Christian Leader Journey

Christian Leader Journey

My name is Sheila Rusche and I have been on a Christian leader journey. I was born and raised in a small town in Mississippi. I love the small town life! One benefit is that everyone knows everybody. One downfall is that most people know more about you than you know about yourself. There’s also a lot of Christians here, but for many of them, it’s just a title they claim.

I was raised going to church, so I’ve always known about Christ. But it was later on in life that He became real to me. I grew up in a very abusive household and I found all the wrong ways to escape my hurt. At 13, I was addicted to drugs and didn’t get sober until I was 18. At 17, I fell into the arms of an abusive man. It took 16 years to get out. I tried to leave many times but he was relentless. The harassment, stalking, attempts on my life… it was safer to go back to him (I’m kinda struggling with this part). But, it was during that relationship that I really sold out to God.

As a child, I knew there was a calling on my life. But I didn’t really understand it and I wasn’t ready to take on that responsibility. So I ran from it for a long time. The first time I got saved I was 12. When I was 25, I rededicated my life to Christ and that’s when I knew I needed Him. I needed Him to get me out of the hell I had gotten myself into. I knew the only way I could escape my now ex-husband was with God’s help. I knew I wanted to raise my kids as Christians because I didn’t want them to make the mistakes I had made.

For the last ten years of my Christian leader journey, I’ve been happily married to my best friend. We’ve been Youth Leaders in our church. We’ve done so many outreaches and life is just amazing! I do have some health problems that have limited my ability to go to college. I think it’s essential that we learn as much as we can and get all the training we can get so that we can help others. I see so many damaged, broken kids and they need someone to step up and say, ‘I care. Let me help you!’ With free ministry training at Christian Leaders Institute, I will be better equipped to serve for the Lord.

Learn about ministry ordination with Christian Leaders Alliance.