Greetings! My name is Patrick Mvula, and I am receiving free ministry education at CLI. I am a Zambian citizen residing in a town called Kalulushi, where I work as an Optometrist.
My Youth and Spiritual Journey
I grew up in a Christian home where we had Bible study and prayer meetings every evening. This time helped me realize how important it is for families to get to share spiritual food together. Although I was just a young man who didn’t really know much about God, I testify how the Lord used these meetings to keep my family united.
During my early youth, I noticed that I was having challenges relating well with my friends and family. It was at this point that I realized that there was something I was missing in my life. However, by God’s grace and mercy, in 2014 while I was in school, one of my friends invited me to his church. I can recall that it is on the day that I first attended my friend’s Church that I came to know Christ. Therefore, I acknowledged Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Some years later, after being born again, I discovered that what I was actually missing in my life was the Holy Spirit.
Ministry Education at CLI
My spiritual dream is to see many youths in my country to become well equipped Kingdom Ambassadors. This dream is the reason I decided to be trained here at the Christian Leaders Institute. Then, I may also be able to train others and share the Gospel.
Lastly, I would like to thank God for Christian Leaders Institute. It has provided a platform where I can receive high-quality training for free. What a blessing to all who need ministry education at CLI!
Learn about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
My name is Debra Brock, and I am called to ministry and study at the Christian Leaders Institue. I live in Salem, New York, USA, a small town in upstate New York, about five minutes from the Vermont border. Recently, my husband and I celebrated 41 years of marriage. We have four beautiful daughters, two sons-in-law, and five grandchildren that we are blessed to have live with us. We have a family-run dairy goat farm and a dog rescue/sanctuary.
My Youth
Born in Illinois, I moved around a lot as a child because of my father’s work. Wherever we lived, we served at a local church. I have fond memories of my mother doing summer Vacation Bible School in several towns. Sometimes, she served at VBS for more than one church in the same town.
As a young child and into my teens, I had several accidents. Any of them could have been fatal, but God miraculously spared not only my life but everybody else involved in these accidents.
Sidetrack and Recommitted
I have always had a strong belief in God and Jesus all through my life. However, marriage, work and starting a family took my husband and me away from the church. Thankfully, we realized something was missing in our lives and the lives of our young children.
At about this same time, my mother became gravely ill. I was at the hospital with her and stepped out to pray for her. I distinctly remember standing near a water fountain and hearing the water. Jesus spoke to me in the water saying that my mom would be okay and back with the family again.
We started attending a Spirit-filled local church, where our children and we gave our lives to Jesus Christ and received baptism as believers. Soon after, we served in the church’s youth group and prayer group. We witnessed God’s power in many people’s lives.
As our family grew, we moved several times to different states. We became involved in various churches where we lived. Therefore, we focused on what mattered, the message from the pulpit and church groups.
Trials and Direction
We have faced many trials as a family. How do people who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ make it through trials and events? We thank God that we have that relationship in our lives.
Many years ago, we worked in raising and training guide dogs for the blind and military service people. We were part of this project for more than 16 years. It was our family’s mission. The blessing of seeing the dogs that we helped raise to become the eyes of those who could not see was powerful. We even had a dog that can ski with their person and one that does several cruises a year and has a life jacket.
As an adult, I again had a couple of accidents. The most recent one resulted in having a Traumatic Brain Injury. It makes some memory issues and balance problems at times. Just before I had this accident, one of the dogs I raised came back to me because the man she matched decided he did not want a dog and sent her back to us. It was absolutely a God thing because she became my service dog. She keeps me upright and allows me to get around wherever we go. She has given me back my life.
Called to Ministry and Study at CLI
My dream is to minister to other people who are struggling with challenges in their lives, similar to mine. Then, I can encourage them and convey what the powers of God can do with them. There are others out there who have been where they are. I believe that God spared me and put me where I am for such a purpose in my life. He placed this calling on me to share Him and His Grace with others. Without Him and His Grace in our lives, we would be up the proverbial river without a paddle.
I look forward to being able to serve God and the people that God will bring to me.
God provided the Christian Leaders Institute to my husband and me as we are called to ministry and study. We are so excited to see what He has in store for us. We are grateful to all the people that have made the Christian Leaders Institute possible and available to us.
There is no way that these few paragraphs can capture everything that God has done for our family and me. However, we are excited to see what God has for us next!
Learn about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
As a busy wife, mom, and ministry leader, Jessica Cantrell believes that if she can get her Bachelor of Divinity degree, “anyone can do it”! Read her story to hear how she obeyed the Lord when He called her into ministry.
The Power of Prayer
One of the main lessons that I have learned through my time at Christian Leader’s College has been the importance and power of prayer. In both the Prayer and Missions and Revival classes we learned what an important role prayer has in the Kingdom of God. We tend to underestimate the power of prayer, especially in the Global North. Here in the United States where I live, there is an apathy about prayer. It tends to be an afterthought.
Christian Parenting
Another of the most helpful lessons I learned was in the Ministry Conversations class. I really enjoyed and took to heart the concept of authoritative parenting instead of authoritarian or submissive parenting. Authoritative parenting is what is in scripture. And yet, as believers we don’t tend to see that. We often define parenting success by whether or not our child obeys, and not by whether their heart is God’s. A major oversight on parent’s part and yet something that is fixable if one is willing to put in a little hard work and use an authoritative parenting style. The reality disciplining was so helpful as well. True to his word, Dr. Leman’s techniques gave me a “New Kid by Friday”.
