Christian Leaders Resource
A Christian Leaders Resource like a scholarship-driven free ministry training is rare. Christian Leaders Institute is a generosity-driven school that give this Christian Leaders Resource to eveyone who complete the getting started connection class. Here is a story from Lance Fisher:
My name is Lance Fisher and I am 52 years old. I have 6 children (3 boys from my first marriage, 3 boys from my wife’s first marriage), and 3 grandchildren. I am married to my best friend Lisa. I grew up in a good home with wonderful parents, and a basic knowledge of God. We were Catholic but only attended church on holidays. I was baptized Catholic when I was 18 years old. I went to college for a year in Pennsylvania, but dropped out and joined the Marines. I served 8 years in the Marines. I married young (20 yrs old), and had children immediately. Life was difficult, mainly because I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. After the Marines, I was tired of being poor and decided to start my own business – DayStar Corporation. DayStar was started in my basement during the days, while I worked nights as a Maintenance Mechanic at Frito-Lay. DayStar Corp was a high-tech manufacturing business where I designed and built custom vision and laser inspection systems for manufacturing companies. The business grew fast and was highly successful. It was also very difficult and become extremely stressful. During my time in the Marines and afterwards, I used alcohol as a means to cope. This grew and intensified as my business grew. It eventually came to a head, when my business was at it’s peak, but my marriage was ending. I ended up divorcing and shutting down my business. I realized the problem I had with alcohol, so I quit. This was a very hard thing to do, but it saved my life. I have not had a drink since that day, over 20 years ago. I met my current wife Lisa and got married. Lisa was an Episcopalian.
I got my Life & Health Insurance license and started a new business. I decided to help Senior Citizens since they were easily and often preyed upon victims. We moved to Florida and were in the process of buying a house. We stayed at my brothers house for about a month while we searched and purchased a home. During this time, I would often stay up late and read from my brother’s large volume of Christian books. One night, all alone at around 2am, I came to realize that I never knew God and that I needed a Savior and forgiveness of sin. I was born again in that moment when I surrendered my life to Christ. From the moment of my rebirth, the world came alive and my heart felt joy like never before. God instantly and daily worked on me inside, which was noticed outwardly. I devoured the Bible and we joined a local church (New Life Assemblies of God), where I was mentored by pastor Randy Burt. I started working with young children in the Royal Rangers program. Within a very short period of time, my wife and I began a home Bible study, which eventually led to a home church that had regular attendance of over 50 people. Over the next few years, I served as an itinerant pastor, associate pastor at The Center of Hope, senior pastor of Independent Pentecostal Church, and missionary to Guatemala, Haiti, and Africa. We have since moved from Florida and lived in several states due to my wife’s job. Because of my lack of “formal” training, I was never accepted as a local leader in any of the churches after we moved. It was humbling and difficult for me to accept, but I decided that was where God wanted me and I was to submit and learn from it. And that is what I did. We were a part of a number of churches that we truly loved.
I have always had an insatiable hunger for the Word of God and a desire to continually grow closer to God. I am so excited about Christian Leaders Institute! What a blessing for this world!! My desire is to become a sponge and soak up as much learning as I can from CLI. And because I believe highly in a giver’s model of life, I plan to do so with CLI. It is such a great opportunity to give to this cause of raising up Revival Leaders. After I finish my training I will go wherever God calls me. I am leaving that in God’s wonderful hands and trusting His plan for the rest of my life. I do plan on getting the Bachelors Degree of Divinity and with this “formal” training, other doors of ministry opportunities will surely open.
Ministering in the US is quite a bit different than ministering in the third world countries that I went to. In the US, I have found that people have a hard time acknowledging their need for God or a Savior because there is so much wealth in this country. People have god’s and idols all around them. There is the god of the refrigerator, the god of the hospital, the god of fast food, the god of TV & internet, etc….. People do not see through these vanities, to the wonder of the God who created it all. It is quite different when ministering in a third world country. The people generally do not have this wealth, these idols and gods. Their life is quite simplistic and they can readily accept a God that heals and forgives. They NEED God and desperately want Him when He is shown to them. The memories of my visits to these countries will stay with me forever.
My ministry dream is to become one with God as Jesus was one with God. I believe the closer we can become like Jesus, the more God can use it to share the light of His love in a hurting world. I greatly desire that this world comes to the knowledge of the Way, the Truth, & the Life only found in Jesus. I am not much on titles, except slave to my Master – Jesus Christ. I love it when people come to a higher truth found in Him, when new churches are planted and the love of God is spread in a community. My passion is to preach and proclaim the gospel.
