Deaf Ministry
CLI student, Stephen Persinger, is reaching a hidden world as he describes it. In order to reach this world Persinger has started a deaf ministry.
Read Persinger’s story below:
God knew what he was doing when I became deaf at 9 months old. He placed me into this hidden world, that is, the deaf world. Since then, I’ve become very involved with the deaf community, and their culture. I also became fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with many deaf people, and with family and friends.
I grew up in a Christian family and decided to accept Jesus as my savior when I went to a Christian youth retreat when I was a teenager. Later during high school and college, I got sidetracked. During that time, I prayed for a good day every morning. That’s all I prayed for until God sent a good friend into my life and woke me up from an apathy lifestyle. I realized my mistake and ever since then my hunger for God has continued to grow.
At the time, I was living in Rochester, NY. I completed my degree in Criminal Justice and met my wife, Mercy. It was obvious that God placed my wife and I together for His will to be done. Both of our hearts are hungry for His Word, and His powerful presence.
In June 2014, we went to World Deaf Assembly of God (WDAG) conference in San Francisco. At the end of the conference, I was offered a job in Salt Lake City (SLC) in Utah. My wife was very uneasy because it was out of our comfort zone on the East coast. A few days after the conference, God clearly showed us that He wanted us there in SLC by pouring peace on both of our hearts, and obvious words of confirmation from God through a Deaf pastor who knew absolutely nothing about the job offer. We decided to take this leap of faith to obey our Heavenly Father and accepted the job offer and move there. Two fast weeks later, we moved there. Now we can see why God sent us here. The deaf community here is so hungry for the words of God. Some are quite confused about what to believe in. Some are hurt and scarred from religion. Some are deceived. The big challenge in this state is the large number of Mormons also known as Latter-Day Saints (LDS). Therefore, there’s a large number of deaf Mormons which makes it challenging. To us, it looks like a giant mountain that seems impossible to cross, but we know God is even more enormous and to Him, the size of that mountain is like the size of an ant. He can do the impossible, as long we follow and obey Him.
Since I moved to Utah, I was surprised to see that there are very few true Christians in the deaf community. They are so spread out, so there’s no dedicated church for the deaf. That’s when I’ve discovered God’s desire to start a deaf ministry in Salt Lake City. I’m often told, “Why don’t you become a pastor?”. I have been resistant to the idea of becoming a pastor, because I do not enjoy speaking in front of large audience, but it is possible God wants me to be a pastor. If that’s what He actually wants, I will obey. I found a deaf pastor in Minnesota who worked with the deaf community there for many years, and he agreed to mentor me.
Since I moved to Utah, I was surprised to see that there are very few true Christians in the deaf community. They are so spread out, so there’s no dedicated church for the deaf. That’s when I’ve discovered God’s desire to start a deaf ministry in Salt Lake City. I’m often told, “Why don’t you become a pastor?”. I have been resistant to the idea of becoming a pastor, because I do not enjoy speaking in front of large audience, but it is possible God wants me to be a pastor. If that’s what He actually wants, I will obey. I found a deaf pastor in Minnesota who worked with the deaf community there for many years, and he agreed to mentor me.
The CLI scholarship will allow me to receive the training I need without adding to the financial burden, and since it’s all online, it’ll give me the flexibility I need with my busy schedule. Please pray for our deaf ministry here in Utah and that the people here will be enlightened and receive the full Gospel. Pray that God will send the right people to help set up the backbone of the church and create a secure foundation in the real Jesus Christ for a strong outreach to the community. Pray that Holy Spirit will continue to lead us with wisdom and discernment.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19
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War Veteran Receiving Ministry Training
Phillip Lewis is a war veteran receiving ministry training at CLI to minister to the large population of war veterans in his area.
Lewis is a Silver Vision Partner with CLI because he wants to be a part of making free ministry possible worldwide.
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My name is Phillip Lewis. I live in the United States in Portage Indiana. I came to know the Lord back in 1992 before I graduated from high school. I backslid off and on for many years. I was called into ministry when I was in the program Teen Challenge, but I was still not spiritually ready or even mature enough at that point in my life.
I believe my calling is to help disabled Veterans, as I am one myself from the Iraq war, and also to those people who are suffering. I believe the word that would best describe me is an evangelist, or minister because I want to minister to people and share with them the joy of Jesus Christ.
The key experiences in my life that have called me into service was my time in teen challenge and my combat experience in Iraq. In my opinion, the veteran populace does not have the support that it needs from civilians, just due to the fact they cannot relate to combat experience like someone who’s been there. The unique challenges I face where I live is there is a high veteran population and hardly any services for them. I did start a small group called independent veterans Society of Indiana but was unable to keep it running. The local church Garington Covenant helped out by letting us use their basement for the group, as far as getting help with ministry training I have had no help.
