No Greater Joy than Walking in the Truth
My name is Michele Beaugrand. I have lived on the beautiful Space Coast of Florida for the past 26 years with my high school sweetheart and amazing husband, Dennis. Together, we have raised two wonderful sons and have been blessed with four precious grandbabies. Recently, I began my studies at the Christian Leaders Institute for ministry training and Bible learning (Learn more about free ministry training and Bible learning online, Click Here).
My Beginnings
Unlike my husband, I was not raised in a Christian family. My mom and dad had my older sister and me when they were very young. Sadly, their marriage did not last. They divorced when I was one year old. My mom remarried while I was still very young. My stepdad was a good provider for our family but not much else. So I grew up without a nurturing father figure in my life.
My walk with the Lord began around age eight. I attended a Sunday school program at a church near my home and followed a prompting to ask Jesus into my heart. There was a bus that came around on Sunday mornings. It picked up neighborhood children and brought them to church. The seed that was planted then very slowly took root in my heart and mind through the faithful people who made it their ministry to reach out to the unchurched children in the community.
We moved away from there shortly after that, and I did not continue to attend anywhere near our new home. As a teenager, I very sporadically attended various churches with friends’ families. Through those times, I gained a sense that I was missing something very important in my life. However, I still didn’t quite understand what it was.
Marriage and Changes
When I married my husband at 19 and we started our life together, we were far from walking with God. I did not have the means for college after school ended. So I began in the workforce right away. I also attended community college with no real sense of direction for what to do or be.
Shortly after we married, my husband and I moved far away from all of our family in Michigan to Minnesota. There we lived a very materialistic, selfish lifestyle. When a tragedy befell our lives seven years into our marriage through the passing of my husband’s dear grandfather, the primary male figure in his life, our whole outlook on life drastically altered. We both came to the realization that having a family was way more valuable than any wealth that we could ever accumulate. And so, our journey to parenthood began.
Attending Church
Our choice to become parents also brought with it a conviction to my heart. If we were going to do this, then we HAD to make a commitment to raise our children in the church. The prompting I felt came from that seed planted in my heart so long ago. So, with our newborn son in our arms and a new life just beginning in Florida, we stepped into our new walk as churchgoers.
For me, the first part of that journey was a huge learning process. Watching how a Christian was supposed to act, I emulated the things that I was supposed to say and do. However, I was not emotionally engaged with God on a daily basis. I volunteered for anything having to do with children. Thus, I began a lifetime of Children’s Ministry volunteering and eventually employment. With it, also came a misunderstanding that I was earning God’s love through all of my good deeds and works.
Deeper Knowledge
A year later, we moved to another part of the county. Although we continued to drive to the original church we had started at, we were no longer a part of the community. We began to feel disconnected. One day, as I was pushing my infant son through our new neighborhood in his stroller, I met a neighbor from across the street. Through that relationship, God walked into our lives in a very meaningful way. It turns out she was the wife of the pastor of a local church just down the road from us. She invited me to attend a young moms group that she was leading at the time.
From there on, my journey into knowing Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior took shape into something more deep and meaningful. My husband and I became members of the church. We attended their services every week as well as many of the programs they offered. I learned more and developed my prayer life. I again threw myself into the children’s programs. Teaching the children helped me to learn the Bible and about being a Christian myself. I never had much exposure to all of the traditional Sunday school stories before.
Growing in Christ and a Walk with God
Fast-forward all these years later and what had begun as a small ember in my soul has now become a burning passion for the unfailing love of my Heavenly Father and for His Word. I am so grateful to see His hand in absolutely every part of my life, from childhood until now. I am in awe of the forgiveness He bought for me through the blood of His precious son Jesus. Further, I am humbled by the abundant grace that He covers me with every day as I walk in a fallen world.
Through my faith in Jesus Christ, I have been saved from a life that was previously held hostage by emotions, depression, insecurities, doubts, and fears. He has delivered me into a new life that is not about me or for me or because of me. That is something that I remind myself of daily!
A New Season
My husband and I have entered a new season of our lives within the past few months. Due to the pandemic and his ability to work remotely, we have become full-time RVers. This decision did not come lightly or on a whim. It was a call on our lives to go out into this specific community. We are to nurture relationships and encourage and build others up in their walks. It came at the cost of having to sell our home of 26 years. We also had to leave everyone and everything we had come to know and love behind. We are trusting the Lord to lead and guide us on this path and use us for His glory alone.
