My name is Michael Owen; I am 52 years old, divorced with no children. I had lived in Syria most of my life till I was thirty years old when I left to come to the United States in 1993. I was raised up in a Moslem Society, but I was going to Roman Orthodox Church with Family and friends. Currently; I work in a restaurant as a cook to cover my expenses everywhere, and I am sure my Lord will help me finish all the way if that was His Will. I lost my Father in 1994 after he had a bad heart attaches at age 62 which is very young but it is God’s Will, no matter what, and nowadays, I live with my “angel” of a mother and she is doing great.
I was always close to Jesus deep in my heart and He was on my mind all the time until 2009 almost when I was graduating from College; I had that feeling that I should leave everything behind and follow Jesus, which of course was an invitation from My Lord I believe.
Recently, after long searching all over the internet; I saw online CLI, and I was very excited to find the help I needed to finish my ministry dream in America. It is so interesting to do ministry in America and so easy and enjoyable to be with The Lord.
One night I saw The Lord in either a vision or dream, as a person of light showed up in my room with three angels around Him, but I did not recognize that dream till after a few days. I was very happy that God was inviting me to become His child and servant, or at least I looked at it this way. Jesus and God and Mary always were on my mind, and I loved them so much, believing in the Holy Trinity and the Bible. Then I had that feeling that I should go to school and become a pastor to do something for Our God Who has done so much for us.
I got baptized couple of years ago at my 48th of age, and I wanted to live a life that is pleasing to Our Lord, so I decided to become a Pastor and a Servant Of God which is the word that I identify with most. So I started to live a life according to the Will Of God. I felt that my life is much better after giving it to the Lord, and I felt peace and joy and contentment like I never had. After talking and praying to God daily, and reading the Bible; I have a new heart, and I feel like a new person that I never met before and I am very happy with that.
The key experience in my life that prompted me to pursue ministry is my huge desire to lead people to the Lord, and to save whoever I can save of them.
No unique challenges in my geographic area, or at least I can not see anything that could hinder or challenge me to reach my goal.
My Church does not know about my study except my pastor who I will tell later because it is a huge Church, and I will tell the people I know about my scholarship because they will be happy for me.
My Family encouraged me too and played a great role in my decision that they think that is a great one for my future.
This scholarship at CLI is very important to my ministry dream,
And I want to thank CLI for it which change my life, because CLI is about to make my dream come true by becoming a servant of My Lord, so I will pursue this course to learn everything I need to know and to be ready for my task toward God.
Please; I am asking everybody to pray for me to be successful and make a good pastor that the Lord will be happy with me, and everyone would be proud of me especially my family and friends since they are waiting for me, and keep on asking about how things are going so far.
Born Again
To have eternal life, you must be saved and born again. CLI graduate Charles Chukwudi Philip was born again through God’s grace and has a ministry calling.
Hello everyone, blessings of the Lord to you all. My name is Charles Chukwudi Philip; I come from Nigeria. I was born in a Catholic family of six children, and I happen to be the third child. In my junior secondary school days, I lived with a Catholic priest and had wanted to become a priest. That changed after some time due to circumstances regarding my family welfare. Anyways, I migrated to Europe as an asylum seeker (refuge) to search for greener pasture. The thought and dream of becoming a servant of God in the ministry were totally out of the way as I lived in the world enjoying sin to its fullest.
God used the birth of Charles’s baby for Charles himself to be born again in Christ.
The Lord called me back again when the woman I met became pregnant; it happened that as the time for her to give birth to the child came there were complications. I began to pray and God, being a merciful God, heard me. The baby came out alive but with complications and needed to be in infants intensive care unit. After some hours of her birth, I was told to go to the infants unit if I would like to see my daughter. So I went to the infants intensive unit, and as I got in there, that was when my life changed and took another dimension. I saw infants lying down in a designed bed like incubators plugged into one machine or the other, and I saw my child too. I was speechless, and tears rolled down my cheeks and immediately God spoke, ‘healing ministry’. I came out of the hospital pondering what that voice may be and how to go about it. Afterwards, I gave my life to Jesus even before my child and her mum were discharged from the hospital.
Even though Charles is born again and has a new life in Christ, Satan still tries his tricks to cause Charles to be unfaithful, but God stays faithful.
Satan never gives up; he fought me with every weapon he can muster to stop me from heeding God’s voice that I’ve heard. It has been a rough, tough and painful walk, but the Lord has remained faithful, regardless of my weaknesses, missteps and mistakes. A lot of water has passed under the bridge, but to summarise it, my desire is to have an intensive study of the word of God. The training required was something I could not think of because my income could only take care of my family’s immediate needs.
Being born again, Charles starts to study the word.
