My name is Shayla Cresse. I was brought up in the Christian community. I was saved at the age of 7 and have strived to follow Jesus since. When I was in High School I wanted to be a Worship Pastor. Music and worship was a passion of mine. Since then I have dug deeper into the word and would like to be a Pastor. I identify most with Youth Leader, my husband and I have recently become the Youth Leaders of our Church. There was a need for a Youth Leader and we stepped up. Since then God has led us down a path I never would have guested would be the plan for my life.
I live in Florida and the biggest challenge for me would be to make sure I do not fall into the temptations of society. Where I live it is all about money, statues and what you look like. My Pastor has been a big encouragement and mentor in my ministry calling. He has given wonderful advice and mentorship. My husband has been a blessing through my ministry training. His encouragement, love and support has helped keep me going.
In order to grow in ministry I need the correct bible training to equip me for the future. A scholarship at Christian Leaders Institute would allow me to obtain that. I need prayer for strength to continue on in what Jesus has called me to do and the opportunity to fulfill it.
Though I can pinpoint my true moment of conversion to high school, I can look back over my life and see God’s hand constantly in my life, leading, guiding, helping, correcting and healing me. He has always been present, walking with me to help me be all that He had designed for me to be. It’s been a long road, but it’s been one that has many revelations, joys, sorrows, triumphs, failures, growths and power. It is my greatest desire to be all that God has called me to be, to do what He desires (even those things that frighten me), and to live a life that is passionate and empowered.
I currently reside in the USA. I was born and raised here. The freedoms we have here are stunning and it saddens me to see them abused for immoral reasons. I am grateful that God allowed for me to be born in this time and this place for His specific purposes. I do not currently serve in ministry, as God has been doing some pruning and shaping in my life, but I do have personal ministries that I host on Facebook, including my online purity page and my Bible study page.
Though I was raised Baptist, I consider my truest moment of surrender to be in High School at a Pentecostal door scene, where Jesus met with me and called me to a firm dedication in my walk with Him. Before, my heart and soul longed and cried out for a true relationship with Christ, though at the time I couldn’t put the longing to words, but after years of learning at His feet, I now know what my heart wanted…but the presence of teachers and mentors in this realm were few and far between.
My ministry dream is to fulfill the call of God on my life in the realm of Radical Purity, teaching woman and young ladies the truth about holiness and purity as a follower of Christ. I identify most with the word “Pastor” or “Apostle” and “Teacher”. I am not sure if my calling lies in youth ministry or women’s ministry. I am waiting on God for that direction. As I see that purity isn’t just a young issue, I believe it is a combination of youth and women’s ministry.
I found that no one would be an encouragement, mentor, teacher or accountability partner when I struggled with my own battles in purity. One day, as I mourned the rejection of a local church that was hosting a purity event, God said, “Why don’t you study it for yourself?” That was the first time He called me and since then (that was about 7 or so years ago), He has moved and refined and guided and led me to a deeper call to purity than I could have ever dreamed of reaching for on my own. This call to purity is so radical that even Christians are resistant to it.
It is difficult where I live to find mentors. In our community, the thought of mentoring is nearly dead. Friendship is also hard to find, especially the caliber of friendship one seeks where it is a passionate relationship with Christ that the relationships form around. Otherwise, though, I have a pretty open place to share the gospel and reach others, as most are receptive to talking about Christ here, whether they agree or not.
It is difficult for me to find church support in my ministry call. But, that is all right, as I know that Christ has His timing and plan for it. All I need to do is obey and prepare. My mom is very supportive of the calling, but since it isn’t a call she feels attached to, she isn’t a co-laborer in this. Most of the support I’ve found has been through other purity connections online. This is great because of the resources and the discussions we’ve had that have helped keep us on track and encouraged.
I cannot afford college without debt. A few years ago, I was accepted into an online seminary. All I had to do was sign the loan papers. As I was about to do so, God told me, “You haven’t asked Me what I want,” I then asked Him what He wanted and He told me that He would never have me get into debt to do His will and go to college. The admissions person told me that that was unrealistic. For years, it seems like it was, but when I found CLI online, I felt like God was showing me the truth that I’d believed all along: He has His timing and His plan. I just needed to wait and trust Him. To be able to do this for free is such a blessing and I do intend to pay for the degree at one point without the need for a loan or debt, which is perfect for me.
Please pray that I hear God clearly and I do what He would like for me to do, that I don’t put my dreams above His call, and that I make sure that I don’t give up or settle for less than His best, just because it’s easier or gets me somewhere faster.
I like to be creative and so I draw and take photos and write. God has given me talent in writing and so that is where I excel the most, though I like to dabble in art, despite my minimal ability there. I love animals and birds distract me with their amazing beauty. 🙂 I am pro-life 100%.
I blog and I like social media. I use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. My favorite translations are Amplified and The Message.
My Name is Paul Manda, was born in 1987 from a Roman Catholic family, I am a Malawian but moved to South Africa in 2011, since I have been here been sharing the word of God to deferent kinds of people more especially to the youth, most kids in the community are very dangerous in such a way that the stand in the corners robbing people with knives, I did a little research on the kids I use to minister too, and I found out that most kids luck parenting and they are easily influenced by peers, so they join little gungs smoking and doing drugs, teenage pregnancies, and other kinds of sins, it’s been a challenge ministering to these kinds of people in this country.
My father was too mobile when I was still young and they saw that it was going to be very hard for me to go to school so was sent to stay with my aunt in the city, I grew up in a Pentecostal family who helped me to live a good life, and for so long I thought I was saved by looking at how I was living, I was a faithful church member, and I was part of ushering in the church, hearing the word of God everyday did not change the fact that I was unsaved until one Sunday in 2005 when the message was being preached I felt the conviction that it’s not by my works but by the grace of Jesus, I gave my life to Christ that day, I then attended a beginners class at our church and got baptized after the classes.
My dream ministry is that I reach out to everyone with the gospel without fear and with the full knowledge of the word of God, but more especially to the youth, both here in South Africa and my home country Malawi, to be able to open a charity center to help those who are in need, and be able to be a parent to many orphan children who lucks the parent love.
I remember at high school my very first time to preach to my classmates, people started calling me Pastor Paul, some people even came to me for a spiritual advise, even after high school I helped a family that was about to divorce, I shared with them the word of God prayed for them and led them to repentance, they still call me pastor, yet some people consider me to be a youth leader because of my passion and effort I put on ministering to the youth, for three year my church has put me as a director of the youth.
People still comes to me to help them when they have issues in their families or their personal lives, because of luck of the knowledge in ministry it has never been easy, that’s when I was compelled to pursue ministry so that I should gather more knowledge to be able to assist those who need assistance through me.
The community I live is a small area, but churches are almost on every corner making it very easy for ministry.
The church does not know that I am studying, but my pastor knows and he encouraged me, he told me that he had seen a calling in me and he was about to tell me that I should go to a bible school to study.
My family has taught me a lot and supported me when I was weak in my spiritual life, they prayed for me and encouraged me in every way they could, they shared the word with me and through them I realized my calling.
A scholarship will help me a lot since though I am working, but I don’t earn enough money to pay for tuition fees at a bible school, also considering the fact that I am not in my home country, it’s never easy for me to raise that money for fees, through this scholarship I can be able to study and continue ministering effectively without any setback.
Pray for me that God should use me more for the salvation of many people, especially the youth because there is a high number of youth dying, and they die without knowing the Lord.