Ministry Training and Bible Learning at Christian Leaders
I hope to gain newfound confidence and boldness through the ministry training and Bible learning available at Christian Leaders Institute to help me on this new journey. My passion is for leading young children to Him the way I myself was led. During my time as a mom of young children and a baby Christian myself, I was not yet equipped to help our sons fully develop and pursue their own walks. I pray that become a better witness to them and to our grandchildren through this new time of learning in a more structured environment.
I also hope to gain some credibility through a degree from Christian Leaders. One that will open doors to possibilities where they might not have otherwise been opened. As I had to leave my job of eight years to go out on the road, I am no longer contributing to the family finances. Therefore, having the option of free ministry training and Bible learning through CLI makes it possible to pursue this amazing opportunity.
Much appreciation and heartfelt thanks to Henry and the others for their faithful dedication, sacrifice, and pursuit of this spiritual dream and vision.
Steps to Sign Up At Christian Leaders Institute
Step 1 – Register for a free study account that automatically enrolls you in the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2.
After you register, you will automatically be enrolled in the “getting started” course. You will locate the course at your “home” button when logged in. Scroll down to find the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2 Link. Click the link and open the course.
Step 2 – Complete Part 1 of this course. Then you can enroll in mini-courses or regular courses.
The Christian Leaders Getting Started Class Part 1 shows you how to enroll in courses and mini-courses. Part 2 of the course connects your calling into ministry with programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute. Part 2 will offer some ministry training and introduce you to the other programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute.
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost college degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
Hello! My name is Paul Fink. I am at the Christian Leaders Institute for further Biblical and theological education as I answer God’s call on my life (Learn more about free Bible and Theology classes online, Click Here).
My Story
I’m 20 years old. An American living in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, I come from a military family. I have lived in a few different places within the United States before moving to Europe. Louisiana is where I was born and originally lived for the first few years of my life.
Both of my parents are Evangelical Christians. So, I attended multiple churches to match the multiple locations we lived in while growing up. I was baptized upon my profession of faith at 8 years old in an Assemblies of God church in my hometown. Since the age of 16 or 17, I have had the call to be in pastoral ministry. It is the greatest honor in my life to be called to preach and teach the Word of God to the people of God. It is something that I have been increasingly interested in since getting the call to preach and shepherd.
Further Biblical and Theological Education at CLI/CLI
At the same time I felt the inward call to preach and an outward shift of what my interests were, I also became acquainted with Reformed theology. The theology in that particular tradition gave me a deeper view of the nature of God and everything that flows from that. It led me to seek further Biblical and theological education in the things of God. I desire to glorify God by loving Him and learning about Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I have confidence that the training/education I receive at CLI and CLI will edify me and those who I will have the privilege to serve. Ultimately, it will glorify God who I serve.
Another motivator for my ministry is the fact that I am serving currently as a small group leader with a parachurch organization. Therefore, I am getting some experience under my belt in the local soil of ministry. What I learn at CLI/CLI will help me instruct the people here in the Word and ways of God also.
I feel called to be a part of the institutional church, a natural part of pastoral ministry. However, I also want to learn to serve and lead the people I’m around now. I am overwhelmingly glad that God has opened the doors to me that he has so far. I am confident, hoping, and praying, that He will open more in the future.
Steps to Sign Up At Christian Leaders Institute
Step 1 – Register for a free study account that automatically enrolls you in the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2.
After you register, you will automatically be enrolled in the “getting started” course. You will locate the course at your “home” button when logged in. Scroll down to find the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2 Link. Click the link and open the course.
Step 2 – Complete Part 1 of this course. Then you can enroll in mini-courses or regular courses.
The Christian Leaders Getting Started Class Part 1 shows you how to enroll in courses and mini-courses. Part 2 of the course connects your calling into ministry with programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute. Part 2 will offer some ministry training and introduce you to the other programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute.
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost college degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
My name is Kristi Collier, from the USA. I am studying at the Christian Leaders Institute for ministry training and credentials (Learn more about free Bible and ministry training and credentials online, Click Here). A verse of deep meaning in my life is Jeremiah 1:5. “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you.”
My Story Begins
My mother had prayed to be able to have me after going through several miscarriages. She told me I was an answer to her prayers. She fully gave her life over to Christ and was filled with the Spirit shortly after I was born. I was born at the end of 1980 and named, Kristi LaRee Collier. As a young child, I prepared sermons with my older sister, and we held mock “church services” with our mom and dad. We did this since we traveled and didn’t attend a church often.
