Youth Minister Training Dream
I am Lacey Sauvageau and I am following my youth minister training dream. I was born in the United States and currently live in the Pacific Northwest. I live where church attendance is relatively low, however, people are open to hearing about God. There are a lot of churches near where I live and they all strive to reach people and share about the loving and healing nature of God.
I came to know the Lord at a young age. I went to Sunday school and learned about the Bible. I spent my middle school years and the beginning of high school active in church volunteering in the children’s ministry and helping in church events. I walked away from the Lord for a couple years as I thought I could direct my own life. At the age of twenty-two, I realized the Lord needs to be the sole director in my life and I came back to the church.
Through my youth minister training dream, I would like to serve the youth and help lead them. I would like to make a difference in the youth and share the love of God and biblical truth. I am also interested in women’s ministry. My desire is for God to lead me and show me where I can best be used.
I have learned a lot in this first class at Christian Leaders Institute. I learned more about who God is. I learned more scriptural truths and reaffirmed the decision that I want to serve in the church in a substantial and tangible way directed by God.
Youth leader or small group leader is where I identify most. I feel a calling to minister to youth and help lead them. I want to be a mentor to youth, grounded in sharing biblical truths and scripture with them. In my work as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, I see the broken and hurting world and I want to help minister to the real needs of our youth, which is a spiritual connection to God.
I want to pursue ministry since returning to church after I was gone for two years. This time, I have a real and personal relationship with God. It is no longer selfish and one-sided. I understand the urgency and importance of a deep connection and personal relationship with God. If I can show other youth the reason(s) to avoid walking away from the church and to stay involved, I would feel accomplished in my ministry.
The challenges in the Pacific Northwest for ministering to youth is keeping them involved and interested in church. It is important to have an engaging, relevant ministry. Too many outside activities and interests have our youth’s attention.
The Bible is the important tool and resource for hearing from God. Scripture is where you learn the true nature of God. Through the Connection course, I read scripture I have never read. It showed me about God and how to connect to God in ways I have never thought of. Through reading the Bible, prayer, and taking this course, I am forming a closer relationship with God.
My local church actively helps to flourish member’s ministry gifts and calling. If you like helping and serving, there is community service work and events to serve in. We are always learning more about ourselves through small groups. There are opportunities to lead small groups. The pastors are here to talk with, encourage, and build up members to reach all the dreams God has placed in their heart.
My boyfriend is very supportive of my dreams and attends church with me. My sister and mother see my dreams and encourage me to go after them. My grandmother is an active and involved church member and offers spiritual advice and we talk about the Bible frequently.
Attending CLI is important as I work full-time and cannot attend traditional seminary school. I want to continue to work full-time and serve in the church part-time. I would like prayer for God’s will in my life and how I can best use my gifts to serve Him. Also that I will find ways to reach the youth in a relevant and engaging way through my youth minister training dream.
Learn about local ecuministry ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Training Christian Leaders
I’m excited to have come in contact with Christian Leaders Institute as I am training Christian leaders here. My name is David Musonda. I’m a Zambian residing in Pretoria the capital city of South Africa. I’m married with three children: one son and two daughters. We have been married for 28 years.
I was saved in 1981 and filled with the Holy Spirit three years later. I attended church at United Church of Zambia in Luanshya, where I served as a youth leader till 1987. Thereafter, due to doctrinal issues, especially on baptism in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, we were asked to leave the denomination. This was a countrywide excise. We immediately mobilized ourselves and formed a youth ministry with the core purpose of keeping and guarding the youth against falling away from the faith. We called this movement “Youth Revival Ministries.” I was elected to lead this mission till 1990 when Grace Missions became a church.
My call to ministry came in 1985 in a night vision where our Lord appeared to me and gave me a mandate for the harvesting of souls for his kingdom. I got so excited and almost left school to pursue the vision but the full time only came in 1989, when I received an invitation to study for ministry in Botswana. By then I had just gotten married to Susan and a month later by January 1990, we were on the bus to Botswana. A step that has kept us on the mission field training Christian leaders since.
I graduated with a diploma in ministry under Faith Christian faith training school, founded by Dr. Buddy Harrison in conjunction with Bible Life Ministries in Botswana. We planted the second branch of Bible Life Ministries in 1991 and pastored it until 1994 when I felt the need to improve myself academically. In 1994, I enrolled as a foreign student with National Bible Institute, Oxenhill, Maryland, USA. I graduated the following year with a degree in ministry training. I felt the Lord lead me back to Africa, to South Africa. I went back to Botswana and served as dean of students until a way was opened to move to South Africa in 2000. Our mission to South Africa has been centered on training, church planting, and pastoral care. In 2005, we extended our mission to Malawi, which has proved to be more fulfilling. We currently oversee 27 churches in mainly the southern part of the country. We are experiencing phenomenal growth and hence the need to continue training Christian leaders is my focus.
Most of these churches are in remote parts of the southern district. We have a national local overseer who reports to me and he’s doing a great job. Every year, we hold a three-day conference and attendance keeps growing. A great number of salvation of souls are registered. In South Africa, we are serving under God’s Kingdom as pastors responsible for training.
We feel strongly to step up our commitment to Malawi by sourcing for funds to help put up church building structures in these villages.
Since 1994, I’ve not furthered my self in terms of studies except that I love reading Christian literature and this has helped. But the need to upgrade my qualifications is a must and gives me an advantage to get in nations to do Gods work. Thus, I came in contact with Christian Leaders Institute while browsing at the internet cafe and immediately submitted for enrollment.
The scholarship at CLI will help me serve and improve my quality of service and of course expand my association with other servants of God in the field. It will also give me material I can pass on to leaders to improve their competence. I need to mention also that my wife is a trained minister of the word as is our firstborn son who majors in Christian poetry. I enjoy preaching, teaching, church planting, and music.
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Preaching Ministry Training
My name is Marie-Louise Kellner and I feel called to get preaching ministry training. I’m 21 years old. I live in Leuven, not far from the capital city of Belgium. I have two nationalities, I’m half Belgian and half Algerian. Therefore I grew up in a strong Muslim family. From my most early childhood, I grew up with the traditions of being a Muslim. The matter of fact is that I NEVER believed in God until I turned 16. When I was 12, I lost my father and that led to my downfall into drugs. I couldn’t cope with the pain of losing the man of my life, my hero and my best friend. When I turned 16, I overdosed for the second time. It was pretty serious as I stayed in a coma for 15 days and 3 months in the hospital. Pretty messed up, right? During my stay in the hospital, a pastor visited me regularly. Thanks to him, I started to ask myself the big questions about life and about God. From one thing to another, I started to believe that there was a God that actually loved me. But it wasn’t the God that my mother believed in but a God whose Son’s name is Jesus. Five years later, I’m still believing in Jesus, with ups and downs, and I love my new life!
A few days ago, I was looking through the internet to find some online classes on theology and preaching ministry training. It has been a while that I’m thinking of starting to be more involved in the church that I go to. I have felt like I have a call to lead people through the word of God. Then, a few weeks ago, the lead pastor of our church had a revelation about me that showed him I was going to be preaching the Gospel in front of a church assembly. To do that, I need the right training and education. And I believe that Christian Leaders Institute will provide me with the right tools to accomplish my calling.
As I said in the previous paragraph, I feel like my calling is in the preaching ministry. But just attending normal college classes of theology is not that easy for me. That is also why I was looking for a digital version that I could study after my work shifts. But even by working a lot of hours, I can’t afford a traditional training. Therefore, this scholarship at Christian Leaders Insitute would really help me go further in discovering the plans that God has for me in my walk with Him.
Learn about local ecuministry ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.