You Never Know What God Will Do!
My name is Dana McCrystal, and I am from the U.S.A. I am in my late 60s and at a place in my life that I never believed I would be. I am a Chaplain for a small Fire Department. The strange thing is I have no formal training in Chaplaincy. That is why I am at the Christian Leaders Institute for formal Chaplain training and credentialing (Learn more about free online Bible courses, Click Here). My background was in emergency service as a Firefighter and Paramedic. During my time as a firefighter, I received extensive training in peer support for First Responders faced with extreme stress and what is considered today as P.T.S.D. I had a long career of over thirty years and am proud of my service. But, I had no clue as to God’s plans for me later in life.
My Beginnings in Faith
I grew up in the Catholic faith and attended church on a semi-regular basis. However, the church did not stress Bible knowledge. I attended college, at which time socialization became important. Life went on and I married, had a son, divorced and concentrated on my career. I always had a strong faith in God but was in a dark place. I expected to be single for a long while. The church was the last thing on my mind. My future changed before long because God was not through with me.
I met a wonderful woman who saw more in me than I saw in myself. Soon we married, had a family. Then, we realized that returning to church was vital as the children grew. I suggested a Catholic church but could not join due to my divorced status. God led us to a small church where we stayed for a long while. After some time, the message being preached became watered down. We searched for a more biblically-based church.
Our children grew and had families of their own. After I retired from my fire department career, my wife and I found a solid Bible-based church. There we became active in Bible study groups. So, the leaders asked me to be a Stephen Minister due to my peer support training and experience similarity.
More Formal Chaplain Training and Credentialing at CLI
My youngest son followed me into the fire service. While trying to build a peer support team of their own, I was asked to assist with the team. What I did not know was that they needed a Chaplain. This need is where God was at work. I did not have any formal theological training, but a Chaplain friend felt that I would be a good lay Chaplain. I could relate well to the firefighters since I lived what they now live. He put my name forth, and they chose me.
I have had some basic Chaplain training since then. However, I desire more formal Chaplain training and credentialing. This desire is where the Christian Leaders Institute comes in. I hope that with the help of God, I will serve well the firefighters he has assigned me to serve.
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 you are 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, and then you are allowed to 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.
Introduction
Hello, my name is Carol Behrens. I’m a child of God, a wife to a wonderful husband, a mother of five. We live in Durban, South Africa, and attend a small Methodist Church in our neighborhood for the past 15 years. I am thankful for the Christian Leaders Institute with its online Theology and ministry courses (Learn more about free online Bible courses, Click Here).
My Life Before Receiving God’s Calling
I grew up in a family of four, with a much older brother. We attended church every Sunday. After school, I started working for a Petroleum Company in a male-dominated industry. In those years, women were either stay-at-home moms or managed an office-bound position. Everything else was a man’s job. Determined to prove myself, it took many years to reach the rank of Regional Sales Manager within this male-dominated industry.
The Calling
Although I managed to achieve a Senior Management position at the company I worked at, it did not feel like I accomplished anything. I felt something was missing in my life. Therefore, we joined our current church in 2006. After my parents-in-law moved to the suburbs, we automatically followed them. My mother passed away in 2006, making me realize that life is not all about work and what type of work you have. At our local church, I started putting my hand up. I volunteered for more duties, from Bible Reading to joining the Choir to becoming a Society Steward.
In June 2011, during a Sunday morning service, it felt like God spoke to me. God was calling me to preach. After talking to my husband about this feeling, we decided to pray and see if the feeling persisted after a few months. However, the feeling did not go away. So, in November 2011, we made an appointment to speak to our Reverend. Our Reverend invited me to attend the “Listening Committee” for the Local Lay Preacher Department of the Methodist Church. They listened to my testimony and allowed me to join the Methodist Church of South Africa as a Lay Preacher.
In 2012, I officially started my training as a Lay Preacher. For the next three years, I studied at a Christian College to obtain a Senior Certificate in Theology. I also studied at the Methodist Church (Wesley Studies), while doing services in my local church. I had one trial service per quarter marked also for study purposes. In 2016, the Methodist Church of South Africa accepted me as an Official Local Lay Preacher after I completed my studies.
