Christian Leader Training Dream
I am Jessica Cordova and I have a Christian leader training dream. I am 27 years old, married, and reside in the U.S.A. in the state of Florida as a teacher. Throughout my life, I have visited various churches and struggled to find a church home. I grew up in a home of “non-practicing” believers. We didn’t attend church regularly or participate in family devotional time at home. I never really found my niche between the opposing extremes of “religiousness”. I somehow thought that maybe I wasn’t cut out for everything the Christian way of life entailed. Later in my life as I began teaching and seeking more out of my life and the world, I started to wonder, “Why am I really here? Is this everything I have to look forward to? Am I living a fulfilling life?” As we all know or come to find out, you wouldn’t ask yourself these questions if you are leading a life filled with satisfaction.
It was in my mid-twenties that I received an interesting gift from my mother in the midst of my conflicting thoughts. It was a Bible, black leather, encased in a zippered pouch. There was a short message from my mother, “Maybe you’ll find this useful.” The book was small but mighty and just the sign I needed to start my spiritual journey. Aside from the fact that I immediately felt lost when I opened it, I also felt empowered by the challenge ahead! The words were lengthy and difficult to understand but I didn’t give up. I went out and purchased my own Bible that was easier to read and had an added bonus of included daily devotionals. Reading through the new translation and relatable stories, I felt a strong reflection and desire for application of the word in my life. I also wanted to aid others in the process of getting to know their Heavenly Father. I became comforted with each reading and prayer I spoke and hungry to learn more. Before I knew it, I was growing in my relationship with the Lord. I was applying God’s word to my own life and using it to fuel and help others in the wake of my own learning. In this process, I recognized my calling into ministry and a Christian leader training dream was born. In my Christian leader training dream, I am using my gifts to work with women and children in the community.
I believe that I still have much to learn before becoming a youth leader or leading any small groups and that is why I am so grateful for the Christian Leaders Institute scholarship. I am interested in continuing my studies and growing in my knowledge of the Lord. I hope to continue to inspire others in their walk with God by teaching and supporting them. I believe that I was made to help others find their way to faith through individualized and unconventional approaches developed by my personal experiences. I know that no one set path will be applicable to every person’s relationship with Him.
I want others to know that we are all created uniquely to fulfill a different purpose. Therefore, we have unique testimonies and temptations to overcome that will eventually bring us to our full potential in glorifying God. This distinction should definitely be celebrated and embraced on the journey! Leading others to the Lord and seeking His guidance to reveal their purpose in His kingdom is a true gift. I am overjoyed by the opportunity to keep people encouraged in the process of walking with God while spreading love and unity in Christ.
I hope to continue on with my studies at CLI and I hope to find a church family nearby that we can grow with. My dream is to become a trained Christian leader within my community and start my own ministry with my husband to share the word of God. Please, pray for our dreams to minister to others. Also, pray that I grow in my confidence in the Lord and my abilities as a mentor to better serve the Lord.
Learn about local ecuministry ordinations at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Gospel Ministry Training
I am on a gospel ministry training journey. I was born in 1981 and raised in East Texas. I started my journey with my family going to a church. When I was eight, the sudden death of my 14-year-old brother rocked our family. Not knowing how to grieve, our family drifted apart from the inside while putting on a false pretense that we were normal, devoted, and moving forward in our family walk. Of course, as children, my sisters and I didn’t understand much of what was going on behind the scenes. We did not see our parents drifting apart until they actually separated. This separation came when I was 13. Up until this moment, my life had been very structured with church and school. I was at the top of my class and a good kid.
I moved in with my father who left the church, moved, and remarried. The structure of my life was gone. Because I had always been a trustworthy good kid, my father had no problem giving me whatever freedom I requested. My relationship with my mother was horrible and my father, with his new wife, gave me freedom and lost touch with much of what was going on with me. At the time I had no complaints about this new freedom. However, we moved to a small town just up the road from where I had grown up to this point. I was hated by many because of my “other” small town roots. I found those who accepted me were the rebels. Skipping class, smoking, drugs, lying, and stealing became me. It all seemed to happen overnight.
I will not include to this testimony all the details of the remainder of what my life has been up until now. It is shameful and detestable. I have spent the last 20 years lost in addictions. It is plural because there have been many. I have spent the last 20 years in and out of trouble with the law, in and out of rehabilitation centers that focus primarily on cognitive intervention. Everything that was taught in each of these programs was sound, intelligent, textbook instruction to changing the way you look at your life. There is something though that no person, book, or system can teach…..How to WANT the change that is needed!
May I mention that throughout these years, I did work, learned a few trades and earned a license as a Plumber. I also met my wife Amie and we started our family. Not all times are hopeless while in addiction. I feel it would be unfair to my wife and children and the progress I’ve made working with my hands if the only picture I painted for you, the reader, was a rotten image of my entire adult life. No, not all was bad, but I have always been confused and I have always been lost.
