Ministry Education Call
My name is George Clark and I have a ministry education call. I found Jesus but he wasn’t the one who was lost. I was born and raised in a small town, the hamlet of Scott in Saskatchewan, Canada, population 75 people. I was a Sunday School regular until our church was closed. Summer Bible Camps are where I came to know God. My teenage years shut down my relationship with God. Drugs, alcohol, gambling became my new friend. This lifestyle lasted for 38 years. I always felt empty. But recently in a dream, I felt my connection restored to God but he also called me to ministry.
My ministry dream is to reach out to as many people as I can. I hope to reach people and help inspire them in their search for Jesus. Christian Leaders Institute has helped strengthen my commitment to God and has made me more determined to follow God’s leading in this ministry education call. I identify the most with evangelist because I am a committed to preaching The Gospel.
As I look back at my life, the empty feeling was so apparent. My call to ministry is to help others who have that empty lost feeling like I used to. I want to be a tour guide on the walk with God journey for others. Since I still live in a small city in a small province, my area to reach out to is small as well. But with mentorship and fellowship, my ministry dream is coming true. My family has supported my dreams and have confidence in me. The Christian Leaders Institute scholarship has given me the ability to become ordained and has filled me with confidence as I work through my classes.
Learn about local ecuministry ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Fire Department Chaplain
I am Ryan Crawford and I am feeling called to be a fire department chaplain. I am writing this in an effort to inspire those who may want to have a role in ministry. I was born in the mid-1980’s in upstate New York to a young couple out of wedlock. My mother’s parents and other family were devout Catholics and frowned upon it. However, they were relatively liberal about the idea of their daughter having a child while unmarried. I was baptized Roman Catholic and grew up going to the Catholic Church with my grandparents who were heavily involved with their local church.
Then tragedy struck. At about 5 years old, my mother left my father due to him being an alcoholic. My mother and I became “nomads” moving from place to place and finally settling in Eastern Pennsylvania. My mother and I rooted down and finally had a place to call home after chaos for several years. We went to church here and there, mostly on holidays, but we kept our faith and she taught me about God and Jesus. A few years later, my father who was threatened to never see me again, chose to put down the bottle and my parents reunited.
Fast forward to my teenage years. My parents weren’t happy with the ways of the local Catholic church and their congregation so we began “Church Shopping”. We tried the Baptist, Methodist, Evangelical, etc. until we stumbled upon the Lutheran Church where we fit, perfectly. I received my confirmation and attended Sunday School and was at every service for years until we moved and I began my employment as a teen getting ready to get my driver’s license. I worked and worked and worked and I never stopped. I stopped going to regular church services due to my work schedule, but, my faith stayed strong.
I then met a girl in high school. We started an on again, off again relationship my senior year which continued several years after school. We too then had a child out of wedlock. The apple doesn’t fall from the tree in some aspects. We then ended our relationship due to infidelity and went our separate ways with joint custody of our daughter. I questioned God as to how this could happen, yet, my faith never wavered. My work schedule continued to keep me out of regular church services. I had also started in the volunteer fire service at the age of 14 and began to see the dark side of life that most people do not have the advantage of seeing. Death, evil, danger. Maybe not the best thing for a teenager to see. I furthered my experience as a part-time paid fireman at the age of 19 which I still do, however, the years in between, I furthered my education, training, and experiences to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) where I saw even more death.
Fast forward to today. After seeing friends, family and patients take their last breaths which made me think: What have I done with my life? Are they going to Heaven? Am I going to Heaven? What can I do to be closer to God and Jesus? What can I do to help my friends and family be closer to God? My goal now is to further my education in ministry and faith here at Christian Leaders Institute. I want to become a Fire Department Chaplain to fulfill my service to my fellow man and my God.
Learn about ordained minister study programs at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Blog Ministry Call
Hello everyone! My name is Jen Zelop and I am studying at Christian Leaders Institue as I follow my blog ministry call. I live in New York which is on the East coast of the United States. From a young age, I can remember calling myself God’s child because truly that was the calling I heard in my heart. From that point on I’ve always had a desire to grow closer to the Lord. Through my life, I had pockets which included God and unfortunately other times, I chose to walk a path of my own free will. It wasn’t until recently that the calling in my heart to get to know the Lord and live by His word became so strong. I could no longer feel at peace unless I let God reign, and it also included sharing with others how He the potter has molded me.
As God spoke to me, He was clear about my journey with Him and how it should include a formal education. To be honest, I am extremely limited in time with my work and family commitments. So when I first heard this message, I immediately knew I would need God’s help and guidance to make any formal education happen. I personally couldn’t figure out how I could be away from my family for hours at a time in a classroom. Also, where I live, there are no local schools within a reasonable driving distance which would provide the education God was calling me to pursue. All I could do was ask for help from Him and wait for an answer. I asked God to show me a school which could fulfill His will for me and I needed it to be time and financially friendly. One morning during my Bible meditation, I heard Him speak. He told me to open up my computer and type in ministry schools online and there it was: Christian Leaders Institute! I had never heard of CLI and couldn’t believe it when I began my research of the school, it was exactly what I needed. I was so excited to get started right away!
I’m early in my process so I haven’t included my local church on this path as of yet. I will though. I’m excited to receive guidance from my local pastor and the support of our community. As I walk with God, my ministry purpose becomes more and more clear. In my blog ministry call, God put the idea in my heart to begin a weekly blog about my experiences. He even gave me the name: Everyday Living with God. It’s going to be my journey through this process and really what it means to live with God every day in my life. Each week when I sit down to write it, I am filled with love and excitement to share all the wonderful things God has done for me and how he wants to do them for others. I’m also being called to take my ministry to the radio. I’ve had a health and wellness radio show in the past and I’m looking to begin it again during 2018, except this time, it will include God and his Word.
I am so grateful for CLI’s existence. I can only commit to an online program during this time in my life and the fact that it’s free is beyond my imagination! Only God can make something like this happen!
Learn about local ecuministry ordinations at Christian Leaders Alliance.