I was born and raised in the great nation of the United States of America! Ministry here is quite different than ministering in other countries (which I have also done), but it also presents it’s on set of challenges. The hardest thing I find in ministering in my country and state is the different mindsets, and that people think they have plenty of time to ‘have fun’ and ‘live life.’ They put no value on what it means to live and instead prefer to find pleasure in temporary things. Things that take no effort.
I guess that is where I have always differed from my peers.
I accepted Jesus in my life at the young age of 2. I grew up with my parents in motorcycle ministry and with a very crazy family… so I always saw what sin and darkness did to people and I wanted no part of that. I knew even from a young age that there was more to life and I knew I was going to have to fight to get to it but I knew in my heart it would be worth it. I have never looked back since that day and I have suffered many trials and sickness; but God’s love has never failed me.
I accepted Jesus in my life at the young age of 2. I grew up with my parents in motorcycle ministry and with a very crazy family… so I always saw what sin and darkness did to people and I wanted no part of that. I knew even from a young age that there was more to life, and I knew I was going to have to fight to get to it but I knew in my heart it would be worth it. I have never looked back since that day and I have suffered many trials and sickness; but God’s love has never failed me.
I accepted Jesus in my life at the young age of 2. I grew up with my parents in motorcycle ministry and with a very crazy family… so I always saw what sin and darkness did to people, and I wanted no part of that. I knew even from a young age that there was more to life and I knew I was going to have to fight to get to it but I knew in my heart it would be worth it. I have never looked back since that day and I have suffered many trials and sickness; but God’s love has never failed me.
I am a newly married lady and my husband also play a very important role in my God-dreams. Where as I am the go-getter lets leave tomorrow kind of gal, he’s the one to calm me down and make sure my emotions don’t get the best of me. He is the wind in fire, while I’m the fire to his calm! We balance each other out and work perfectly together. We both have dreams and we support each other fully in them!
My dream as a minister is so many things… but they all fit together. I am currently the Youth Pastor at my church, but I also consider myself a missionary and Evangelist. My dream is to have a prison prevention ministry in the inner city (which is also where my church is currently located). I don’t just want to help those in prison but I want to help kids stay out before they even get there. I want to show them Jesus’ love before the world entices them with sin. I also want to help in street ministry by impacting the prostitutes in my area; by showing them how loved they are and that they are accepted in the arms of Christ who has already forgave them. In the middle of all of this I feel God is calling me into the nations as well. To spread His love, to BE His hands and feet. To be the tangible love of Jesus when they don’t know what to do next or how to survive any longer in their condition. To be the one who tells them who Jesus is, what He did for them for the very first time. I feel it is my job to fulfill the Great Commission in all of these ways. It is so amazing to look at my church and to see how much they have poured into my dreams not because I am their Youth Pastor but because they actually believe in me & believe that what I want to do can help transform the atmosphere of where we are at.
There was a time in my life whee I had a dream and a plan for my life; until I heard this statement “If your dreams seem achievable then they aren’t big enough. You have to dream so big that is seems impossible to reach that goal. That is where God comes in.” Since that moment I knew my life was going to be dedicated to ministry.
A scholarship here at CLI is important to me because I believe in quality of work. I don’t want to go out into my God dreams and only have half an answer for someone. I want to know how to respond in all situations and know about all different areas of the Bible, Jesus, and ministry. I feel CLI can help me with that. Quality of education is important not only for me but to the people God has called me to.
If I could ask you to pray for anything I would ask that you pray for endurance. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in my city, my state, my country, and the world. At times I feel overwhelmed at all God has asked of me but I know He will always give me strength. Especially when I have other believers lifting us up in prayer. I can not wait to see where God takes me next!
My name is Eisele Mboyana; I was born on the 11th of August 1988 in Umtata and grow up in Cape Town, Khayelitsha. I come from a very spiritual family, particularly my mother who raised me as a single parent, with the help of the Lord. Growing up from a religious upbringing, my path was almost defined for me and it was only a matter of time before I fully devoted myself to the work of the Lord, although it was not cut-and-dried decision for me to serve in the ministry due to influences around me that could have led me totally astray, however on 30 March 2010, when a life-shattering occurrence came into my life, only the Lord could revive and strengthen me during that period, it was on this day that I was encouraged to take the walk of salvation much more seriously and re-accept/re-affirm my stance in Christ once again as my Lord & personal Savior.
In October 2012, with wife and daughter at the time, I relocated to Johannesburg from Cape Town.
In February 2013 I joined the New Covenant of God Ministries family, while there, I served the Lord in every way I could. As my quest to know more about the Lord persisted, I decided to look for online Bible study lessons/courses, after a thorough search at the time, World Bible School (WBS) was my preferred choice. Doing the online bible study through WBS has helped me grow a lot and has opened my physical and spiritual eyes to many things about my God and His will.