Suffering and Persecution
A quote that stuck out to me showed up in a couple of classes but most notably the early church history class. Tertullian said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”. While this was not woven through a majority of the classes martyrs were spoken of in several of them. I will never forget their sacrifice or how I would cry reading their stories. While it is clear that the church does indeed grow most when there is persecution, I do believe that hearing the stories of persecuted saints and martyrs strengthens the faith of those who hear them. Because of this class and this quote, I pray fervently for our brothers and sisters who face persecution.
My 10-year-old daughter, upon seeing and hearing me talk of these fellow persecuted saints also started showing an interest. Together we are now reading Jesus Freaks by DC Talk. We are also talking about what it looks like to have such a deep faith that you would be willing to suffer and die for the Cross of Christ. This one quote sparked many conversations and stories and even came up in our church staff meeting. This gave way for an opportunity to express the importance of sharing such stories with our congregation. Also, it encouraged them to develop a faith that would be willing to stand that kind of persecution.
In fact, we have even considered adding a question to those we ask at baptism. We would ask, “would you be willing to suffer or die before you deny Jesus”? While in our context this question may seem extreme, there are still ways that people suffer for the cross in America. Although it may seem slight in comparison to other countries, it would allow them to be able to stand for the cross of Christ; knowing they stand for righteousness and to not fall because of fear.
Favorite Classes
I had several favorite classes. One of them was the Ministry Conversations class. I thoroughly enjoyed Mark Gungor’s “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” material. I enjoyed it so much that I would watch the lectures with my husband. A few of them that related to dating I watched with both my husband and my eldest daughter who is currently in college. I also really enjoyed Dr. Kevin Leman’s parenting helps. The information that he shared has greatly helped me to be able to better parent all three of my daughters and to help other parents be more confident in their own parenting abilities.
One of my favorite classes was the Old Testament Literature History and Theology class with Ted Hildebrandt. I loved listening to his stories and the information he shared in his lectures. Many of his lectures I watched with my, then, 8-year-old daughter. She would be captivated learning about the heroes of faith with new insights. Dr. Hildebrandt made his class both fun and informational which also made it memorable.
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Ministry Applications
There have been many ministry applications throughout my time studying at Christian Leader’s College. So much of my studies I have already been able to apply in ministry settings. For example, from the prayer class we were able to start new prayer groups. I have used information from the Missions and Revivals class as examples and as a catalyst to help start those very prayer groups. The Sermon Construction and Presentation class was extremely helpful as a jumpstart to preparing sermons for our youth group. I had just finished the Hermeneutics and Exegesis class before taking it. I found it to be helpful in both the classroom and in my ministry setting. In particular, I enjoyed that the Hermeneutics and Exegesis class focused on being led by the Holy Spirit in one’s study of the Word of God.
I have also noticed many applications from both the People Smart for Ministry class and the Pastoral Care and Marriage class. As a result of these classes, I have been able to apply many of the principles in ministry. I believe this is one main reason that I have been able to advance in ministry.
Obedience to the Lord
Throughout this process I have advanced in ministry in ways that have been unexpected and wonderful. When I began at Christian Leader’s College in 2017, I did so out of obedience to the Lord. I had no idea where it would lead me. At the time I had recently been healed from a chronic pain disorder that I had had for twelve years. This disorder had kept me from being able to go to college. The Lord healed me from it in the summer of 2016 and after a time of prayer and submitting my plans to the Lord I knew that the next step for me was to go to college.
After doing some research I enrolled and began pursuing a Bachelor of Divinity. At the same time I was involved as a youth leader in our church’s youth group. Shortly after beginning the degree program I became a volunteer assistant for our current youth pastor. In 2018 that youth pastor announced that he would be leaving and planting a church in two years. This gave us plenty of time to prepare for the transition. I applied for the position and this past March accepted a part-time position as the Youth Pastor of Spiritual Formation at our church. I am looking forward to shortly being licensed by our denomination and subsequently ordained.
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Anyone Can Do It
The most challenging aspect of Christian Leader’s College for me was having the self-discipline to sit down and do the work. I am a busy mom of three, one of which was adopted during my studies at Christian Leader’s College. I am a wife, a Girl Scout leader, Youth Leader, and hold down a part-time job. If I am able to do all of these things and manage to graduate from Christian Leader’s College with a high GPA and highest honors in less than four years, I believe anyone can do it. It was challenging but part of the satisfaction of finishing is the very fact that it was a challenge. If it were easy then there wouldn’t be any pride in saying, “I did it!”.
When I began at Christian Leader’s College my goal was simple obedience to the Lord. I only knew that the Lord was calling me to ministry. I could pursue that by enrolling in Christian Leader’s College and serving our youth group. As I finish my degree I reflect on all the Lord has done over the past four years, I cannot stress enough the important role that Christian Leader’s College has played in my ministry development. I would not be where I am without Christian Leader’s College. Not only have I learned so many valuable lessons, but have also had many occasions on which to share and use the information from classes.
I would like to thank the staff and professors at Christian Leader’s College for their time and energy because I recognize that each class and course of study took hours of preparation, research, filming, and so on. I am so grateful for each and every class and even though I did not mention many of them, I greatly appreciate each and every one of them. Thank you.
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