Conference Center Ministry
Read below about Brianna’s desire to use her training with CLI to bless the people she encounters at her job in a conference center ministry:
My name is Brianna Iler. I am currently living in Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States. I work at a Christian Conference Center here where retreats or conferences of believers will come for a week or weekend to be refreshed, renewed, learn, and be encouraged from the other believers they are around. We get to serve them and bless them while they are here before they head back out to their various jobs and ministries of their own. It’s enjoyable ministry work, but many people that I work with are hurting and lonely. So another girl and I have been praying about our conference center ministry and how we can be ministering, not just to the guests who come through, but also to the staff who need prayer and friendship.
I grew up in a church and accumulated a lot of head knowledge over the years, but it was not until I was 20 that I made the heart change and truly gave my life over to Christ. I was attending Arrowhead Bible College, a yearlong program, and it was like drinking from a firehose. There was so much information and I was just so ready for it. I realized I had a lot of head knowledge but I didn’t really know God, and I wanted to more than anything else.
My ministry dream is to follow God for the rest of my life. I am at a place in my life where I don’t know what God has in store for me. He is teaching me patience to follow him without knowing what is ahead, and I want to be ready and equipped to serve him with everything that I am wherever I am and in whatever I am doing. There will always be ministry in my life if I am willing to listen to God and let him speak through me.
This class at Christian Leaders Institute has really strengthened my ministry dream. I was tired when I began it, thinking I’d just plug away at it and see how it went. I knew that I should continue learning always, and God has used the information I’ve learned to spark the desire for learning even more and to encourage me to continue so that I am always ready when he calls.
Studying the Bible itself has given me so much more confidence that I am living my life in the way Christ said to and there always seems to be more I can pull from it. I want to learn how to study God’s word deeper, to get more from it and understand it better than I do now. After I became a believer, I had to rethink everything I did. I would search the Bible to find what it says about how to be living. God helped me turn completely around and walk the other way.
CLI is the first place I have found where I can be where I am, working in ministry and not making enough money for school, but still get schooling, still be preparing to better help those I am around and work with. Every other place I have looked at is a full-time commitment. I appreciate so much that I can keep learning at CLI, as I am able to take it wherever God calls me and continue learning even now.
Pray for guidance as to how we can be reaching out and getting to know people better, as well as how we can be building a Christ-centered community for God’s glory to strengthen us all in our service and ministry to the guests.
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Ministry Leader Training
My name is Meosha Deveaux and I am thrilled to receive ministry leader training at CLI. I was born on the beautiful Island of Nassau, the Bahamas on February 29th, 1976. I am the third of seven children. I have four kids, one son, and three daughters. I was only six years old when my grandmother died, but it was because of her impact in my life and the hand of the Lord upon me that I am where I am today.
Life for me was less than easy. I was considered as the black sheep, fighting to fit in and be accepted but failing miserably. All my life I wanted a family to give me a place of stability and acceptance. But as a young adult, I learned that I had to first love and accept myself. Because of all the rejection, I faced in life, I rejected myself. I hated who I was. I told myself that it was okay for people to reject me because I felt rejected by God and I figured if He didn’t want me, Him being the one that created me, then no one should. These were all lies from the enemy, and for a while, I believed the lies. But I thank God for His grace and mercy and love. I also thank God for purpose and His Word.
I got married on February 26th, 2000. The marriage only lasted a year and a half before we were separated. I was very selfish, unforgiving and angry inside. I was holding up my own prayer life. My husband died of a heart failure in 2007, but about a year before he died, we were close and we both asked for and received forgiveness from one another.
I do desire to get married again so my husband and I could build ministry together as a team. The Bible to me is a mystery waiting to be unveiled. I learned that I am nothing without Christ but can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I need Him every day of my life and to commune with Him is my pleasure. It is His joy that gives me strength.
After it was all said and done, I started going to church more frequently. I rededicated my life to Christ and later served as an usher. Almost a year later I was commended by the pastor and was then put as leader of that department. After leading the usher department for about two years, I was transferred over to lead special events and later I was serving as a director of the ministry.
