Further God’s Kingdom

CLI student, Jamie Kueker, has been beaten and broken down by the world but instead of becoming discouraged he has become determined to further God’s kingdom.

Read Jamie’s story below:

I live in Fairmont Minnesota. I am one of those guys that God has called to further his kingdom later in life.

My testimony isn’t glamorous at all, but it is fairly interesting to see looking back on life how God has had his hand in my life even when I felt I could do life on my own. You see, I grew up in a blue-collar home with both parents and a younger sister. We lived a pretty average life except my parents were both alcoholics. I lived a majority of my life in sin trying to be a “Good Person” but for the most part lived in the lies of the enemy. I have always believed the lies which lead to low self-esteem and chasing whatever blows in the wind. I was baptized and confirmed in Christ as a kid, but never had a relationship so I walked away from God in my teens.

I was married and a father by the age of 20. I knew the marriage wasn’t right, but I was “trying to do the right thing”. My son Tyler, now 25 was born 3 months premature with lots of difficulties at birth like heart surgery at 10 days old and being born with a brain that would never fully develop. Most adults are not ready for that kind of challenge as a parent let alone a 20-year-old who doesn’t know God. My first marriage didn’t last because she was physically abusive against Tyler at 18 months old and also myself. I got full custody and we divorced because of the abuse.

A few years later after becoming a borderline alcoholic myself, I met my wife Nicki; we tried having a baby after being married but we couldn’t do it. We found out she had cysts on her ovaries and they were blocking the eggs from dropping. We went to a specialist and he put her on a round of shots to break up those cysts, and he said that there was a chance for multiples. We took that chance and a month later we found out she was pregnant. I said jokingly, you did say there was a chance for multiples, so he looked for other heartbeats and found a second, and third, then a fourth; then nope he said it was triplets. I about fainted and when we headed back home for our hour drive we pulled over and said what are we going to do? I said I remembered an old saying that said: “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” We decided since neither one of us had a relationship with God we had to find a church. Tyler and I church hunted while she was on bed rest from 9 weeks on. When we went back for the first ultrasound we saw them clear as a bell 1,2,3,4. Babies!!!!
(Be careful what you pray for. You just might get it in abundance. Lol!)
Later in the pregnancy, the Mayo health system in Rochester MN gave us a specialist and he gave us the selective abortion speech. We told him to save it because God gave us these four babies and we were NOT killing any of them. This was God’s plan for us. The kids were born March 26, 2001; two boys and two girls; Darrian 3’14, Ethan 3’10, Cora 2’10, and Izabella 2’6 in weight. We found a church home in Grace Lutheran Church ELCA in Fairmont. We hung out in the back trying not to be noticed; we were young and didn’t really know anyone.

God stepped in and sent us someone that set up volunteers to rock and feed babies so we could shop for food and pay bills and such. Through that gift we met a widower named Hope who was like an angel from heaven for us; she is like a grandmother to the kids even to this date and they are now 15. Since then God has proven doctors wrong with two more children; Hope who is now 11 and Rebekah who is 21 months. When man says no way God will say I have and am the way.

I spent most of my life under the addiction of lust, pornography, and alcohol. Almost four years ago God called me in a dream to quit drinking; he told me if I did he would use me. I quit. I started seeking him but I was still living a hypocritical life. Still caught in my sin while serving God. I was called by God to put on a community worship in the park and it was just as God showed me in my dreams. I started going to our Church’s men’s bible study group and was in fellowship with other men that had struggled with sin too, but I never really opened up to them.

God called me to be a Teen CBS (community bible study) leader sharing his word with youth. I met a couple there that became spiritual mentors for me and saw me as God did and for the first time I started seeing myself as God does. Last year I had a training in Colorado for leadership and met two other leaders and discovered in a small group. All the other guys had dealt with pornography or lust issues; we all prayed for God to deliver us from it and it happened. There are so many miracles that could fill a book that he has done in our family’s life.

I feel like I can most identify with being a small group leader and youth leader. God has given me a heart for both the youth and the broken. We are so blessed as a family in our community. I am learning so much from many different people. In December of 2016, God came to me in a dream and told me to equip myself with His Word. After checking around I found a friend Christopher Parker, who I used to work with; he told me about CLI. I checked it out and signed up and started the introduction course immediately!

I feel like I can most identify with being a small group leader and youth leader. God has given me a heart for both the youth and the broken. We are so blessed as a family in our community. I am learning so much from many different people. In December of 2016, God came to me in a dream and told me to equip myself with His Word. After checking around I found a friend Christopher Parker, who I used to work with; he told me about CLI. I checked it out and signed up and started the introduction course immediately!

I was so excited that I had this great opportunity to “equip myself” as he called me to do with a great program like CLI. My wife works as the Christian Education Director at our church; I think God might eventually call us to ministry as a couple. I have not been a model husband or father but through my molding, by God’s hands he is peeling away the junk of the world and I am working with God’s help to improve as a leader, father, husband, and a Christian. I feel God might call me to plant a church in our community for the unreached, rejected, and broken who don’t feel welcome in church. It’s early on in my pursuit of God and ministry but my wife and children are very supportive. I just pray that I can balance work, family, schooling, and God’s calling on my life. He has done so much already and I cannot wait to see what people he brings into our lives and ministry visions.

A scholarship to CLI will help me to seek out and equip myself for the next step of God’s plan for my life, family and our lost people in our community so that I can share the Gospel. I truly look forward to moving forward with equipping myself with the knowledge of God’s word that CLI has to offer me. With the information, I have learned in the introduction course my wife and I are now leading our family in devotions daily and we are going to learn to grow as a family with God’s help and the knowledge I will learn through CLI. I know God is raising me up to be the change in our community and further God’s kingdom.

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