In rural towns through the world, volunteer fire and disaster first responders provide an essential service to their community. Christians leaders can also provide a necessary service as first responder chaplains for their community.
First Responder Chaplains can fill the following roles:
• Counsel law enforcement officers, emergency medical and firefighter personnel
• Visit the sick or injured
• Give death notifications
• Teach personnel in the area of stress management
• Perform funerals, memorials, and weddings
• Answer spiritual questions
• Provide assistance to victims and their families in communities to deal with emergencies. Such as fire, suicide, auto or plane accident, earthquake, or times of illness, injury, death or significant trauma.
• Ministers to the imprisoned
Click here to find out more.
First Responder Chaplains
Christan Leaders Institute (CLI) is training first responder chaplains like Rich Kauffman from the United States. CLI offers a broad range of advanced classes for people training to be First Responder Chaplains.
Kauffman lives in the US with his wife and three daughters. Kauffman had experiences in his life that led him to want to be part of the first responder chaplains’ team. “After moving to a new town, I was busy with a new job. My wife was fighting a battle that kept her in and out of the hospital for over four years. I did lose touch with my local church. But my family and I stayed in our faith in our home by celebrating the Lord’s life and talking about his teachings. I have been in public safety since high school and have seen many things throughout my career. These led to a lot of trials in my life. A lot of struggling with how much bad can happen to us all and why it is happening. I fought to understand and cope with these issues.”
Kauffman shared his dependence on God. “I started volunteering with a disaster services group and underwent a lot of training with critical incident stress. Through this, I realized that so many people wanted to use their faith as part of the coping mechanisms they have.” Kauffman sees that people going through tough situation need First Responder Chaplains to encourage them to lean on God in hard times.
Kauffman believes volunteer First Responder Chaplains are necessary especially in rural areas. “Living now in a rural, small town USA, I am looking to become ordained to be available to assist our first responders and the people we help in their times of needs. I hope to help lower the amount of stress induced problems that are way too common in our field.” Kauffman sees CLI as a way to become more qualified to assist on the First Responders Chaplains team. “I am looking to further my training through CLI as a means to offer support to those in my community.”
CLI makes First Responder Chaplains training available free of charge. Click Here to find out more details on how you can become ordained locally.
Nigerian Ordination Story
My name is Abutu Onche Simon Umoru. I was born in 1976 as a Nigerian, brought up in the Northern part of the country, in the Army barracks where my father was serving the Nigerian Army. I grew up in a home with eight children. During my secondary School days, I developed a desire to serve God even as a Catholic, I use to fellowship with other denomination outside our church. As we share the gospel together with the brethren from other denomination, I discovered that there is a vacuum in me that needed to be filled. My life was changed completely in 1994 when I surrendered to Christ and decided to make Him my personal Lord and Savior.
I completed my higher national diploma in management from the Benue State Polytechnic by 2006, after my father’s retirement from active service. Am married to Mary, a caring wife since 2010 and the Lord has blessed our union with two boys. Presently we live in Otukpa, Benue State Nigeria. We fellowship with a church called “The Established Pentecostal Church of Christ”.
In Benue state, we Have lots of Churches. As the middle belt of the country, doing ministry here requires patience and commitment. This end time you see many people attending and bearing denominational names without bearing the fruits of genuine repentance. In my place, people belong to one church or the other, though crime and lawlessness are on the increase. About 40% of the people living in my locality are literate while most of the illiterate ones live in rural areas, since they can not read and write, it makes a rural work more tedious since one will need to adopt the people by using their language to present the gospel to them.
CLI has been a blessing to me; I have obtained a diploma of ministry through there support. I will ever live to appreciate the impact of some of the professors especially my mentor professor Henry Reyenga Jr. There good tutelage has been of tremendous blessing. My learning experience with CLI has been inspiring. Initially, I intended to take only the getting started class. I discovered more of the grace of God shed on my ministerial callings as I delve into Further studies with CLI. My life and ministry is been greatly transformed by some of these courses like the: Church History, sermon construction and presentation, Church Planting, People Smart for ministry, Christian Ethics ,Exegesis, among others. My passion for the presentation of the Gospel has been raised to a level that nothing matters to me like the Gospel. Am now well equipped to present the Gospel at every slight opportunity, care for the members of the fold in my own way as the spirit directs.