I later stepped down from leadership because I never received ministry leader training. My desire is to serve in excellence and knowledge. So during my research online, when I came across Christian Leaders Institute I was amazed. I love the way you teach with such revelation knowledge. Finally, teaching that I can understand and rightfully apply it in my life and ministry. I have learned a lot so far. Becoming a product of CLI would be my pleasure. Thank you, CLI!
Becoming a part of the family of God really changed my life. Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and personal Savior feels great! I am alive in Christ and my past is behind me. I now press toward the goal of the higher calling. God truly changed my life and I am forever grateful!
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.
Church Planter Heart
Read the story of how God redeemed Juan Figueroa from his many trials and gave him a church planter heart for witnessing:
My name is Juan Figueroa. I was born in 1978 and raised in Romeoville, IL. I was raised in the Catholic faith from a very young age, but I wanted to attend a different church. My father didn’t approve at the time but after a few Sunday school lessons, Bible studies and Awana club meetings, I started witnessing to my father about what was happening to me. I’d caught a spark I didn’t know how to turn off and it eventually grew to be a church planter heart for God.
My father was an alcoholic and when he saw me after he came home from the bars, I was his target. I tried everything to get away, but I was still very young. I used God and church as my outlet at that time. My pastor from back then invited me to attend Indiana Bible College. This place had children coming from all over. They preached the Word straight from the Bible and there was nothing better than when I was there. The worse part was the drive back home because I knew what was going to happen. My father would be furious that I had been gone for hours, but I never stopped going no matter what happened to me. Then my father got sick, and I stopped going to church. I felt as if I’d failed.
I felt Christ was in my heart telling me not to give up, even though going to school was rough. I had bullies older than me pushing me around until I could no longer take it. But when I finally stood up for myself I did it in the way my father would have, and I hated myself for it. I knew I was doing wrong, but I felt lost. During high school, I decided to move away to Bainbridge Island, WA with a friend of mine. I enrolled myself in an alternative school named Strawberry Hill. I stayed in Washington until I graduated, but moved back to Illinois due to my father becoming even more ill from his drinking. I went right back to my old friends and my old ways, and I avoided church at all cost. I met my first wife outside of the church, and I can only blame myself for my first marriage and how it ended, though I would never regret my two sons. After many divorce court battles, I ended up losing everything, including my two jobs and all my finances.
I slept in a cardboard box on good days, and on bad days I slept on a yellow slide in the park as long as the cops didn’t make me leave. It was like this for almost three years. I was at a complete loss and wanted to end my life. I wanted to see my kids but I was not allowed unless my ex-wife said I could.
In 2005-2006, I ask the Lord to come back into my heart and guide me in what he wanted me to do. He gave me a church planter heart for him. It was a very hard road to come back, but slowly, it happened. With the Lord’s guidance, I was able to find a job, then a car. I didn’t stop talking to and praising the Lord no matter how my day was. I praised him when things were bad and good. I was sharing the Word with guys at work and they were getting saved.
In 2007, I was working two jobs, I finally got an apartment in Warrenville, IL, and I met my second wife, Norma. A few years later we were married. God blessed me with her even though I didn’t feel worthy. She is a woman of faith, I need her more than she will ever know. I spoke with the Lord to help me to understand my wife truly and to love her better, no matter what battles we may have.
After a few years, we decided to move near family in south Texas. We have two handsome boys and a beautiful daughter. I still have a ton of learning to do to be a better man and even more to become a better husband.
In 2016, I was diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis, and in the beginning of 2017, I had carpal tunnel surgery, which hasn’t repaired anything. I have been praying for God to not give up on me and to lead me where ever he wants. I have totally surrendered my life to him and he has strengthened my church planter heart for him. God has been with me through all my battles and I want to finally be able to do anything for him. I feel so good about my life right now even though I can barely type this.
All I want is to love my God and connect with others so we can all share his Word. My church planter heart wants to open my own church, even if it is only a Bible study or a Sunday school at first. I know the Lord has something great in store for this little town and I pray every day for guidance. I want to be able to pay this forward once we are able to. Our vision is to get the youth to attend some of these classes. I feel awesome about this and I want to thank Christian Leaders Institute and its supporters for this great opportunity.
Learn about minister ordination at Christian Leaders Alliance.