes, I got angry. No, I did not understand. But eventually, I got to a place where I could honestly get onto my knees and thank God for every second that He had given me with Bree. And life went on.
Today, I live at and volunteer at a Jesus-focused Christian Care center in rural South Africa. I work as an assistant to the manager. The center takes men off the streets and gives them a roof over their heads, a warm bed, hot showers and three meals a day. We provide work in a structured kibbutz-style Christian environment, and Jesus does the rest. There are healing and restoration and men are touched by God. I don’t get paid for what I do, but I am filled with passion and purpose, peace and possibility. Every day is a miracle for which I thank our living God. I also thank God for the opportunity to study at Christian Leaders Institute. I couldn’t afford a more conventional Christian education, and living on a farm far away from any city, it would be impractical. So thank You, Lord, and thank you, CLI, for my free South African Christian education. I am infinitely blessed.
Learn about minister ordination with Christian Leaders Alliance.
Hello! My name is Ashley Robbins. I am the mother of two beautiful little girls, Kaylee and Lilly. I recently married the love of my life, Justin, on July 26, 2016. Together we live in Pennsylvania (United States) with our dog Koopa. Justin and I are active in our church, where we serve on the creative arts and worship teams. I’m currently employed at a national medical insurance company where I hope to use the training I receive at CLI to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to my co-workers and clients as well as area youth.
My walk with Jesus Christ began as a child. I was fortunate enough to be born in a Christian home where I was exposed to Jesus’s teachings at an early age. Every Sunday was spent at church until I became a teenager and fell away. After over a decade of living in sin, including a scary world of premarital sex, drug use, alcoholism, sexual assault and a failed marriage, I came back to Christ. The decision was not easy, I felt guilty, ashamed and worthless for taking the path I chose to walk – but God’s grace washed away my sins, and he has made me new! I want to use the ministry training I receive at CLI to reach others walking the same path I did. Unfortunately, the path I chose is a road very frequently walked by American youth, now more than ever. I want to reach out to those who are struggling with Earthly pressures and provide them with an opportunity to know and follow Jesus, and to experience his goodness and the peace that comes from being intimately connected with a father who loves you unconditionally.
God’s grace has given me a new life and a new opportunity to fulfill His calling, but unfortunately there are still earthly consequences for the path I chose in my youth. Paying for traditional schooling was not an option for me due to the financial hardships I built for myself. A scholarship with CLI is providing me the education needed to confidently approach others with the Good News. I feel that we are living in a very dangerous world, and we must spread God’s word to as many people as possible because we are running out of time. Every day we have is a gift from God. And every day people lose their eternal lives because they either didn’t know Jesus or chose not to follow him. My dream is to impact a lost generation and bring the hope and peace of Jesus to everyone that will listen.
Couples Ministry Dream
My name is Courtney Rivera. My husband and I have a couples ministry dream to serve where God leads us. I am 22 years old. I grew up in Los Angeles County, California, and recently relocated to Klamath Falls, Oregon, to serve at a church here with my husband, who is a worship pastor.
I came to know Christ when I was six years old when the Gospel was explained to me in a first grade Sunday school class. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and asked Him into my heart. Even at that young age, I immediately started to grow in my faith by reading the Bible, praying, trying to obey God and live a life that pleased Him, and sharing my faith. I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a Christian school, where I learned much of the Bible and how to grow in my relationship with God. I was passionate about growing in my faith and took an interest in missions. I decided that I wanted to be a foreign missionary when I grew up.
However, when I became a teenager, it seemed that God was redirecting me away from foreign missions and toward serving and ministering in my own country, the United States. I was able to go on two local mission trips to Joplin, Missouri, in 2012 to provide relief to victims of the EF5 tornado that occurred there. While there, I was praying for God’s will for my life. During that trip, I knew God was directing me to pursue nursing and to stay and serve Him in my own country. So, when I graduated high school, I applied to the nursing program at Northwestern College in Iowa.
The summer before I left for college, I met Carlos at a church young adults retreat in the mountains. We talked and shared songs that we had written and talked about our common interest in leading worship for our churches. When I left for college out of state two weeks later, we kept in touch. After a lot of prayer about God’s direction for our relationship, we began dating six months later. I returned to California later that year to finish my education and got my nursing license as an LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse). In the meantime, I worked as a volunteer tutor for children with special needs at my former high school for six months.
Carlos and I were married in January 2017 and continued to serve together on the worship team at our church as I worked as a nurse. I enjoyed caring for others as a nurse and was successful in that field. But I began to feel that nursing was not where my heart was at. I missed being able to focus on ministry and missed my volunteer position as a tutor. My husband was working multiple jobs at fast food restaurants while volunteering as a worship leader. We were praying for a position to open up so that he would be able to focus on ministry full time to devote more time to what he felt was his calling for our couples ministry dream. God answered those prayers by opening up a position for him to serve as a worship pastor at a Baptist church in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Earlier this year, we moved to Klamath Falls, where my husband now leads the worship and creative ministry. I have been blessed to be able to work as an after-school tutor at the church’s Student Life Center, which is an outreach program to the community that provides free tutoring services and activities for children from local schools. I also serve as a vocalist and pianist on the worship team and co-lead a children’s ministry class once a week.
One of the greatest struggles in my spiritual walk has been overcoming fear and anxiety. Since I was young, I have suffered from anxiety. I have had to work to overcome fear and anxiety to be able to interact with and serve others more effectively. This keeps me dependent on His strength and not my own. My husband and I have also needed to greatly rely on and trust in God for His provision throughout our relationship. At several points during our relationship, our being able to pursue a passion for ministry did not seem possible due to financial constraints. Again and again, though, God has opened doors that we did not know were possible, blessed us more than we ever expected, and given us opportunities to serve and be used by Him in the lives of others around us. He has shown Himself strong in our lives over and over.
The opportunity to pursue Christian higher education through Christian Leaders Institute is significant to us because we both have a deep desire to grow in the knowledge of God’s Word and in skill to serve Him in our couples ministry dream. Paying to attend Bible college would not be possible for us at this time, as we are recently married and starting a family. It is an amazing opportunity to be able to pursue a quality education in ministry and be able to grow in knowledge and skill when we thought it would not be possible to do so.
Our vision for the future is to continue to serve our church and community. We pray for God’s direction and calling for our future in our couples ministry dream. My husband is passionate about leading worship and helping our church to grow, and I am developing a passion and skill for teaching and mentoring the children and youth at our church. We look forward to seeing what God has planned for our new life here in Oregon!
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.