A Rescuer Rescued, Born Again, and Called to Rescue Others
Hi, my name is Lance Oosthuizen. I am studying online at the Christian Leaders Institute to become a Licensed Ministry Chaplain (Learn more about studying the Bible online, Click Here). The following is how Jesus rescued and equipped me to rescue those on the frontline.
I grew up in a small town called Vereeniging, just south of Johannesburg, South Africa. Most of my life, I grew up in a traditional Christian family. I tried to live a “good” life. However, I was headstrong and didn’t follow Jesus in my heart. Always thinking in worldly ways, I tried to figure out problems on my own, the good and bad times. I only consulted God if times were terrible. But then, I drifted away after the “bad time” passed. I went back to doing things my way in life.
Road to the Need to be Rescued
Since 1990, I have worked as a paramedic in the EMS. It has fulfilled my childhood dream ever. “The Basics” were one thing the instructors wanted us to Always go to. Therefore, if you doubt, get stuck, or lose your way, you return to the basics or the beginning. Collect yourself and your thoughts and start from the beginning. Ten out of ten times, you will find what was missing and return to the path you should be taking.
My life was a carefree, self-centered attitude that only involved God when I wanted Him. I did what I wanted to do. I lived as I pleased, did whatever I thought was “good” and acceptable, and had morals and ethics that were worldly. Then, I looked at pornography and had an adulterous affair that ended my marriage.
I didn’t realize it then, but it began my very lonely and empty trip to near self-destruction. I lost my wife in divorce and lost the trust and respect of my son. Soon everything else started to fall apart: family relationships, friends, and finances. Soon, I was alone, depressed, and so confused I didn’t know myself. I didn’t know where to turn and thought of ending it all. I felt trapped. That’s when God came to the rescue and spoke to me through the song “Who am I” by Casting Crowns. In this song, I encountered Jesus. He told me that He cares for me and even knows my name and NEVER stopped loving me. It was time to change my ways, turn to the Lord, take up my cross, and follow Him!
A Rescuer for Christ
Therefore, I encountered and gave my life to the Lord on February 14, 2014. Afterward, it was not an easy road. But, with every step, I knew I was not alone. The Lord of all the earth held my hand and walked each step with me. Instantly, my life in Christ and my newfound hope started to change me. The Lord reconciled my marriage prophetically through the word (Ephesians 12:4). The Lord also restored the relationship with my son (Malachi 4:5-6). God’s blessings in my life will continue in the hope I have found in honoring our Lord.
In the years since being saved, I went down a road of revelation in finding my purpose in Christ Jesus. I read and researched many avenues that were led in the Spirit. I thank my lovely wife and brother, who were instrumental in this process. Till 2020, I was unsure of what God wanted of me. Then it dawned on me as all the pieces fell together.
Rescue Ministry as a Licensed Ministry Chaplain
I have trained people to continually return to basics and rescue people. In 2020, the Lord laid on my heart to start a ministry for those on the frontline. Through dreams and prayer, “Frontline of Hope Ministries” was established.
Being a contract worker working in a different country and in different time zones, it was always challenging to attend a class and pay tuition. Looking for options and solutions, I came across the Christian Leaders Institute (CLI) online. CLI offered the courses I needed for growth in my life and for the ministry. Further, they provided them in such a way that I could do them no matter where, when, or how, all in my own time and at no charge.
I am currently enrolled in a few courses building up to becoming a Licensed Ministry Chaplain. The Christian Leaders Institute also gives me access to a network of people worldwide with Godly knowledge, insight, and encouragement.
Equipping myself through CLI has been a blessing! It has helped me grow and equipped me to rescue others and plant the seeds for Christ’s work on the front.
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account that automatically enrolls 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, and Diplomas with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- College Degrees with the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
- 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
A Troubled Past to a Powerful Future
Blessings! My name is Ginger Smith. I live in a small Kansas town in the USA. I’ve lived in Kansas all my life. Married for 28 years, I have three grown children and two grandchildren. I’m super excited to be taking online tuition-free ministry courses at Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about studying the Bible online, Click Here)! It’s wonderful to be able to do my schooling online anytime. Online tuition-free courses are the most important thing to me. Without that, I wouldn’t be able to get the education needed to fulfill my calling.
Traumatic Childhood
Let me tell you a little bit about my childhood. I remember watching Happy Days on television and wishing so hard to have a family like that. Parents that love you, talk with you and basically center their world around you. My sister and I often felt invisible. Mom and dad fought all the time. I’m not talking about “yelling” fights. They were “hide under your bed or you might get hit with something” fights.
I never questioned why they were fighting, I always knew. My dad was a terribly selfish man, and worst of all, he was addicted to gambling. He was a truck driver, and though he had opportunities to come home from his job, he chose not to. Usually, once or twice a month, we saw him. When he was home, my mom, my sister, and I had to put up with him mentally and verbally abusing us. Having lights, gas, and food was not a usual occurrence in our household either.
Deeper Trauma
Although this rendition of normal life for me as a child seems bad, it’s deeper than that. At the tender age of four (my sister was six), my sister and I were raped by one of our uncles. It’s amazing what you remember from a traumatic experience. I can still see the pattern of the curtains in the room, all the furniture, and looking down through tear-stained eyes at the cookie I was given as payment.
