A New Heart, a New Life in Christ

Hello, my name is Brian Whitley. I am proud and honored to be a follower and brother of Christ! I am 36 years old and I live in a small town in North Carolina called Stanfield. If you are ever in need of cows, this is the place to come. I have a 2 year old daughter named Lainy and she is my world. It is one of my goals through all of this is for her to be very proud of the change her daddy made in his life through Christ. For my occupation, I have been in construction about my whole life. My job from here on out is serving The Lord.

For thirty years I had lived a life of partying, lies, hustles, drugs, alcohol, poverty, riches, burning bridges, and relationship after relationship destroyed. I was the architect of my own destruction. I thought I was dealt a bad hand and I just was living the fast life on the weak hand I was dealt. Little did I know that I was a general for the army of satan. On May 4, 2008, I decided to give my life to Christ. Everything went great for a few months but then the enemy really hit me from every direction. Basically I was back to square one, but things got a lot worse. Fast forward to 2014, I met someone who introduced me to the truth and importance of The Holy Spirit. I began to pray more, communicate with God more, and I read my Bible every single day. I recommitted my life to Christ in March of 2014. Again, the enemy came at me harder than ever. This time however, I had the right tools to identify it and rebuke it in the name of Christ. Yeah, I fight it day in and day out, but not without God.

The first time my mentor told me I had a pastoral gift I just laughed and shook my head. As I began to study the Word of God more and understand what He was telling me, I had to share it with the world. The enemy is a perfectionist at twisting the Word of God to confuse people. They are quick to get confused and aggravated to the point where they stop reading their Bibles all together. I want to deliver the message for Lord Christ in a way that it sparks interest in others and keeps them hungry, wanting more. This is why it was so important for me to finally let the Spirit of God control my life. I see me being an Evangelist more than anything, if it is God’s will, because I want to go any and everywhere to share the gospel. I am so lucky and thankful for the grace of God.

I have to admit, I am very excited to walk through this new door that God has opened at Christian Leaders Institute. We are all so blessed to have such a wonderful opportunity that CLI offers and gives. I am very thankful to all parties involved! I am eager to learn how to be a leader and more effectively share the gospel. The anticipation of learning keys of scripture that sometimes I would miss a hundred times before and opening up a whole new understanding of the word is overwhelming. My goal is to start my own ministry and do HUGE things for The Kingdom. I know none of this is possible without the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Getting a scholarship at CLI would do so many great things in my life. First and foremost, it will strengthen my knowledge of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. It will keep me busy with learning about the history of our creation and the purposes God has for us. It will also give the enemy less time to try to persuade me with his lies. I will have more weapons to use against satan. I want to use this opportunity to further drive me to the goals of one day sharing the purpose of Jesus birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and seat on the throne on a global scale. I hope He will use me to get people excited and hungry for the Good News again. I ask that if you read this, please pray for me to always remember that all of this is for the glory and knowledge of Christ and that I always do everything in accordance to the Lord’s plan. All glory to God! Thank you Jesus Christ!