Nigerian Ordination through CLI
At ordination, I believe the grace of God will help me to harness all my potentials to fulfill my ministry goals. I have passion for youth evangelism, rural outreaches, Missions and Church administration. Currently, my wife and I are assisting in the work of the gospel in a branch of our church in Otukpa a village in Benue State. As a bi-vocational minister, I feel the ordination will launch me into full commitment to the work as an associate pastor in our church and my wife will be assisting in the musical department.
My ordination will brighten up the future of my calling; I feel the urgent need to present the undiluted word of God to the people of my generation. Like brother Jude said in Jude 3, that we should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints.
I identify with the word Pastor because it is my earnest desire to know people, preach to and teach them the principles of the kingdom that will help them to grow into the fullness of Christ.
Our local Church has been very supportive. The state overseer have been backing us with prayers and giving other necessary guidance during my studies. The church also requested that we share our visions with the senior pastors so that they can pray along with us and serve as mentors to aid effectiveness in our area of calling. I have been requested to forward my certificate to serve the Church after my training and ordination as a pastor.
Please pray that God will release His grace on me abundantly so that, I will be effective in the ministry. That the entire future ministry goal God lay in my heart will find expression as I live to fulfill His mandate alone.
Folami Mwele (USA)
…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)
My name is Folami Mwele, and I am an up and coming pastor in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Not to many years ago, I became disenfranchised with church as usual. Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, I would see other Believers come to church one way and leave the same way. I began to pray and believe God for revival and fresh anointing in the church. Even though, I had been in ministry all my life, I felt helpless in the area of getting Believers to renew their mind, their way of thinking, their way of praying, their way of believing, and their way of having faith that God was still yet able to deliver them in every area of their lives.
My main reason for becoming a pastor was to lead people out of darkness and into the marvelous light. To be an effective witness, and show transparency to other Believers and potential Believers. It is my belief that the only way you can effectively minister to another human being to let them know that you, yourself have had to go through some things, suffer some things, experience lost, ridicule, mistreatment, and slander, all for the anointing on your life. With a scholarship through Christian Leaders Institute, I will add to my experience, and thus become a more powerful weapon for the Kingdom of God here on earth.
It is my vision to establish a church in my hometown of Bessmer, Alabama. With the steady decline in outsourcing jobs and businesses relocating to other areas, Bessemer has become a haven for crime due to lack of jobs and lack of hope. Through my training at Christian Leaders Institute, I will be effectively equipped to minister to every man, woman, and child at the very point of their need though the preaching and teaching of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Here is a brief overview of the my vision.
To extend my present ministry into planting a church
To travel these United States and abroad evangelizing
To begin a Mentoring Center
To establish an extension center through CLI
To build a family life center which will include a fitness center, senior center, healthcare clinic, nature trail with walking trail, resource center, and assisted living facility
To me, every soul is precious, and I believe through a scholarship with CLI, I will be able to give back to my community. Not only will it further equip me, but I will be able to teach others these simple basic biblical principles, and hope that the concept will spread like fire on dry grass. If is also my belief that the church needs to become more proactive in the community. It’s time now now for us as Believers to not only talk the talk, but to walk the walk, thus not just providing a hand out, but a hand up to our brothers and sisters.
In my time in ministry, I have penned five inspirational books, and the information that I have and will gain from CLI will help me to reach more people of every race, creed, age, sex, and background. It is my mission to teach love, and show that love through Christian examples and Godly character. If we as Believers are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth, then we should seize every opportunity to shed our light abroad, and to season well.
In conclusion, I would just like to thank Christian Leaders Institute for daring to be different. Having just finished my first course, I sincerely believe that God has lead me to the right place in order to learn the proper way of shepherding God’s people. Even though many of the ministers in my area have attended costly seminaries, I believe that teaching, christian values, and mannerism of a true pastor is beyond any amount of money, and this is the gift that God has provided for me through your institution.