My hope for the future
I always hoped to complete a degree in Theology and to start an online Ministry. Further, it became apparent over the past two years due to Covid that our Churches are suffering. People are too scared to attend, and they are searching for spiritual guidance online. I’m so thankful that God led me to the Christian Leaders Institute for online Theology and ministry courses. Now I can further my studies and work towards my goal of starting an online ministry. Thank you, CLI!
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 you are 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, and then you are allowed to 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 Heather Hageness, and I am taking free bible and ministry courses online at the Christian Leaders Institute (Learn more about free Bible and ministry courses, Click Here). I am a married mother to three beautiful little girls (aged 8, 7, and 5). Our family currently lives in Southern Wisconsin, where my husband and I grew up.
Early Years
In our adolescence, we both attended Lutheran churches. I was active in my local church mainly due to my grandparents’ influence. I attended church regularly, was in the youth group, volunteered in summer VBS programs, and participated in several mission trips within the USA.
My middle school and early high school years were marked mainly with church participation for the community but not any connection to the Lord. I believed in God’s existence. However, it was only in a “pray when I need You – please, don’t punish me” kind of way. I knew nothing of the Holy Spirit or having a relationship with Christ. As I entered my high school years, I became the subject of a significant amount of bullying. Severe anxiety and depression marked my freshman and sophomore years. I prayed consistently to a God who I wasn’t sure was seeing or hearing me. I often considered ending my life.
Fearing and Disbelieving
Enter the summer following my sophomore year of high school. I was 16 and loved being outdoors. Nature was always my safe space. To this day, it is where I meet with Jesus most often; although, this was stolen from me for some time. One sunny summer day, I rode my bike to the gas station not a mile from our home. On my ride back, I met a man waiting outside his truck parked alongside the road. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. At that moment, the trajectory of my life forever changed. He knocked me off my bike as I rode by. Threatened by knife-point, he dragged me across the road, over a hill, through a field, to a wooded area near a creek. There, he proceeded to rape me.
I kept my rape a secret for 14 years, not releasing myself from memory until several years after finding Christ. After my rape, I went into a severe depression. It was so noticeable that my parents had me change schools, thinking it was due to bullying. However, I was an avid student and lost myself in the sciences. It eventually led to me identifying as an atheist for the next 12 years.
To attend a different high school, I lived part-time with my aunt and uncle to claim residency in their city. My aunt and uncle were the second set of parents to me. My uncle battled cancer on and off for 14 years, and within two months of me moving in with them, he finally succumbed to his battle. It was in this season I decided there was no possible way God could exist. How could He allow such terrible things to happen?
Alcohol, Abuse, and Atheism
From my junior year on, I actively pursued disproving God’s existence. I wrote papers and poetry denouncing Him. I sneered at Christians and viewed them as ignorant. Also, I dove into the teachings of Richard Dawkins. I was adamant. God was not real. Through my walk with Christ, I have realized that this period was marked with anger at God rather than disbelief. I proceeded to enter college, seeking a degree in the sciences. However, my depression persisted. This led to me dropping out of college and re-attending on several occasions. I was determined yet incredibly lost. I made unhealthy life choices involving alcohol and abusive relationships and sought my worth in all the wrong places.
God’s Saving Grace
I believe the Lord brought my husband into my life to save it. He was the first man who treated me with respect. He was kind, loving, hardworking, and above all – steadfast. I still adamantly did not want to believe in God and voiced this loudly and with pride. We dated for eight months before becoming engaged. With some bumps in the road, we were married with zero mention of God in our vows by a county clerk at my request. We immediately started a family. There was no honeymoon period! I was five weeks pregnant when we married. As is apparent from the ages of our children, we continued to grow our family rather quickly. There are three years, almost exactly between the day our oldest and our youngest were born.
