My name is Dawn Fuhrman. I grew up in New Jersey, but now live in Pennsylvania. Married for 31 years, we have three children, one of whom we adopted. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and want to use that education to serve the Lord by becoming a minister. I am a student at the Christian Leaders Institute because I am called and want to be equipped to serve God in ministry.
Study at CLI
Being a student now is easier than when I was in college as a young woman. I want and crave to learn. Furthermore, I want to learn more about God and how I can bring others closer to Him. I am pleased that it is a self-paced school, all online. I study when I can focus and when my family does not need me. The free courses do not strain our family finances, so returning to school is not a burden, but a joy. The ability to receive a scholarship keeps the option of a Bachelor’s degree in ministry open for me in the future. I am excited to become an Ordained Chaplain Minister and eventually open my own Soul Center to provide for my community. God called me and the training at CLI equipped me to serve God wherever He leads.
My Journey to Study
I grew up with Jesus in my life and received a religious education until I was in high school. Eventually, I became a Religious Education teacher myself. I always had a strong faith. My mother always encouraged me to have a close relationship with Jesus. I, like most teens, strayed from my faith for a time. But, I returned when I matured and realized how much I missed having a relationship with God. I also wanted to raise my children in the faith.
Since then, I have studied the Bible as much as possible and joined a Bible study group to continue and deepen my studies. I dream of running a Bible study, being an effective minister, and opening a Soul Center. Then, I can help those in my community feel love and acceptance and have a relationship with Jesus.
My Turning Point
I think the time Jesus was the most prevalent in my life was when my 8-year-old son passed away. If you have read the poem Footprints, you will understand when I say Jesus carried me that year. I turned to God to help me find my way out of that darkness. I never lost my faith or struggled with it during that time. However, I would not be who I am today without it. Nor would I have made it through strong enough to adopt a son out of foster care later. That is when God started to call me to help others. Now, that little boy, our son we adopted, is 14, and I am being called to help others outside of my home.
Called and Equipped to Serve God through Ministry Training at CLI
I hope the free training and classes I take at the Christian Leader Institute will equip me for God’s call to help others. It will give me the knowledge, confidence, and support I need to become a minister who makes a difference in other’s lives. With the CLI ministry training, I can lead a meaningful Bible study that others will return to, enjoy, and be encouraged to study independently. The CLI ministry training will help me show others that being a leader is attainable. I want to encourage them to follow their callings as well.
I look forward to officiating weddings and baptisms. Further, I look forward to ministering to others and achieving my spiritual dreams. But most of all, I look forward to helping others develop a relationship with Jesus. Thank you, CLI, for this opportunity to study!
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account, automatically enrolling 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, Diplomas, and Degrees with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- 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.
God’s Grace is Sufficient
Hi, I’m Andrew Cawthorn from Stutterheim, South Africa. I have been a student at the Christian Leaders Institute since late 2014 and early 2015, when I searched online for an opportunity to study for the ministry.
My Journey to an Opportunity to Study for the Ministry
I grew up in a Christian home and did what one would expect from a Christian. However, I wandered somewhat toward the end of my senior year into my early twenties. I still attended church and did devotions, but more out of habit and expectation than because of a heartfelt commitment to God.
But God is faithful to His promises even if we aren’t! In November 2008, God convicted me one morning over coffee. Around that time, a previous pastor took me to a pastor’s conference, and the seed was planted.
So, in late 2014 and early 2015, I found the Christian Leaders Institute while searching online for an opportunity to study for the ministry. I had developed a desire to learn the Bible’s truths more clearly.
Spiritual Warfare
What should have been a turning point toward ministry became a dog attack on our son, which should have been worse but for God’s intervention. At that stage, he was about three years old and needed reconstructive surgery on his left leg. We realized it was an attack from the devil’s forces because of my commitment to studying the word of God and looking for opportunities to preach.
Thankfully, with God’s help, I have continued to study and grow, and last year, 2023, I received my Associate of Divinity Degree. I plan on completing the bachelor’s degree as soon as finances allow.
The beginning of 2024 was a big year for our family, and we committed to following Jesus as closely as possible and supporting each other in whichever ministry God sent us. Once again, the devil showed himself. However, by God’s grace, we continue and will do so as we can.
Thank you, CLI and CLA! Without you, I and many others would have no chance.
God is good all the time.
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account, automatically enrolling 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, Diplomas, and Degrees with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- 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.
From Broken to Beautiful Through God’s Grace
My name is Rika Mostert. I am called to life coach ministry and more! That is why I am a student at the Christian Leaders Institute.
My husband and I live in the scenic, small coastal village of Betty’s Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa. After living in the semi-desert for nine years, I now enjoy the mountains’ steadfastness and the ocean’s many faces!
My Story
I grew up with loving parents as the second of four children. I was the girly girl of the three sisters, thriving within the space of girly things – ballet, books, dancing, dresses, makeup, and modeling – what more could a girl want?
