Ministry Courses for Free at CLI
My name is Ayobola Jesubamise Alabi, and I am taking ministry courses for free at CLI. I am 22 years old from the North-Central Region of Nigeria. I am a bachelor swallowed up by a seemingly, irresistible and unquenchable thirst for the preaching of the Good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. Also, I am committed to the responsibility of raising up young men and women willing to consistently do the will of the Father.
Being a Christian leader has proved to be the best thing that ever happened to me. Most importantly, I seek to bless my immediate neighborhood. I live and minister in Ilorin, the capital city of Kwara State, Nigeria. There, I expounded the word of truth by His sufficient grace. Currently, I minister on the campus of my Polytechnic as a Prayer Coordinator. I will conclude my studies here by December 2020. It is a thing of joy to always hear people testify of God’s goodness in their lives via my ministrations and intercessions. God has been so faithful to me!
My Faith Journey
I was a church-boy since my childhood. I never missed a Sunday or midweek service because my parents were church people. My dad was a Choir Leader throughout my childhood at the E.C.W.A. Church. I joined the Boy’s Brigade at age seven and joined the Choir at age 13. Since then, I found real pleasure in the things of the Lord but never knew who the Lord really was. That lasted for about two more years, and I call it the years of blind service.
On December 23, 2013, I prayed a somewhat blind prayer as always, saying; “Oh Lord, call me.” That particular day, I was visited by the Lord Jesus, and He convicted me. He made me think deeper than I’ve ever done. I began to see the fruitlessness of my blind service to a God I did not have a relationship with at all. Then I realized that Christianity is not what we bear in our names or the number of times we attend church in a week. Right there, I dedicated my life to Jesus and accepted Him into my life. I struggled with addictions in my life for a time, but God saw me through.
A few months later in 2014, I met again one of my childhood friends who is now an ordained pastor in Nigeria. He exposed some of the basic mysteries of the scriptures to me. Eventually, he invited me to a small prayer group meeting on a hilltop in my city. Sometime later, I began to hear God and receive prophetic utterances. Before I knew it, I began to break the bread of the word to my friends at school. People began to follow me, listening and obeying whatever instruction the Spirit gives them through me.
God’s Calling on My Life
The above situation was due to the discovery of God’s call upon my life. I related to mentors and teachers. By the time I was in SS2 at high school, I was made the Fellowship of Christian Students’ President. A great door of opportunity opened for me on the journey of my ministry call. Through this medium, I was able to raise fellow brothers and sisters who are still active in the faith today.
In 2015, I gained admission into The Federal Polytechnic Bida to study Civil Engineering. I engaged in radical and aggressive weekly evangelism. It’s radical because we started street evangelism at 10 pm and ended around 2 am. I prayed a prayer, saying; “Lord, as long as I continue to do your work, no unbeliever is permitted to have a grade point higher than mine!” The prayer was funny, but it worked tremendously. The only person, who had a higher grade point than mine got a transfer to another school after our first semester. It was an encouragement for me and my ministry. Then, I knew I couldn’t run away from the ministry calling.
Ministry Purpose and Ministry Courses for Free at CLI
In July 2017, I embarked on a three-day fasting program. I determined in my heart to hear the voice of the Lord concerning the exactness of His plans and purpose for my life and ministry. On the 6th of July, I heard His voice (like a reverb effect), immediately after a trance that lasted for about 30 minutes. I saw many things. I saw a lot of chaos and disarray upon the earth. When the trance concluded, God spoke to me, “I have made you a son of peace, a Prophet of Peace.” I am to preach the word of peace and deliver those who have been bound by this turbulent world of captivity.
My concentration for ministry multiplied and I gave myself fully to the ministry of the Word. I am thankful to be a privileged beneficiary of the benevolence of the Christian Leaders Institute to take ministry courses for free. CLI is a legacy! I invited my friends to join the movement at CLI. We will all become graduates one day!
Learn about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
CLI Leadership Course Impact
I am Joy Lady from Berea, Kentucky, in the USA, and I finished the CLI Leadership course. My mission is to know God, and the Christian Leaders Institute courses are enriching that mission. Through the sanctification that comes by fellowship with the Holy Spirit, I lovingly submit every part of myself and opportunity gifted me to the glory of God. I serve wholeheartedly until the time I am united with Him for eternity.
