Church Planter Education
A church planter education is usually something that costs a lot of money. Christian Leaders Institute has made this formal training free of charch. Here is Andrew Elliott’s story and how he found CLI.
Andrew Elliott – United States
I live in the Bend OR a mountain resort city in the western United States. There are a lot of church in my city, but there is also a high suicide rate. I believe this is because so many people move here to get away from their old lives and they don’t have family or friends in the area. This creates a lot of loneliness and isolation. Which is a key reason for the high suicide rate?
I grew up in the church but walked away fro God in my late teenage years. I became a heavy alcoholic and became ensnared in a deep addiction to pornography. I had one child, and my wife was getting ready to leave me. It was at this time that my friend took me, passed out drunk, in the back of his car to a pastors house for help. During one of our meetings the Holy Spirit opened my eyes and I finally saw the damage I had created in my life and the life of others. I wept for 40 minutes and gave my life to Jesus. I received a new heart that day but did not know how to live the life God was calling me to. I didn’t even know how to be a good husband or father. Thankfully I was blessed to have mentors come around me and teach me how to live.
I own two furniture stores in my city and am the Associate Pastor at our church. In my many years of business training, I’ve seen the value of investing in building a quality team of leaders to increase our opportunity for growth. What I love about CLI is the vision of creating leaders and mentors all over the world. It is my dream to see people freed from the slavery of sin and then to go beyond freedom by being activated in the amazing calling and life of adventure God has for their life.
Church Planter. As an entrepreneur, it’s my passion to break up the ground, build a foundation and create a space for opportunity. I believe churches are the greatest place for an opportunity in this life and I want to be God’s partner in starting more.
My salvation. What I have experienced through Jesus must be shared with others.
Surrounded by beautiful mountains and rivers, this is a true nature’s paradise with many people moving here to “get away” from life, explore nature and pursue their pleasure. We also have nearly 20 alcohol breweries and many marijuana dispensaries in this small city. It is truly a place where people seek their pleasure. It is difficult to get people to gather together for worship and Bible study on a regular basis.
The Senior Pastor of our church is the one who mentored me out of my addictions 17 years ago. Because of his investment in my life, I moved with him to Bend in 2012 to start the church where I currently operate as his Associate Pastor.
When I first started giving myself to ministry, I saw my family as an obstacle. They required time and energy which pulled me away from my passion to build the church. Over the last several years the Holy Spirit has taught me that my family is my first ministry. Being their father and pastor is my first joy. I love to have them participate with me in ministry, but I also love to take time out to just enjoy them and allow them to enjoy me. I’ve found they are God’s instrument to refresh me and keep me energized for the long game of ministry.
As a small business owner and volunteer pastor, I have found that finances have played a key role in keeping me from pursuing formal ministry education. The opportunity to enrol with CLI for church planter education is a huge blessing for our family and me. I also see it as a huge blessing to our church, our city and to future church plants I work with. They will be true beneficiaries of the training I receive.
As a vision-driven leader, I can get to focused on the work at hand and forget about the basics. Please pray that my personal walk with God stays at the center of my life and ministry. Pray that I can always share from what I am living rather than what I have learned.
CLI offers a complete curriculum for both house church planter education and church planter education all free and online.
Read more stories at Facebook
Credible Officiant Training
Greetings. My name is Douglas. This CLI training is Credible Officiant Training perfect for my situation.
I was raised in the church, baptised at an early age, and was devout until the 15th year of my life… My challenge came from the church “firing” our pastor at the time. A man I loved and brought vibrancy to our small congregation.
So, I left the church, asking God why He would allow such a thing to happen and who were these evil people leading our church? For the next 40 years, I stayed away from the church, referring to myself as spiritual rather than religious. Then, I was asked by a dear friend to officiate their marriage ceremony, since I’m a notary, and allowed by state law to solemnize marriages.
I agreed.
Off I went down this path. Little did I know, it was God’s hand helping me find my way back to Him. Now as I’m blessed to spend time with these couples on one of the happiest days of their life, I reflect on Matthew 19:5-6 and 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13. Having answered the call to establish a marriage ministry, I deepen my knowledge and understanding of our (and my) relationship with God.
I’ve been blessed to perform 150 weddings to date using an online ordination. Now having found CLI, I wish to legitimize my ministry ordination. I ask for prayer from all who read this for strength to continue on this path, and for blessings, upon those, I’m privileged to give a start down the path of “we” and their newly formed family.