Through the early years of marriage, pregnancy, and child-rearing, I often suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts. I was haunted by my past yet unwilling to be freed. I was 21 when my husband and I began dating, 23 when we married, and 24 when our first daughter was born. The next several years were tumultuous for us. I suffered various forms of chronic pain throughout my life due to what we would eventually discover were endometriosis and PCOS. In addition, I dealt with intense migraines for weeks out of each month.
The depression and anxiety persisted, coupled with crippling insomnia. Soon, I was on a multitude of medications. Prone to most side effects due to my liver functions, by the age of 28, I was taking nine different medications. The drugs eventually took their toll on my body. I experienced a minor stroke. I was in a wheelchair, unable to walk, and in constant pain, being tested for nearly every autoimmune disease out there.
God Uses All Things for the Good of Those Who Love Him
During this time, my husband remained a believer in God, though not a follower of Christ. Shortly after having our second daughter, someone gifted us a substantial amount of money that allowed us to move into our current home. I’m taking a step back in this story to show how God was always working toward bringing His prodigal daughter home. Through this monetary gift, we were able to finance a home. We wound up across the street from a strong Christian woman. She would persistently invite me to church with her for three years. I found every excuse I could to turn her down, though I continued to build a relationship with her.
God worked through her to begin the softening of my heart. My first two pregnancies were two weeks overdue and both induced. During my third pregnancy, we had scheduled an induction date on our daughter’s due date. My beautiful neighbor came over to our home the night prior and prayed over me, anointing my head with oil. I thought it was the strangest thing. But within hours, I went into labor on my own and delivered our final daughter within hours. It happened in August of 2016.
It took two more years of her hospitality, love, care, and urging to get me to church. Finally, in August of 2018, after having my stroke and finding no medical answers to my pain, I decided to accompany her one Sunday morning. That morning, I heard the testimony of a woman who would become a dear friend and mentor. I was wheeled up to the front to receive prayer and gained partial healing in my body that day. I began making connections with Godly women through a discipleship program. Thus my journey with the Lord began.
Radical Transformation
I have always been a “go big or go home!” – “all or nothing” type of person. Once the Lord had captivated my heart, there was no stopping His call on my life. I slowly entered into Children’s Ministry, volunteering in both the elementary and preschool programs. We were a multi-location church, and I eventually became the Children’s Director of one of our campuses. Still, I felt called to something even more. I knew my testimony could and would be powerful within the right ministry. So, the Lord called me to begin serving in Youth Ministry, as well. Here, I found my niche. I found purpose in my identity in Christ. I continued to serve as the Children’s Director while serving as a youth leader.
Our church was eventually “adopted” by a much larger church. My husband and I began to feel called away. We recently started attending a new church, where we feel at home. We remain in community and fellowship with our friends from our previous church as God’s kingdom does not reside in the four walls of a singular church. I have grieved the surrender of my earlier ministry, but I am determined to remain obedient to God’s leading. My husband and I both believe we are called to ministry in some fashion.
Further, the Regional Children’s Pastor I previously served under for three years became one of my closest friends and mentors. As a result, we have dreamed of beginning a ministry outside of the church. One that would come alongside churches, helping those struggling to find themselves and their God through Christ.
Free Bible and Ministry Courses at CLI
My main goal in taking courses is to dig deeper. I am called to minister to youth, particularly young women who have suffered trauma and have lost sight of their Lord and Savior. As I began listening to what Christian Leaders Institute offered and how they viewed training disciples, I quickly realized CLI was the perfect fit for me with their free Bible and ministry courses. With my three children attending school, I can begin a career after staying home for the last eight years.
I look forward to becoming a better leader through the free Bible and ministry courses at CLI. I am discovering how exactly my testimony fits into my calling. The accessibility and flexibility of the courses offered answer many prayers regarding equipping myself for ministry. It will allow me to remain present in my home, maintain a job, and be an active member serving in ministry. All the while, I can gain wisdom through knowledge and mentorship. I truly appreciate the opportunity CLI offers and look forward to where God is leading my family and me!
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 you are 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, and then you are allowed to 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.