My Upbringing
My mother suffered severe depression, and my father was unabashedly arrogant, misogynistic, abusive, and alcoholic. As the only daughter and middle of five children, I heard that I was “broken” and “inferior” because I was “just a girl.” Furthermore, there were belittling reminders of my disastrous failure of my family’s ridiculously high expectations. Anything less than perfection in any regard was “a lack of effort.”
Once, my father, berating me in a drunken rage of which he has no recollection, challenged me to name one thing in my life, I had touched without messing up. I was in tears, struggling to think of words to prove I had any worth or purpose. God stilled my heart and led me to say, “I love.” For me, that was all that mattered.
Challenges
My father chose sobriety a short time later. “I love” became my mantra, and I was thrilled to learn that he began regularly attending a church. I was eager to plug-in and be active in ministry, as I had recently been forced to relocate away from my home church and ministry. However, when I spoke of my desire, I found that the church’s opinion of women in ministry strongly mirrored that of my father. They told me to remain silent. They sat me down if I attempted or offered to serve in any capacity outside of washing dishes or singing on occasion.
It discouraged my spirit, but God told me to stay, long after my father left. For five years, I tried to find a different congregation. One that would disciple me, encourage me, and allow me to serve in the ways the Holy Spirit and the Father of all creation gifted me. However, God kept leading me back to the tiny little country church in Berea, Kentucky.
For those five years, I felt like God led me into the desert to walk in circles and starve. But then, in 2012, my church leaders appointed me, a woman, as the head of the Worship Ministry. Thank God, His timing is perfect! I’ve been in this position for eight years now. Women in my church are seen and heard for the first time in its 200 year history.
CLI Leadership Course Impacted Me
I feel an undeniable calling to encourage and equip individuals. Each one is unique, a “fearfully & wonderfully made” part of one body. They can discover and embrace their identity and purpose in Christ.
The CLI Leadership course taught me valuable lessons. It showed me how to combat tradition, fear, and complacency while simultaneously respecting the culture and working to change it to bring glory to God further. It has provided me with insight regarding the inevitable and necessary conflicts I will encounter. The CLI Leadership course challenged me to grow as a leader and an individual.
I dream that all churches will value people and the contributions those people make to the kingdom of God. Judging no one according to their gender or their weaknesses, but by the gifting and calling God places on them.
Learn about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.
Quality Ministry Training Free at CLI
My name is Samuel Black, and I am receiving quality ministry training free at CLI. I’m 27 years old. For the better portion of my life, I’ve been dodging the call of God and not letting Him fully take over in my life. I am yielding to serve the Lord and pursue that call. May He guide me to do His will in whatever capacity He sees fit.
Christian Upbringing
I was born in La Crosse, WI, and reared by two of the most loving, devoutly Christian people I know. My father (pictured to the left) and I are very close. We love spending time talking about the Bible and Christian doctrine. He possesses a deep understanding of the Bible and has always been my mentor. My mother is supportive and is one that can recite most of the Proverbs from memory.
Having grown up in a Christian family, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have, as it was all I ever knew. I had never known a life without Christian influence, and it was just commonplace. The last few years have been very trying times, but with prayer and the strength of the Holy Spirit, things are looking up.
Currently, I work at a sporting goods store. There I’m blessed with having Christian owners and a manager who is also the president of his church committee. Having management that aligns with Christian beliefs significantly improves the workplace environment. It allows me to speak about my faith freely and openly, without fear of persecution.
God’s Calling and Quality Ministry Training Free at CLI
Jeremiah 29:11 says that God knows the plans He has for me. I have faith in that promise. Trust that He will reveal to me those plans in due time. Over the years, I’ve picked up a little knowledge here, and a little knowledge there, but not a well-trained understanding. That’s why quality ministry training and instruction for free is so necessary. Christian Leaders Institute fills this need for me! I hope to use this training as a way to enter the ministry and allow God to use me wherever He may lead.
I am a helpless sinner, incapable of righteousness, so I pray that the Holy Spirit comes upon me and guides me and works through me.
Learn about ordination at the Christian Leaders Alliance. Interested in a low-cost degree? Check out the CLI’s Leadership Excellence School.