Hello my name is Gary Taylor, and I live in the city of Livonia, which is a suburb of Detroit Michigan. I am married to a wonderful woman of God, Rachel, and work in a rehab center as the EHR administrator.
My story is not one of always being with the Lord. Although I was raised in a home of Godly people, it was not totally God seeking when looking for direction. My youth was spent looking for God and my place with Him, but looking back through the years, I have come to realize that God was not lost or far away from me, but rather I was trying to fit Him into what I wanted. I have always believed in Him and understood what is expected of me, but I spent my time looking for convenient ways to serve Him without sacrificing my desires. This led to many different walks with Him or rather away from Him. I now understand that He was always calling, but I was not answering.
My life changed for me when I walked into a church call Evangel Ministries and heard Pastor Bogle preach on forgiveness. I didn’t answer the alter call that day, but the seed was planted. I continued attending church at Cornerstone Family Worship Center (where I presently attend) where that seed was watered and cultivated until it blossomed into a wonderful relationship with our Lord.
A CLI scholarship would help me continue down the path He has laid out for me by providing a means to become more effective in God’s work. I do feel called to the ministry and am presently leading a Men’s ministry for my church. What the getting started class has helped me to see is the validity of my feelings in being called into the ministry it has also helped me to see how to be more effective not only in my local church body, but also in my first ministry, my home.
Hello, I am Thomas Jena, a male 32 year old, I am doing ministry training in India through CLI’s online Bible school. Let me share with you about the unique ministry method I use in my country. My country name is India and I am staying in the south part of my country. To do ministry there we need to get the permission of Government, this and some political pressure, makes it very difficult to do direct ministry work, but there is a way: to start with social work then slowly introducing Christianity and ministry opportunities, like church planting and other.
I was born and brought up in a Christian family, but I was not a true believer in Christ until after my 10th class when my family faced a big problem, which made me go to church and pray. Slowly God spoke me through His servants and I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.
Soon after I went for theology studies and after completion of my course I started ministry with one organization. Due to a financial problems at the time I was doing part time job and part time ministry. I finally joined an organization where I can do full time ministry. My dream is to become a good preacher and do successful ministry for God’s kingdom here.
I’d like to become an evangelist and church planter. It gives me joy and happiness in life. I want to promote in ministry to those of other religions. But the local church must have support to reach the people though conducting cottage prayer (visiting homes) and taking care of fellow believers. It is very much related to family in ministry here, unless there is support from family, we cannot stand in ministry.
If I get the privilege of a scholarship at CLI, I can complete all my theological degree which will help me to grow deeper and deeper to know God ‘s word clear and right so we may divide God’s word in right ways to preach, teach, and counsel for the effective ministry of God.
Please pray for my study, ministries and for my languages, to communicate in local languages. and church planting ministry .
– Thomas
I am currently residing in New Zealand, but originally came from South Africa. Coming from a background where church and state was intertwined, to a country where these two entities are separated made it difficult to settle at first. My other challenge was to get used to communicating about God and Christianity in English. It sounds trivial, but to go from your mother language to a foreign language, especially combined with something as emotional and culturally ingrained as one’s faith, is not easy.
I have grown up as a Christian and in the church. This was fully supported by my whole family. In my later years, my faith has grown as I grew into my own worldview. I have realized that a life without God, is not a life worth living. I work in a high stress environment and need my faith to sustain me on a daily basis. It is through working in a secular country and a secular work environment, that I have come to the conclusion that I need to focus more on living a life walking with God and that I can through this, develop leaders by making use of a Christian foundation. This has been highly successful as a face-to-face endeavor as well as an online movement.
I realized I needed more than just my current Bible knowledge to do this work effectively. I do hold a PhD in Education, but needed what CLI is offering to support my teaching ministry.
Approaching my studies through CLI allows me to carry on with my current position as a High School Principal as well as my other passions of Leadership Development. I see myself at the level of Pastor in my ministry functions. Interacting with people and sharing the word of God with them, as well as how this foundation can support leadership in any workplace, is very satisfying and I would like to build this out further. A Scholarship at CLI will make it possible for me to enhance this ministry and will allow me to serve as a bi-vocational pastor.
As stated before, I work in a secular environment (underpinned by law) and have found that Christians who are in the same situation need more support. This environment makes it difficult to operate within, especially if you do not want to lose your Christian identity. My vision is to enhance my Leadership Development teaching by building in on a foundation of Christianity. I passionately believe that the world will be a better place if more leaders and managers approach their tasks from a Christian perspective. I am fully supported in this endeavor by my wife.