I am so excited to be a part of CLI and intend to take full advantage of the wonderful Christian Leaders resource available to me. I believe that Mentor Centers are an incredible opportunity to promote growth within a region. We are fighting a spiritual battle each and every day, and when Christians come together in a setting like a Mentor Center, the enemy does not stand a chance. The light will spread in this area and the darkness will flee…..
The Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12…… This is one of my favorite passages in scripture. Mainly because it touches me so deeply. The Word of God has completely changed me. I am a different person. Not the same man I was before Christ. And the Word of God did this. It transformed me from the inside – out. The passage says the Word can divide the soul from the spirit. I believe that! Our soul is convicted when the spirit is fed the Word of God. We are shown the ugliness of our nature and sin. This is a godly sorrow which brings about repentance and transformation. It is such a beautiful thing!
The scholarship that is available through CLI is such an amazing Christian Leaders Resource for our world! I truly believe this will change my life in ways I cannot imagine. I am looking forward to the amazing things that this wonderful opportunity shall bring.
Blessings in Christ,
Lance
Pursuing Ministry Training
Join today and receive a scholarship towards pursuing ministry training and becoming a leader in Christian ministry. Christian Leaders Institute (CLI) offers free high-quality online ministry training. CLI accepts any individual anywhere in their life to learn about Christianity. Read a student’s testimony below who found CLI and is using the scholarship for pursuing ministry training to spread the word of God.
Hello, my name is Christopher Nickell. I am 24 years old and am currently living in West Palm Beach, Florida in the United States. I consider myself to have been in ministry for roughly 6 years, as this is when I truly began to take seriously the mantle of living like Christ.
I come from quite a broken family – an alcoholic, drug-addicted father who was almost never around; a young, mother who had not grown up; and two younger brothers, 3 and 5 years my younger. The most recent starting from the age of 15. But, I now have a family through my wife, Abigail. We met at University and her family has accepted me as one of their own.
Further, I was homeless twice, from the ages of 7-11 and from 15 until I started University at age 18. I have sold and done drugs, engaged in gang-related activity, and been the victim of alcoholic abuse for many, many years. My family is comprised of mostly alcoholics who had not completed school, had kids really young, and never truly grew up. Their views of the world are contained in the same cycle which they attempted to escape but inadvertently perpetuated.
These aren’t strung together as accolades for myself, but accolades for Christ and his grace and unending love, that He would reach down and be with me during and despite these things. It was these experiences that showed me the true nature and devastation of the human soul – the desire for connection, acceptance, and love but also the desire to survive at all costs, a common detriment to the former desires. These desires help for an easy target from the Enemy. It is these desires which instill in me a passion for providing the ultimate source of connection, acceptance, and love to all people through Christ, the living water.
A bit more about me. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Communication & Media and a Master’s degree in Church History (more a practical, factual degree than a theological degree). This is why I am here at CLI – to learn and establish basic and foundational biblical and theological training. I am very much interested and have always primarily focused on, establishing an attitude and life that reflects the grace of Christ – utilizing these two facets of Christianity to provide meaningful relationships with the people around me. Through these relationships, I believe that Christ can use me to share his love.
Speaking of sharing his love, West Palm Beach, South Florida in general, has one of the highest rates of drug addiction, rehabilitation, relapse, and drug-related crimes in the United States. Many states throughout the US send people to South Florida to enter rehabilitation programs. Many South and Central American and Caribbean countries traffic drugs through South Florida. Both of these facts combined to aid in establishing quite a poverty, homelessness, and crime ridden area.
Much of the demographic in South Florida is comprised of individuals struggling with the difficulties mentioned above, as well as there is a high population of English as second-language speakers, many being Spanish or Creole. This is the area within which I mostly interact.
I have recently moved back to the United States after living in Hong Kong with my wife and in-laws. My time there resulted in much training in ministry through the church that my in-laws planted, called The Little Church World. My time there was oriented in me a vision for how to reach people, albeit not as direct a manner as traditional evangelism, but rather a relationship-centered evangelism which focuses primarily on providing and emphasizing the humanity and dignity found in all human beings – which I believe truly shares the love and concern God has for each of us and the welcoming heart he has, calling each of us to Himself.
