My name is Imelda Huliganga. I am from the northern part of the Philippines, known as Bauang La Union. I now live in Canada with my husband and family. As a student at the Christian Leaders Institute, I am taking tuition-free Christian leadership and ministry training.
My Journey
Raised in a large, impoverished family of 11, I completed high school in Manila. Despite not growing up in the Christian faith, I attended a Catholic school. At 18, I pursued independence and moved to Singapore to work as a domestic helper.
Later, at 23, I relocated to Edmonton, Canada, where I worked as a nanny and met my husband. Challenges marked our early years together. My husband struggled with alcohol and prioritized friends over family. Despite this, we hadn’t embraced Christianity.
New Direction
Our lives took a turn when we moved to another city, and our daughter started attending church with my brother. Witnessing her involvement prompted us to join her, and gradually, our lives transformed. My husband ceased drinking, and we began attending church regularly and actively engaging in serving the community. The birth of our second child solidified our faith in Christ as we observed profound positive changes within our family.
Christian Leadership and Ministry Training at CLI
As I grew spiritually, I felt God calling me to serve as a small group leader within the church. Pursuing Christian leadership and ministry training became a natural progression for me. I am studying at the Christian Leaders Institute to learn more and receive formal Christian leadership and ministry training. This Christian training will equip me and build upon what I learned in my experiences. The training will help me discern my calling more clearly. Despite facing challenges, such as my limited familiarity with technology, particularly with computers, I will not let that hinder my progress. I refuse to limit my capacity for growth. Therefore, I am committed to continuously learning and growing so that I may be a vessel through which God’s blessings flow.
With each step forward, I find myself inspired by the journey that has led me to this point. Further, our challenges have only strengthened my resolve and deepened my faith. I appreciate the chance to tell my story and offer hope to those who might be going through the same difficulties.
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account, which will automatically enroll you in the Getting Started Class at the Christian Leaders Learning Platform. The Getting Started class will take you less than an hour to complete.
When you log in to the Learning Platform, you will notice that the Getting Started Class automatically appears on your dashboard.
The Getting Started Class will orientate you to the Christian Leaders Learning Platform and the Programs offered, including:
- Ministry Awards, Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- Minister Credentialling (Ordination) with the Christian Leaders Alliance, including local Soul Center registration possibilities.
Note: You can enroll in tuition-free courses or mini-courses immediately without finishing the getting started class.
Find out more about women in ministry here.
My Journey to Becoming a Preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
My name is Israel Okolo. I am grateful to God for directing me to the Christian Leaders Institute for ministry and evangelism training. I am currently a resident of Canada but am originally from the eastern part of Nigeria. In my 40s, I am an engineer by training.
My Story
When I was born, both my parents practiced traditional African religion. My father was the chief priest of the community shrines, and my mother also had her gods. At a very young age, my father took my brothers and me to the community shrines during the festive period, and at any other time, they performed sacrifices to their gods. They served us food and meat sacrificed to the idols.
However, I noticed that any time my father was to offer sacrifices to their gods, he first raised the sacrifice towards the heavens while facing the heavens. He would thank the bigger God he called “Chiukwu,” which means greater God. After thanking the bigger God and asking for protection from Him, my father or any other priest would turn to the community shrines to ask for the same favor from their small gods. I became aware that there was a greater God who lived in heaven. I wanted to know that greater God more than the small gods that my community worshipped.
When my father died before I turned ten, my maternal grandmother took me to live with her. My grandmother was a devout Catholic. Becoming a Christian allowed me to offer my prayers directly to that greater God my father always referenced, the greater God living in heaven. Then, I received baptism in the Catholic Church. However, I cannot say I was seriously serving God.
Lukewarm Toward God
In high school, my uncle, a Baptist pastor, took me to live with him in another state. I received baptism again since the Baptist Church wanted me to be baptized by immersion. However, I was not seriously serving God at this time. I attended church to retain my Christian identity and not offend my uncle. What I needed was ministry and evangelism training.
I also switched from the Baptist Church to a Pentecostal Church during my time at university and a few years after my university education. During these years, I did not know God. I did not have a relationship with God. I was just a church member and a churchgoer. This inner voice deceived me, telling me I should first enjoy life and serve God truthfully and faithfully at an old age. I kept forgetting that it is by the grace of God that one reaches an old age. The owner of our lives can decide to take it when He wishes.
Even when I returned to the Catholic Church to marry, this lukewarm attitude continued until 2019, when everything changed. In 2019, I became seriously ill, and my illness was unresponsive to medical treatment. Every hope of living was lost. Before I knew it, I was battling depression and anxiety. Amid all these confusions, my mother died.
New Direction
In my struggles and the search for solutions to my problems, I came across a preacher who preached that our illnesses should draw us closer to God. Immediately, I felt that the message was for me. For the first time, I turned to God. I started studying the Bible with the desire to hear from God. My prayer life changed. I spent hours studying the Bible and listening to Bible messages. Again, because I had insomnia at the time, I used the more significant part of the night to pray and meditate on the Bible passages I read, asking God for mercy. I gradually started to forget about my illness and to focus on Jesus. My depression and anxiety disappeared. I became strong again in Christ Jesus.
After some months, I felt the urge to share some Bible passages with others. Then, I started sharing the good news of Christ in my community. It was mostly one-on-one evangelism. I aimed to speak to many people daily, but not less than two people. After three years of my walk with Jesus, I started making videos of my preaching, posting them on different social media platforms, and continuing with my one-on-one evangelism.
Finding CLI for Ministry and Evangelism Training
I was doing this when God directed me to the Christian Leaders Institute. My journey with the Christian Leaders Institute has taken me to a new level of Biblical understanding and interpretation. It has given me a new view of approaching prayer and fasting. More importantly, it has trained me to carry out my evangelical activities. I am grateful to God and also to the Christian Leaders Institute for the tuition-free program offered to me.