My wife is very supportive of my calling, and she says I would make a good pastor. The scholarship Christian leaders Institute would provide will be helpful, due to the fact I am on a fixed income. I can learn at a faster pace as well since I have a lot of time on my hands. I would ask that you pray for my health and that God will open the right doors for me and put people in my life that are filled with his spirit.
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An Addict Redeemed
After two DUI’s and dark addiction, this CLI student is now an addict redeemed and is seeking ministry training to reach addicts.
Read this student’s story below:
I was born in Virginia in 1994. I am my parents’ middle child, born between two sisters. When I was eleven months old, my family moved from Virginia to an Alaskan bush village called Aniak, where we lived for five years. My younger sister was born in Anchorage while we were living in Aniak.
Shortly after I turned six, we relocated to a suburban city in North Carolina, my parents pursuing more plentiful opportunities for their growing family. It was here that I really came to know God in my younger years, regularly attending church on Sundays (and most Wednesdays) and always participating in Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, et cetera.
For a while, we attended a somewhat traditionally-styled First Baptist Church, where I professed my faith and was baptized. Later, we moved to a larger, more contemporary church. Here, both my parents were very actively involved in the church, and I became well-acquainted with many of the teachers, leaders, and pastors. I began to have hopes of growing up to become like them, helping others to see the beauty, grace, and love that I saw in God, even at a young age.
As I grew older, my parents began to experience some marital problems. This thrust me into a long search for what I truly believed, a turbulent time questioning who God was and how He could allow a seemingly-perfect family like mine to be torn apart. The Christian household I was so accustomed to was broken, and I had no idea why or what had happened to the God I had once loved whole-heartedly.
In the midst of my confusion and the chaos of the house, I was introduced to drugs and alcohol by some older students at my school. Quickly but unknowingly, I fell into the evil grasp of addiction. Through high school, I managed my addiction fairly well, not allowing it to get in the way of my education but slipping farther and farther away from God and the church.
Upon graduation, I was awarded an academic scholarship to a private college in the foothills of East Tennessee based on my grades and test scores in high school. On the day before I left North Carolina for Tennessee, I was charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. With the help of an attorney, I was sentenced to a year of supervised probation, which I completed successfully while still partaking in illegal substances.
I began my college education in pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media. I now dreamed of becoming a big-name movie director, the next Spielberg or Kubrick or Tarantino. As with high school, I did not allow my addictions to get in the way of my schooling and maintained a Dean’s List grade point average, but had completely lost all faith in God.
As my college career continued, I was introduced to harder drugs, and alcohol became an increasingly intensified substance of abuse. I struggled with deep depression and anxiety. I had decided the best way to cope was to self-medicate with prescriptions that were not my own. Many times the feelings of loneliness and worthlessness became so unbearable I contemplated suicide, wondering how I had gotten to so low of a point in my life. Occasionally I even cursed God for everything that had happened to me.
As my final year in college was coming to a close, my life had gotten completely out of hand. I had lost the ability to sleep at night without consuming drugs and alcohol. I spent my time either using drugs or finding ways to get them. In early March of 2016, I was charged with my first DUI after hundreds, if not thousands, of times driving drunk. I was arrested and spent a night in the county jail. Later that same month, while I was out on bond from the aforementioned charge, I totaled my car by driving into a tree, intoxicated on alcohol and other drugs. I walked away from the car with only minor bruises. This night, I received another DUI and spent several nights in jail. Looking back on the event now, I believe God was watching over me and knew that my life was not meant to end then and there.
As the realization that I had a problem with drugs and alcohol set in, I decided I needed help. It was a problem that I could not handle on my own. I sought help in a psychiatric hospital in East Tennessee and was later sent to a 28-day inpatient treatment center. I completed the program, learning more about my addictions, my depression, and my anxiety. Each day I strove to reestablish my relationship with God, knowing that He was the only one who could restore the peace I once knew.
My ministry dream is to work with other addicts and alcoholics trapped in the throes of active addiction. I believe that this group is often not reached as adequately as they need to be. I feel that addiction is something that can only be truly understood when a person has experienced it firsthand. I hope to share the message of God’s love, grace, and mercy with people who struggle with the same problems I faced. Addicts and alcoholics are people, just like everyone else, who deserve to know of the salvation offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
A scholarship to the Christian Leaders Institute is the only way I can make this dream a reality. With the current legal situation I am in, as well as the money I owe to the college I attended, money is extremely tight for me. I feel that God has called me to reach out to a group that other Christians have a hard time addressing. I hope that, through my testimony and a solid education in the word of God, I will be able to help others come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.