I gave myself into studying the word with the help of the Holy Spirt, as well as listening to other preachers preach, which has been of a tremendous help. I am grateful for that. While I was searching the internet for a way out, I came across CLI, and I was overjoyed that at last I could have the opportunity to have a formal study of the word. It would equip me with the insight, wisdom and knowledge I needed to unleash that which the Lord has placed on my heart for His children.
CLI is allowing Charles to be able to have the wisdom and ability to move forward in his calling and his new life.
I believe that CLI will help me to become the leader the Lord would want me to be. It will help me to make a great ministry that will revive, win and bring healing to the people of God, of all ages, nations and race. I am grateful for this opportunity and I pray that God will continue to bless CLI for what they are doing in training leaders who will win the world back to God.
Called Christian Leader – Victim to Victor in Christ
1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are abused sexually. CLI graduate, Brandi Rainwater was sexually abused and faced other significant challenges. Through all that unbelievable pain, Brandi became a called Christian leader that encourages others that have and are facing similar struggles.
I’m Brandi Rainwater native Texan. Raised in Lubbock, TX lived in Atlanta, GA for a few years as a child. Then, moved back to Lubbock. Now live in Dallas, TX with my husband and two children.
I was raised in the church under my uncle as my pastor. I grew up in the Church of Christ, and my grandfather was an elder. My mother got married to her first husband, and we moved to Atlanta, GA. Then, after a year we moved back to Lubbock, by then my mom and her first husband got a divorce. A few years later she got remarried, and this man I remember feeling that something was off with him. He molested me from age 8 to 17. He would tell me that if I said anything he would kill my mom, my sisters, and then me. I was scared for years, he would beat me and do so many other things. But then after I graduated from high school, I spiraled into a life of drugs and alcohol to try to fill the hurt and shame. I got pregnant, and life had a little bit of purpose, so I stopped the drugs. But it still felt like life had no meaning.
Brandi kept looking to fill her void. She went from sexual abuse to more abuse and then to the streets, but God never left Brandi. God prepared Brandi with those tests to be a called Christian leader testifying to others.
I went to okay relationships and to having a job, car, and apartment to losing it all. I was out on the street, living in abandoned apartments, not eating for days, begging people for money and food on the street corners. Then I went to a very abusive relationship and lost everything. Lost not just my house and my job, but my kids. Lost who I really was and became homeless again. Then I went to a women’s protective service. I finally realized this is who I was supposed to be with. I got uncomfortable at the women’s shelter (paranoid that he would get out and kill me) that I left what I grew up around. Then, I asked the shelter if could they move me to Dallas. I called to GOD and said that I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t pick the right man that He had for me. “You guide me with the man that you have for me.” With that, I met my husband. We saw where the other one had been hurting, but couldn’t get past our addiction to alcohol and drugs.
During Brandi’s and her husband’s struggle, God revealed a path that lead to Brandi becoming a called Christian leader for God’s kingdom.
One day we saw a church sign that said this church was going to be opening up soon. We went, and it was so different from any other church that I had ever been to. The worship was incredible then the pastor got up there and he spoke words that I’d heard before, but it was like a light bulb went off, and I needed to get more from it. My husband and I started to change and seek HIS face again. It took me time to see that my husband wasn’t going to fix the issues of hurt and pain, but he was going to walk with me with GOD as our leader. I went to the pastor and asked if I could just clean the church to help. Then, we moved into another building, and GOD gave me a dream about helping homeless people. So I went to the pastor and shared my vision, and he told me, “Then you have to lead the homeless at this church.”
Brandi is a called Christian leader with a big dream. She hopes to help the homeless learn skills, but more importantly learn about God’s saving grace.
That dream was to be able to meet the homeless and relate to them and love them right where they are at. To help them in a building that will not only feed them psychically but spiritually. Where they can come get their GED, computer skill training, career training, and also get training that only the WORD can give them.
CLI is providing called Christian leaders like Brandi the opportunity to have high-quality free ministry training so they can further advance their knowledge and lead others to Christ.
With this training, I want to go deeper into being a better leader, a minister, and a woman of GOD. CLI will help me because I’ve been wanting to go to seminary college to get an education in not just how to present the BIBLE to people but to get better equipped in helping lead others. This will help me fulfill the calling He has on my life and be able to assist those who are like me and called to share their stories to lead others to Christ.
Through God, Brandi has risen from victim to victor in Christ and is leading others to victory in Christ.
Right now I’m new at this leading at a church, but I asked GOD to show me my calling and HE gave me a vision. What I do is all unpaid, and my husband works to not only support our family but to help support the vision that GOD has given me. So a scholarship will be a great blessing as lack of finances is what has stopped me from attending seminary college.
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