Learning to Minister

Learning to Minister

CLI Student Leaha Brisbois is learning to minister by taking CLI classes. She wants to bring the peace of God as she learns to minister to others.

My name is Leaha Brisbois. I live in the United States; Pacific Northwest area- specifically Washington State. Religious expression is a freedom that Americans are very fortunate to have so ministry can be easily shared. Ministry is simply the act of sharing God’s truth in hopes of leading someone to make an important life change for the best. We can share with anyone pretty much anywhere. Some might welcome it; some may not… but that’s o.k. because a seed has been planted.

I came to know the Lord in 1994 when I met my Husband Richard. He was well in love with the Lord and made it known to me during our very first phone conversation. He told me about how wonderful God is and even shared his own testimony. He always ended our phone conversations with a prayer. He also told me that God changes lives. One day, I said “o.k. God, let’s see what you will do with my life.” Our first date was on a Saturday at the state fair with our children. Our second “date” was the next day; He took us to church. I was attentive to the Pastor even though I didn’t always understand everything that he was talking about. Richard assured me that this was an amazing thing about sermons. Not everyone gets everything every time, but we get what God has for us that day. Within weeks, I was baptized.

My ministry dream is to use music and conversation to tell people about God. I love to sing, and I want to learn to play the guitar and keyboard. I imagine myself in living rooms, behind the pulpits or even around a campfire playing a guitar and singing about the Lord. I guess that I identify with the Evangelist most because they are the ones that create a spark in me that just lights God’s fire in me and the words of God get it roaring. I feel refreshed and revived every time I hear an evangelist.

This past year, I was in bible camp feeling empty. I knew I needed something, but I didn’t know what. In hind sight, my light had gone out. I remember going up to the alter and feeling heavy about my family, mainly my dad and my children. My dad doesn’t believe in Jesus, and my children’s focus is elsewhere (but they all know Jesus). At camp, A lady came to pray with and for me. We talked for a long time, and she taught me how to pray for my family in a way I’ve never done before. She told me not to worry about them because God has them in his hands. I felt so much better. I also knew that perhaps it was me that was supposed to tell my dad the truth about God even though he lives with a devout Catholic. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but God assured me that I can do anything, all I have to do is just do it. He told me that I could NOT fail – that if He is with me, I could do anything and it would not fail. All I have to do is just open my mouth and tell what I know – that’s it. How EASY is that? Truly!! How much easier could God make it? I realized it was fear keeping my mouth closed.

Geographically, there are not many challenges for me. The only challenge I see is that I live in the mountains; neighbors are far, and few and winters can be rough to travel in. I currently do not attend church. The nearest church is about 10 miles away, but we don’t attend there anymore due to some belief conflicts and a lack of “spiritual food.” Since leaving, my husband and I were determined to find spiritual food somehow. Perhaps on an online course of some sort that would fill us with God’s word in a manner that gave us joy, peace, and understanding. We wanted something that could truly educate us and would allow us to properly minister to others. Perhaps even start something in our local area. But for now, we are content with just learning.

I believe my family’s role is to simply accept my prayers for them and to listen when I tell them something that I’ve learned; this also helps me learn to minister to others. My husband’s role includes helping me understand things that I have questions about and to make sure I have my learning time.

Out of the many online bible courses I found, many were costly and didn’t seem truly God-centered. When I found CLI, I was so happy that instead of a brick building on the home page, I saw people asking questions that I’ve been asking. I even saw a place to click that said Bible study tools. They even offered church and a way to tithe, and it was all free. Pastor Reyenga talked about how Jesus never charged anyone for his teachings. This made sense to me and then I could not understand why anyone would charge someone to listen to them teach about God’s love. I really want to be part of this program. I can’t see that another program could be as good as this one, so I don’t want to look elsewhere. I would really appreciate the opportunity to be part of CLI and this scholarship is my ticket in.

CLI prayer warriors can pray (for me) that I can find peace and joy outside of my comfort zone and that my comfort zone gets bigger over time. Please pray that I reach people the way God intends for me to do and that God’s light will shine brightly within me. I have a forgetful mind, so please pray that my memory will be strong so that I can better remember things I’ve read. Also, please pray that I can learn to sing without fear.

Join other CLI students learning to minister by liking the CLI Facebook page.