American Ministry Student James Brunette

American Ministry Student James Brunette has finished his Christian Basic Certificate. Listen to his testimony.

 My name is James Brunette, an American ministry student at Christian Leaders Institute.

I live in the United States of America.
(Twentynine Palms, California).

And as you may know, living here we are very free to express our religious beliefs openly. While there are an uncountable number of denominations, I believe the Holy Bible is the key to the truth of Gods word & desires for
us in this lifetime. For me, the biggest problem here is the separation of church & state>>as they put it<<. I have hope that some day this will end & we can begin to allow God to lead our Country again.

American Ministry Student Bio

I am 51 years old and have been married to my wonderful wife (Julie) for 33years. We have four children, and eleven grandchildren.

 American Ministry Student Spiritual Bio

I believe I came to Christ the first time as a very young child. I was baptized shortly after birth and feel that the Holy Spirit began working in me and on me at that time. I’ve always known of the voice inside
trying to guide and advise me as I was growing up, but was not a part of any church with my family. I have always had an interest in the Bible too. But never really got to know the Lord until after marriage and children were in my life as well.

It was probably around the age of 27 that we (my wife & I) fell into Drug addiction and eventually became homeless. My Wife saw that the drugs where very bad and quit on her own after just a short time, but I was not as smart. I just kept right on going. She didn’t give up on me though…Praise God! It was through homelessness that we finally came to realize that we needed God in our lives. Julie (my Wife) started going to a local church for help with food & even rent sometimes. She had been attending for a while and eventually talked me into joining her. We both re-dedicated ourselves to Christ through that church, but at different times. Julie first, then me a few months later. I started attending “The Southern California School of Evangelism” and completed one semester there when some issues arose at our church partially due to my decision to attend that school. At that time we
(Julie & I) were offered a position in another town for work, and we felt that God was calling us to do it.

So we moved out to the desert. Julie quickly found a church to attend but I was not as accepting after what had just happened at our last one. Our walk with God had been very sporadic to say the least. We again moved for work and are now living in Twentynine Palms, and we are finally now getting involved with a local church again. We are still very new there but look forward to a long relationship with them. And I should add that we have started a Daily walk with God since I started at CLI, working on our “Connections” with God together. This is something we have never done together before,

So we have had to, and are still overcoming some of the “walls” too…together.

American Ministry Student – My ministry dream:

My dream is that someday I will be a “Good” pastor for a small church. I’m not looking to make money at it, but just to be able to do Gods work in the Battle that goes on in our daily lives & to help others to do the same. Keeping God in the for-front of our lives and learning to be guided by the Holy Spirit in all that we experience. I want to teach other people to have a “daily walk with God” so they too can come closer than they ever thought possible to the glory that he offers. And to help them realize the awesome glory that awaits us in heaven when we are truly saved and put our faith in Jesus Christ as our savior.

American Ministry Student Vision

Yes I keep having this vision of a small church building that is in major disrepair.

I have seen it once in person and I believe that God keeps showing it to me. It is the only church building in a town that was once a very popular stop along the famed route 66, but has since become almost desolate. And is hopefully on it’s way back to being a community again.

I feel that God is showing me this as a goal for me to someday re-build the building and the church and to possibly be the Pastor of that church.

I guess I most identify with the word “Pastor”

The idea of being a Pastor has always been on my mind it seems. Even as I was growing up I felt a desire to be that person. I can remember looking up to them as a place I could never reach. But now, I feel much different about that. I have come to a point in my life, through the grace of God, where it now seems to be well within my reach and that is where I intend to go. PRAISE GOD!

I must say though, The concept of ‘Church Planting” is sounding very interesting to me. I think the “Key” experience for me was my time of disability.

While I am still disabled, my condition is much improved since I have seriously decided to pursue online ministry training. It has been for me more of a series of events than just one. And it was during this “sickness” that these types of events came to light for me.

Sadly, I’ve gone through most of that time without much connection with God.

It has been quite a battle!

I’ll try to explain…

When you are very sick & unable to participate in normal life, you do a lot of thinking about the past and what you’ve done with your life. I began to realize that I hadn’t really done very much at all that has any meaning. And that most of what I have done has been full of problems and difficulties that seemed unreal sometimes. Well, this all really came to light recently, with things like looking for a way to earn money, even though I am sick.

Nothing but problems, even with playing games and stuff. Well, after getting frustrated for a time, I finally started to talk to God about it. Praying and listening, listening and praying.

The same notion kept coming through…”I keep trying to do the wrong things” “Get back to God and studying for your ministry”. Plus He keeps showing me that broken down church building.

And, as I said earlier, being a Pastor has always been an inkling for me. And more recently I guess I just assumed (after looking a little on the internet for a school) that you will need a big church behind you with a lot of people and a lot of money to get any kind of training.

Then God connected me with CLI. A perfect match!

Our local church:

Due to my disability we have not been able to attend a church regularly. But since coming back to the Lord and beginning with the ‘Getting started” coarse, and learning how to have our “solo” and “couples” walk with God, my health has improved to the point that we are now seeking the right one for us. And after a short look, we think we have found it. They hold the Holy Bible to be the solemn word of God and the Pastor backs everything with scripture. I feel that the Pastor and all the people there will be very supportive in my ministry training. We (my wife and I) are very excited to find
them and are looking forward to becoming members.

My wife (Julie) is completely supportive of my decision to start ministry training.

I think she is more excited than I am about it because she has waited a long time for me to come around to God again, and looks forward to our future together with God at the center of everything we do.

A scholarship for CLI will mean everything to my ministry.

They offer much of the training I need to get me on the path of my ministry. In fact, I have already learned some things from CLI that has answered some important questions I have personally had regarding my connections with God and Jesus and prayer. Also, confirming some of my ideas
about the Holy Spirit, and more. I thought it would be impossible for me to get quality Pastoral training. Being disabled limits me to on-line training to begin with.

Plus, all of the schools I had looked at before CLI required things that I just couldn’t provide. I praise God for giving me this opportunity. And give great thanks to all of those who donate and make this
possible for people like me.

I will ask that you pray for my ministry training to glorify God in every way.

Pray that the Holy Spirit continues to guide my marriage and help us to keep God at the center of our life.