With my training at the Christian Leaders Institute, I now go out there with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and carry out my evangelical activities effectively.
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account, which will automatically enroll you in the Getting Started Class at the Christian Leaders Learning Platform. The Getting Started class will take you less than an hour to complete.
When you log in to the Learning Platform, you will notice that the Getting Started Class automatically appears on your dashboard.
The Getting Started Class will orientate you to the Christian Leaders Learning Platform and the Programs offered, including:
- Ministry Awards, Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- Minister Credentialling (Ordination) with the Christian Leaders Alliance, including local Soul Center registration possibilities.
Note: You can enroll in tuition-free courses or mini-courses immediately without finishing the getting started class.
Find out more about women in ministry here.
Hi! I am Kelley Kain, and I live in sunny Arizona, the United States of America. As the mom to two sons, wife to my husband, and soulmate of over 20 years, I wear many hats. I am a Bible study leader, writer, author, educator, captain of a healing circus, songwriter, and business process manager. Studying at the Christian Leaders Institute is part of answering God’s calling.
My Journey to Answering God’s Calling
I met Jesus for the first time in January 1999 as a college student at the University of Arizona. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a Minor in Religious Studies and went into science research. Not long after I entered my post-graduation work world, I knew I was to work with people more directly.
At that time, I began teaching high school science and returned to school to earn my teaching certification. I earned my Master of Education from Grand Canyon University in May 2006. Teaching led me to realize my love of God and passion for empowering people could be combined. Therefore, I prayerfully acquired knowledge and equipped myself to speak and write as God called me. At this point, I became fearful and did not step into my calling. I was raising a young family and poured myself into our local church body, thinking that was enough and would be an okay trade for my calling to speak of God and write to empower others.
I volunteered for almost two decades in the nursery, women’s, and worship arts/tech ministries at my local fellowship. Further, I had the pleasure of weekly proofreading the sermon and assembling the Sunday bulletin. During this time, I was invested in growth and learning through conferences and Bible studies.
A Life-Altering Experience
In June 2016, I had a life-altering incident where someone kidnapped, assaulted, and raped me in broad daylight. God came to my rescue in the middle of that experience. His unmistakable rescue of me is what allows me to write this today. My assailant did not plan to leave me alive, and just as I thought I would never see my family again, there was the calm but loud voice of the Holy Spirit that told me I would be okay and to close my eyes. I did precisely that.
As I prayed, an undeniable presence entered the scene in a brilliance I could see through my closed eyes. I was at complete peace. My assailant immediately backed off. When the brightness vanished, I opened my eyes to see my assailant looking terrified and ashen white as though he had seen something much more terrifying than a ghost. I knew God sent one of His angel armies to protect me then. My assailant left me alive, and through medical help, counseling, and God’s promise to never leave me nor forsake me, I can write this today.
My Journey to Full Surrender
God called me into ministry service in March 2018 at a Women’s Retreat. There, I had an undeniable experience with the Holy Spirit while praying. I prayed with my leaders at the event, and they, too, spoke wisdom and confirmation into my soul. Excited and apprehensive, I attended the Christian Women’s Leadership Center through WMU to become a better-equipped leader. I earned my leadership certificate, which I thought would alleviate my fear of speaking and ministry. However, it did not. I had to press into God and face my fear, lay down my pride, and realize that God would equip me as He had called me. In August 2020, I received baptism after finally coming to peace with my millions of questions and my skeptical journey with God, which allowed me to surrender in complete trust.
Then, in November 2022, while sitting at my weekly women’s Bible Study, what God had spent years, months, and weeks speaking to me about through the Holy Spirit, which I had not shared with anyone, was now being discussed at Bible Study. I could no longer ignore my calling by doing other things in service. At that point, I prayerfully asked forgiveness for my stubbornness and fear and stepped into penning the scripture study journal collection God had called me to write. I published the series throughout 2023.
Answering God’s Calling and Study at CLI
In May 2023, my family and I entered a new church fellowship. This was a journey that I had no idea would lead me straight into the calling for my life. God knew my heart and orchestrated something unimaginable and undeniable. In June 2023, I met a worship minister one evening while working on my last journal at the church and waiting for my sons to finish youth group. Little did I know this worship minister was the person I was supposed to meet, so I would step into my ministry calling of speaking.
Since June of 2023, I have been part of a healing artist ministry where worship songs are written and performances are used to share the love of Christ with our community. God knew my mission-minded heart and passion for my community. Further, God knew He had called me into ministry. In this opportunity as captain of a circus, I have grown as a speaker and a leader. I also shared my Jesus journey with the worship minister/organization owner, and he confirmed my calling again. He encouraged me in answering God’s calling and offered to mentor me. This is what led me to investigate the Christian Leaders Institute.
CLI is part of my journey to step into my ministry calling to speak of God and empower others to find the truth. I aim to increase my knowledge of God and pursue my ordained minister credential. Then, I can show up fully for others as God has called me.
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account, which will automatically enroll you in the Getting Started Class at the Christian Leaders Learning Platform. The Getting Started class will take you less than an hour to complete.
When you log in to the Learning Platform, you will notice that the Getting Started Class automatically appears on your dashboard.
The Getting Started Class will orientate you to the Christian Leaders Learning Platform and the Programs offered, including:
- Ministry Awards, Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- Minister Credentialling (Ordination) with the Christian Leaders Alliance, including local Soul Center registration possibilities.
Note: You can enroll in tuition-free courses or mini-courses immediately without finishing the getting started class.
Find out more about women in ministry here.