For me, this all started as the direct result of a punishment. At age 15, I had a step-father who was abusive. I would instigate him, in order to steer him away from my younger brothers. I finally had enough and told a teacher at school about it. The next day I met with police officers and representatives from the Department of Children and Families. They determined that there was not sufficient evidence for abuse, and dropped our case. As a result, I was charged with attempting to dismantle the family by my mother. The punishment, to spend 6 months attending church with my grandmother.
This was a punishment primarily because my mother and grandmother did not quite get along. The punishment emphasized more the time spent with my grandmother. Going to church was simply what she did. Throughout those 6 months, I met the most genuine and alive people I’ve ever met. Through their interest in who I was and for my well-being, their concern for my soul, I met with an inquisitive spirit and began asking many questions of the pastor and youth pastor, eventually accepting the truth of who Christ was and what he did for us.
This is the foundation of my ministry dream, which is shaped heavily by my wife. Her passion for people and her love for the Lord have greatly influenced my own walk. Further, she is British but was born and spent the majority of her life in Hong Kong. We just spent the better part of a year there with her family and I have developed a love for Chinese culture. She and I see ourselves pursuing ministry training within Hong Kong and Mainland China – whether that is by literally being in those places, or in the States/England ministering to Chinese expats. Specifically, I desire to help establish communities. If this manifests in church-planting, growth, groups leadership, or even simply housing international students frequently, providing a home away from home to which they can experience the warmth and love of God.
By providing a clear context and ministry training outline, this course as reminded me of the significance and impact that engaging in a daily walk with God has on both your own life and the lives of the people around you. Therefore, by utilizing the material and experience of the leaders of CLI, I expect and intend to grow in both my understanding of Christ and my personal role in developing, maintaining, and sharing my relationship with Him.
What prompted me into pursuing ministry training is an easy question to answer, but a difficult question to articulate. What I mean is, the difficulties and challenges I faced growing up both prepared me and my heart for ministry but also are most of the stumbling blocks and temptations in this same ministry.
Prayers are always desired! Prayers for the stirring of the Spirit; for increased desire to know God more deeply and to share His love more excitedly; prayers for steadfastness in maintaining the attitude necessary to reflect Christ; prayers for a love and purity towards my wife and family; prayers for devotion to learning, learning about God, the Church, and about people and how to best serve them; and prayers for the community with which I interact, that their hearts would be softened to see what Christ has down in my life and what He can do in theirs. I am so blessed and excited for this opportunity CLI has given me in pursuing ministry training.
Check out more stories about CLI students pursuing ministry training and becoming leaders in Christian ministry and much more on the CLI Facebook page
Refugee Ministry Training
MY STORY
My name is Tesfaldet T. Zere ,I was born in Asmara Eritrea. After completing my secondary school, I joined teacher’s training institute (T.T.I). After graduating to be a teacher, I was appointed to be an academy teacher in government schools for seven years. I was from Anglican faith, but at this time a friend of mine took me to a Pentecostal church and got saved. It was a glorious experience. After that, I started working as a school teacher in FINNISH MISSION SCHOOL for ten years. At this time I started growing in Christ and also was attending national teachers fellowship and soon started as a Bible teacher and home cell leader and later a leader of a Zone in a Church.
The Evangelical Church of Eritrea was closed by the government in 2002 and went underground to worship the Lord. Many of the leaders and pastors are put into prison by the police and security because of the Gospel. I ran away from my country and came to Uganda and stayed for eight years. I got married to my wife Yirgalem T. Fisseha and produced our son Emmanuel.
During my time in Uganda, I was serving the Lord mainly to Eritrean refugees in Uganda and South Sudan. In Uganda, I was under the mentorship of Rev. Samuel Kakande. In 2009 I planted a Church C.T.D.M THE THRONE OF GRACE. In October 8/2015 I came to Edmonton Canada as a permanent resident. While I am in Canada, I am still a Pastor to hundreds of souls scattered in Africa through the internet. In Edmonton, I got a pastor friend in a Pentecostal church who tried everything to help me get such Bible school training, but we failed to get financial help.All these years I have been serving the Lord for hundreds and thousands, but I had no papers that show I have a calling as a Pastor. I have every quality and a good knowledge of the Bible, anointing to preach and to minister Healing for the sick and oppressed but I could not afford to go to Bible school. I agree what CLI provided a Free training will help me to get my ordination papers and get a chance to pastor Churches in Canada and the world.