My wife and I took a plunge in our marriage about four years ago. God was not #1 in our household and we did not fight fairly at all. This unresolved conflict in my marriage led me way deep in addiction to hard drugs again. It is very humbling to talk about. I was a failure in every regard and I had given up. Depression consumed me and all I knew was to attempt to drown it out with more and more substance. This lifestyle also brought me to a prison cell where I found my Bible. I fell in love with it and I thank God for calling me to it. I read and read and read and then read some more. I have a hard time expressing in words how wonderful I feel it is to have a copy of the Word of God available to me. Oh, how lost I was for so long! How though? I always had this book on my shelf! But by the grace of our Father, he has opened up a whole new world for me. I have a new life now in Christ! I am Born Again and while I constantly find myself asking God’s forgiveness, the heavyweights of sin that used to so easily trip me have been stripped off and I have become a Slave of Christ rather than a Slave to Sin.
With this new man I am attempting to become, I find that I am consumed with questions. I am in awe and wonder of God, His Word, and how He is using me. What theology is sound? What is my calling? WHAT NOW??? I know there is a purpose and now I am seeking gospel ministry training. I feel in my soul that my testimony of wandering, sin, and rebellion will be valuable in God’s church. This is my mission! To get training and to help in my congregation in any way that I can to bring others to the Good News of Christ.
Christian Leaders Institute is crucial to me now because it offers everything that I need to take the next step in my gospel ministry training journey and provides it on a platform that works perfectly with my schedule and the demands in my life. Thank you so much for this gospel ministry training opportunity!
Learn about local ecuministry ordinations at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Worship Leader Training
My name is Erin Burkhardt and I am receiving worship leader training at Christian Leaders Institute. I am from North Carolina in the United States of America. I currently serve as a Worship Leader and Music Director at Oasis Bethany Church. My father is a pastor and I started my journey in the Faith at a young age. I was raised in a household where my father, mother, and siblings were all active in ministry at our local church, in our region, and in our church’s affiliations across the globe. For this, I am extremely blessed and eternally grateful.
I now serve alongside my family at Oasis Bethany Church where my father is the Senior Pastor and my younger brother and I lead the worship ministry. Occasionally, I travel to Kentucky and serve as a guest musician at 3Trees Church where my older brother serves as the Worship Pastor and the Production/Technology Director. I also play bass in the Christian band We Were Once. Our mission is to be a light in a dark place and to share the Love of Christ through our music and the way God has gifted us. We have had the opportunity to go on tour with the Extreme Tour and played with artists such as the Newsboys, Family Force Five, Tricia Brock, Disciple, Decyfer Down, Seventh Day Slumber, Emery, Norma Jean, Artifex Pereo, Sumerlin, and many more. We released our EP Piece by Piece and our first single has been on the Billboard top 20 for several months now. We are very excited about what God has done and is doing through this ministry.
Besides my faith, my two major passions in life have always been science and music. I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Using this degree, I taught high school science at Freedom Christian Academy for the last four years. I loved the opportunity to interact with my students every day. I taught them science and how to use science to defend their faith and strengthen their belief in God as opposed to letting misconceptions and false teachings draw them away from their faith. While at Freedom, I also had the opportunity to coach softball where I could connect with many girls on a much more personal level and speak into their lives. While I loved my time at Freedom, I knew that teaching was an intermediate phase of my life. So, towards the end of the 2016-2017 school-year, I chose not to renew my teaching contract despite being offered multiple raises and perks for staying on. I knew that God was calling me to move on, but I didn’t know where or how at the time.
I attended Bethel Worship Nights in Lexington, KY and in the breakout session the tour pastor spoke about planting a seed and going for it instead of letting fear keep you on the sidelines. He encouraged us to write down three seeds that we wanted to plant. My first seed was about going all-in in worship ministry and the second was about attending a school of worship. I had the chance to talk to Pastor Eric after the session and without knowing what I had written he felt that he needed to be bold with me and tell me that I should attend worship leader training and that environment could become the catalyst that launches me into my next season. This confirmed what I was already feeling in my spirit!
After that, I spent a lot of time researching worship schools and praying for my next step in this new adventure. This led me to Christian Leaders Institute. In my research, I found many opportunities for worship leader training. However, since I was coming from teaching at a private Christian school and taking the step to go back to school full time while continuing to serve at my local church, the funds for those programs were quite a stretch. A scholarship from Christian Leaders Institute would provide me with the Biblical foundation and worship leader training that I need while keeping me from going into debt. It also allows me to be able to stay at the church that God has placed me in and continue to serve here while I am becoming more equipped to do what God has called me to do. My hope is that I am able to get a solid Biblical foundation through CLI, while I am continuing to learn and grow in worship ministry. I plan to then take what I have learned at CLI and intern in a worship ministry where I can grow into the worship leader that God has called me to be.
As I make this journey, you can join with me in praying that God continues to make the path He wants me to take clear and that He opens the doors so that I can do all that He has called me to do.
Learn about ordained minister study programs at Christian Leaders Alliance.