This Credible Officiant Training is registered at the Christian Leaders Church website…
Check CLI out on Facebook
Leading Home Groups
My name is David Smith and I live in the South of England near Portsmouth, UK. I’m married 2 years to my beautiful wife Kathy and I work as an IT Systems Administrator.
I gave my life to Christ as a young lad at the age of 10 but after a while became a bit of a complacent Christian. I cared greatly and deeply about other people’s feelings which caused me to go a bit adrift, I wasn’t going to church as much, my prayer life diminished. My life just seemed to fly off the rails a bit while I was growing up and by the grand old age of 39 was plunged into complete chaos of a magnitude that even I couldn’t truly comprehend. Without going into too much personal details I essentially lost everything that I had ever strived and worked for in life. I lost my home, possessions, and my family. The reasons behind these were not of my doing, but because of my nature of caring for people I was essentially taken advantage of on both emotional and financial levels which led me to my fall, I became an utterly broken man.
It was in this brokenness, you could say I was at the very bottom of the barrel, that the Lord met with me. He told me that He loves me and that I am forgiven, I was given 3 phrases all of which were perfectly clear. I was to TRUST, LET GO & FORGIVE and I would HEAL. From this day onward I put all my trust in my Lord Jesus knowing that I could not live life as I had as this was leading me to destruction. My life and circumstance improved in leaps and bounds within a matter of a few months, as my Dad put it, “David I am rejoicing in what the Lord has blessed you and I with, my prayers have been answered and you have truly come home to your Heavenly Father”. I started to meet regularly with my brothers and sisters in Christ at church bringing praise and worship back to our Father and started to grow and grow in the Spirit. I liken my trust to God, Jesus and Holy Spirit now to that of a child standing on top of a shed. My Father is on the ground calling me to jump into His arms, I can hear Him say, trust me I will not let you fall. So this is now every day of my life living by the Spirit in faith and trust. God has reshaped my life through my obedience to Him and made me a stronger man both spiritually and emotionally.
I mentioned at the very beginning that I live in the South of England. During the very brief outline above of my brokenness I was living in the North of England in Yorkshire. Now God loves each and every one of us and here now is an example of such love. After getting back on my feet and into work again a year or so passed. It was announced at work that the company was going into administration. The news though disappointing did not upset me, why? My trust is in my Father and I knew that he wouldn’t let me fall. I prayed about the situation and asked the Lord to provide a job but most of all to send me where he needed me to be. In faith I applied for jobs all over the United Kingdom in the field of IT Systems Administrator. Out of 72 jobs applied for only 1 job interview was given. The interview was arranged 3 days after applying and was over 200 miles away. In faith I went to the interview and 5 days later was offered the job to start in 10 days time. Wow things were certainly moving. There were of course 2 obstacles, I needed a car as this job was for a mobile administrator servicing various locations in the area and also I needed accommodation. I didn’t have any capital at this time to buy a car. I committed this in prayer and trust and said to our Lord, if this is where you need me to be Lord then please provide the solution to these needs. I accepted the job offer and walked each day in faith and trust. 3 days before I was due to start the job in the south there was a chap who stated that he had heard about my predicament and wanted to give me £1000 to buy a reliable 2nd hand car, 1 day before I was due to start I was given a call to say a room was ready for me nearby to my new work. Wow, Lord you have supplied again, praise Your Name. Everything rolled perfectly from the move to starting the new job.
A few days after arriving in the South of England I met Kathy on a Christian dating site. Her catching statement was simply “I want to meet another person who loves our Lord Jesus”. My catching statement was simply, “Jesus is my first love and He comes before anything and anyone else”. We seemed to hit it off very well and agreed to meet. From our very first meeting we felt an attraction which quickly grew into a love that we couldn’t possibly describe. I attended church with Kathy, Kathy had an active role in the church as a Worship leader. Our love for each other and our love for our Lord grew deeper and deeper every single minute of every day. We decided to get married. The Lord continues to bless us each and every day. We put Him first in everything we do and seek His will for our lives both as individuals and as a couple.
I now take an active part in church life, where God is making wonderful changes in people, encouraging and building. His Name be glorified for his love and blessings poured out on us all.
I know the Lord has called me to my area to lead and encourage in ministry and has equipped me greatly to bring His Word and encouragement to others both in and outside of the church sharing Gods love, Jesus, the Kingdom and His Word with all. This scholarship will help to bolster this both spiritually and academically for me and open a door. I also hope and pray that this statement helps to encourage others who may read it. God loves each and every one of us, trust Him in all things and step out in faith.