We grew up in a Christian home. My mom’s faith is something to behold. Our lives were filled with love and faith, which made all the traumas more bearable. My father was never healthy. However, he was a great sport with a fabulous sense of humor. He was declared medically unfit for work at the age of 40. However, with four kids, he kept working different jobs to support us. He died at 51. My sister battled the same disease but with much worse consequences. She died at the age of 41. We learned to appreciate time and relationships. We battled our doubts and loss but always found God’s grace.
Marriage Journey
After matriculating, I studied teaching and obtained a HED teacher’s diploma. During this time, I also married the man of my heart at age 21. Still happily married, we have two fabulous kids. Both were adopted since we could not have our own. Being married to an outdoorsy, practical guy also brought out a different side of this girly girl. I also love farm life, weird pets, and bugs!
We’ve had an eventful marriage. Our love is forged as we walk through the hot spots of life. We’ve had our joys, growths, do-overs, start-overs, hurts and healings.
Healing Women to Beauty & Joy through Grace
I am a grace coach, inspirational speaker, training facilitator, personal growth enthusiast, image consultant, and lover of bright and colorful things. I did not come quickly to this purpose. Furthermore, starting with a statement of who I am might seem like a sell. However, being confident in who I am and who God made me to be is the culmination of decades of growth.
Even though I grew up in a beautiful, loving home with awesome, God-loving, nurturing parents, I still struggled for years with excessive low self-esteem and low self-worth. Now, I know that this was a ploy of the enemy to steal my identity through trauma. Also, sometimes we are our own worst enemy, right?
I’m passionate about helping women discover, embrace, and love their unique, colorful designs. Further, I equip them to embrace the life God dreams for them. Since I have grown from a shy, insecure, and cautious young woman into the person I am now, I have experienced first-hand that living wholeheartedly, with courage and joy, is not only fabulously possible but also non-negotiable.
Following God’s Plan By Grace
I always knew that God had a plan for me to pay forward to other women what I had learned about my value and worth. I saw people hurting and felt ill-equipped to help. However, by His grace, God has equipped me through the years. My desire to make a difference in women’s lives led me to become an internationally qualified image consultant in 2001. For years, that was enough.
However, dreams grow as people grow. Therefore, after much personal growth and a big move to the Kalahari (my desert season), I wanted to do more. I found purpose in becoming an accredited mentor in 2018 and continued life coaching. Then God took me on a “purpose discovery journey” with the explicit task of healing women to beauty and joy through God’s grace and equipping. Wow!
By Grace and For Grace
We are designed BY grace and FOR grace as much as we are created for love and belonging. Each of us has an inherent God-given design. We are all gifted, and our gifting has its unique, beautiful, life-giving language that is our gift to the world. My greatest joy is supporting women in finding their voice and expressing their grace language – the language of their hearts.
I spent the last few years delving deeper into the revelation of God’s grace, combining that with design, neuroscience, growth science, and Biblical truths. I found my unique way of coaching and supporting women towards wholeness – my own “grace language,” so to speak. Hence, “Grace coach” is used for my not-so-ordinary coaching. I love coaching, workshops, conferences, and inspirational talks.
Live Brave
Out of my self-discovery journey and experiences, I developed an in-depth self-esteem course. It is called LIVE BRAVE. Through it, I seek to assist women to live with courage and joy.
Together with my sister, I co-create and co-present Warrior Women Camps. We go where God leads us and have had the privilege of reaching the hearts of more than 300 women in the last two years. I even had the privilege to do a few sermons in our church, which I loved. I know God has a bigger plan for me.
However, there is still more for me to learn to minister to women and to equip the church. Then, we can exponentially help more people become whole and find the kaleidoscope of their beautiful design out of their broken pieces. That is why I am part of the Christian Leaders Institute. Life Coach Ministry is just a start for me, and then I’ll see where God leads me.
WHY CLI? – For Life Coach Ministry and More Study
Life has a way to force growth and change with its unexpected curve balls. My husband was severely injured at work in 2021. They were patient with his recovery up to a point. However, after nine years, they let him go from his job. So, we had to move out of our desert season. It was a big new start for us, with only me working. He was still busy with his recovery process. Only last year did he start earning a part-time income again. We also had a son studying, and we’re paying off that loan.
Within this new season, I can not afford to study full-time or pay the fees for a course. However, I’m desperate to grow and learn. Therefore, the Christian Leaders Institute perfectly fits me, and I am so grateful! I need to be more equipped for the task at hand in our local church. So, the Life Coach Ministry courses and more ministry training courses are equipping me for this new season.
God is so great in His love and grace. After a long road, we are finding feet and purpose, not just for me but for my husband. We trust our Father to align our gifts and purposes beautifully to do what He plans for us to do collectively. God has also called my hubby to use his gifts in Zambia. So, very soon, our lives might change again, and together, we will fulfill that calling.
Register a Study Account
Register for a free study account, automatically enrolling 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, Diplomas, and Degrees with the Christian Leaders Institute.
- 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.