Because of this horrible thing happening to us so young, we were deeply changed. My sister became enraged and violent. Most of the time, I was her outlet. With my mother working all the time, my sister and I were alone at home together. I was terrified of her. The smallest thing set her off, and she would beat me. I would run and hide from her and silently wish I could die instead of live like that. My reaction to the traumatic incident, on the other hand, was that of a shy, scared, lonely little girl. I sealed my heart and my trust deep inside. This world I lived in was what I thought everyone was going to treat me like.
Good and Evil
When my father was 34 years old, a woman he had known since he was young adopted him. That woman was everything to me. The moment I met her, I loved her. My newly adopted grandmother was a godly woman with the gift of healing (I really didn’t understand that as a child). She was what I had been aching for. I spent all my free time with her at her house. Those memories will always be precious to me. Within a few months, my grandma started dating a man. They swiftly became serious, got engaged, and I was introduced to him.
He managed to find a way to get me alone with him the second time I saw him. He molested me every time I was at my grandma’s house. I tried to tell my mom what had happened the first time. However, she didn’t believe me. He continuously tried to find ways to get me alone with him. It became an impossible task for me to avoid him. So, I stopped going to stay with my grandma. Shortly after that, we moved away.
Stirring of My Soul and Salvation
My mother’s side of the family was Catholic. When we visited my maternal grandmother, an uncle of mine told us grandchildren about God and Jesus. I was mesmerized! My soul would quicken. All I wanted was to live for God, but I didn’t know how. At the age of 12, I was invited by a girl I knew to go to church camp with all expenses paid. It was there that I received salvation! I felt so much love and joy that tears streamed down my face! Once I got home without anyone to lead and teach me, I soon plunged into a deep void of depression and stayed there for years. I turned to drugs and alcohol and attempted suicide three times. Further, my father decided to disappear for close to a year.
Down-Hill Spiral
Craving love, I became a single mother at the age of 18. My sister and I grew very close during our mid-teenage years (although I did my best not to anger her). She died nine days before my daughter’s first birthday. She was gone. The one person I had endured all this pain and suffering with was gone. Even though she was physically, mentally, and verbally abusive, she was the only person that was always present in my life. I did know she loved me. I felt truly alone.
Then, at 20, I became a single mother again. With no goals and no plans, I lived day by day through the haze of depression. I truly loved my two little girls and never regretted them, but to say life was hard would be an understatement.
Life Can be Good
Then, I began taking classes at a vocational school to be a secretary. During that time, I met a wonderful man. He asked me to marry him. He accepted and adopted my two girls as his own, and I gave birth to a son.
Being a secretary was not what I wanted to be, so I changed to another vocational school for Medical Assistant. During that time, I wanted to go much deeper, so again, I switched to practical nursing classes. I know now the Lord was in that decision. All the times in my career as an LPN, I felt God’s presence! I met a nurse at a facility where I worked, and she turned out to be my soul sister! We have been inseparable for more than 15 years now. As on-fire women for the Lord, we have two Facebook ministry pages and one YouTube page.
Renewed in Christ and Online Tuition-Free Ministry Courses
Fast forward to 2018, I was in bed having my nightly talk with the Lord. I asked Him, “What will You have me do, Lord?” I saw a vision. In the vision, I was in front of a group of people preaching His Word. Then He spoke to me and said, “You will do my work in many ways.” That experience was so overwhelming, I cried for several hours! The absolute joy I felt in my soul! The Lord has blessed me in my life!
My plans for my future ministry are not quite clear to me yet. But, praise God, I’m here at CLI! The online tuition-free ministry and Bible courses are equipping me for whatever God leads me to do!
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account that automatically enrolls 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, and Diplomas with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- College Degrees with the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
- 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, my name is Tony. I live in Virginia in the United States. I am 47 years old and married to my soul mate. Together, we have eight children and three grandchildren. I am at the Christian Leaders Institute to learn and study the Bible (Learn more about studying the Bible online, Click Here).
My Ministry Calling Story
I have known the Lord for my entire life. I grew up going to church most of my life. But it took problems at home that my wife and I could not deal with on our own that made us turn to the Lord for help. From that moment on, we have sought to walk with God.
Learn and Study the Bible at CLI
Since starting my walk, I began to feel a firm conviction to learn and study the Bible, God’s word. So I looked online for a structured Bible study and came across the Christian Leaders Institute (CLI). Having found CLI, I knew it was what the Lord wanted from me. I am not sure yet exactly what God wants me to do with the knowledge I am acquiring here. However, I have faith that when the time comes, He will show me. In the meantime, everything I am learning makes me feel more grounded in my walk. Christian Leaders organization is truly a blessing in my life.
I dream of serving the Lord with the gifts He has given me. To spread His word and teachings to people so they, too, may come to know the salvation of Jesus Christ. There is so much wrong in this world that I strive and pray to try and be just one little mirror reflecting God’s glorious light through my ministry and actions. I pray the same for all of us here.
So, in closing, thank you all at CLI for your part in helping grow God’s Kingdom and for helping to polish this little mirror. God Bless!
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account that automatically enrolls 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, and Diplomas with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- College Degrees with the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
- 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