My childhood was full of heavy heartaches as a result of my father’s abusive nature. At age eight, I fully grasped the salvation message. So, in the midst of my parent’s divorce, I devoted my life to Christ. I clung to the comfort of Scripture that God is the Father to the fatherless and near to the broken-hearted. For a short time, I was in foster care homes. There, I learned to dig deep into my relationship with God at an early age. Adversity gives us an opportunity to develop richer lives through what would otherwise be devastating when we pull in closer to Christ.
Longing to Serve God
As far back as memory serves, I longed to serve God in full-time ministry. In 8th grade at a private Baptist school, I had the privilege of praying and playing piano alone over lunch break. From then on, my longings were deeply set to live my life out serving in ministry. I practically lived in the sanctuary at my church, especially in high school. From as early as 6:30 am to as late as 9:30 pm, you could find me there if the doors were open.
Building my own ministry resource library by the age of 15, I also delved into every Bible study I could. I served on the teen worship team, ran overheads (yes, it was the 90’s) for adult worship, played ministry time background piano, sang special music, and prayed over people with the prayer team. I did anything I could to be there including stacking chairs, vacuuming, folding programs, cleaning bathrooms… anything! After high school, I planned to get my worship ministry degree. I had even begun the application process for a Bible college in Tulsa. However, when I married in 2000, it sidelined those plans.
Challenges and Victory in Christ
My whole heart and mindset were to raise a family and be in full-time ministry. We have an adversary who does not want the Kingdom of God advanced. The devil seeks to hinder, stumble, and at the very least, delay all efforts toward God receiving glory through our lives. Heavy onslaughts came to destroy my heart and cut me from those longed-for places through a hostile, abusive marriage.
After nearly ten years of holding the marriage together, it came to an end because of his abuse and unfaithfulness. I fought to protect my two miracle children after my dreams of a family were destroyed. For the next decade, the financial load and court battles accosted my life. I dug deeper in my time with God and went to battle spiritually for my children.
What the enemy meant for my destruction, GOD used for good. God built in me greater resilience with each battle. I learned the deep importance of daily delving into the Word to saturate my heart and mind. There is power in reminding my thoughts and situations of the character of God! I dug into my faith in the trenches of life’s battlefield. I did anything I could to stay connected in serving the church. However, with three jobs and trying to hold my children together, I had nothing left beyond regular attendance and coming to Bible study groups.
Study at CLI for Training and Credentials
Now, with my children safely grown and on their own, I can focus on my ministry calling. I can get the ministry training and credentials my heart has longed to honor the Lord with as I serve Him. Passionate about the health of the church, I long to teach and equip the body with hope for the weary, healing and comfort for the broken, and truth to bring deliverance from things interfering in relationships. I long to share my music and testimony and to write and speak. One day, I prayed for God to allow me to serve in practical ministry in a local church as a pastor’s wife. My heart is especially drawn to the needs and health of the church in family and marriage.
At first, I felt like I was disqualified for marriage and family ministry because of the loss of my own. I felt like a failure to the church, branded by the word “divorced.” Yet God has provided healing for those scars regardless of the stigma. He has given beauty for ashes to help bring life and hope. He has turned what was meant for harm to be used for His glory and my good.
By that sorrow, I see ministry needs met ahead for so many people who need to see the comfort and purposes of God through their unique heartaches. It will be a great blessing to be greater equipped for the journey of ministry God has been preparing me through life to serve Him. It is a joy to be given the opportunity to get ministry training and credentials through the Christian Leaders Institute. I look forward to all GOD has ahead through this process!
Steps to Sign Up At Christian Leaders Institute
Step 1 – Register for a free study account that automatically enrolls you in the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2.
After you register, you will automatically be enrolled in the “getting started” course. You will locate the course at your “home” button when logged in. Scroll down to find the Christian Leaders Getting Started Course Part 1 &2 Link. Click the link and open the course.
Step 2 – Complete Part 1 of this course. Then you can enroll in mini-courses or regular courses.
The Christian Leaders Getting Started Class Part 1 shows you how to enroll in courses and mini-courses. Part 2 of the course connects your calling into ministry with programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute. Part 2 will offer some ministry training and introduce you to the other programs offered through Christian Leaders Institute.
Learn more about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost college degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.