I have been married to my beautiful wife, Maria, since 22 September 2011 and together we are blessed with two beautiful and intelligent kids, Hlumelo (a five-year-old daughter) and Junior (a two-year-old son).
I am currently employed as an Account Manager for P&G SA by Print Outsource International. I believe that it is indisputable that I am passionate about teaching the Word of God and sound doctrine of the Gospel of Christ. I am one of the founders and an executive director of Christ’s Righteousness Ministries (CRM) NPC since October 2015, I also play the role of a secretary and public officer of the ministry.
Earning a scholarship at CLI will afford me an opportunity to expand my knowledge and understanding of the biblical principles as God intended. All I wanted is the ability to teach the sound doctrine of the Gospel, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, so that we all come to the knowledge of Christ and are restored back to God’s original plan. Nowadays we see a lot of compromising in our church life, and it is for this reason that the CLI revival leaders course will restore God’s intended plan. I believe that this course will open my eyes to Christ’s righteousness, and it will transform my mind into being Christo-centric.
Called to Minister in Ukraine
CLI student Mark Allan experienced God at a young age, but quickly fell back into worldly ways then Mark met a girl that lead him back to God. Mark then was called to minister in Ukraine.
Read Mark’s full story below:
I first heard the gospel at age 13 during a summer camp, and the sacrifice of Jesus for my sins struck me. However, my family was a typical family in the U.S. during that 1970’s and church, for us was nothing more than a small part of the American Dream. That is, we were affluent, well provided for with a nice home, etc., and we attended church on Sunday mornings. The seed of the gospel planted in my heart that year fell among the weeds and was soon choked out.
In 1976 I was now out of High School, playing in a rock band and working a day job. I was also a drug user. The band was becoming more well-known, and I was beginning to question my dreams of being a rich and famous musician. I was asking the question, “Is this all there is, and if we make it big, will it mean more of this?” You see, living for myself was beginning to seem empty.
Then I met a girl whose parents were a step more committed to church life and God than my own had been, and the only way they would allow their daughter to date me was if I would go to church. Being the open-minded person I thought I was, I said sure (she was that beautiful!). Then in March 1977 their church was having four nights of revival meetings. I somehow made excuses for the first three but went on the fourth. That night the message was about hell, and all through the sermon, I kept hearing this voice in my head saying, “If you don’t submit to Christ as Lord tonight, I will leave you alone forever, and never bother you again.” I knew this was my last chance and that God had been calling me for a long time. So, when the invitation came, I almost ran to the front and surrendered to Jesus Christ. Three months later I married the girl, Rhonda. I got the Lord, and He blessed me with the girl too!
Fast forward to 1991 and we have attended church and grown in the Lord for 14 years, I am working as a Computer Field Technician, and Rhonda is a homemaker. God begins speaking into our hearts giving us a burden for the Soviet Union, which is beginning to come apart. Over the coming year, through Him speaking into our hearts, and through His Word, we realize He is calling us to sell everything and move to Ukraine as missionaries.
At first, I questioned if I needed to go back to school and get a seminary degree, but God clearly told us ‘No.’ I explored the possibility of using my computer background with a mission organization such as Wycliffe Bible Translators, but God clearly told us ‘No.’ In the end, we were commissioned as the first missionaries to be sent out of Houston’s First Baptist Church who were not going through a mission sending organization. Our calling was so clear that the pastor of our church at that time, Dr. John Bisagno said, “Kids, this is so clearly God how can we say no?”
We felt it would be a two-year commitment, and we were going to help in discipleship. I was comfortable with this as I had taught Adult Sunday School for many years. So, in March 1993, after raising support for six months, we left America and moved to Ukraine. After 23 years we are still serving in Ukraine.
In 1994 God put on our hearts to start a church. To do that we knew that I needed ordination. Once again, after discussions and questionnaires with our home church, the ordained me into the Gospel Ministry in August 1994. I bought many books and self-studied the disciplines taught in most seminaries. I sometimes would joke that I had the most varied group of seminary professors ever, from Baptist, Pentecostal, Plymouth Brethren, and other denominations; a group of teachers which never taught at the same seminary, nor even in the same century in some cases.
My qualification has always been my calling, and that has been enough. So why the decision to study and why CLI? Those are the questions my family had as well.
First, in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union, requirements for religious visas have come to include an education in religious studies. Without a degree of some type, you cannot receive a visa on religious grounds. If that is ever adopted in Ukraine, it will create problems.
Why CLI? After 23 years, we are still faith missionaries, supported by individuals and a few congregations in America. Our three daughters have been called as missionaries as adults, and two of the three live and serve with us in Ukraine. So, finances would not allow me to study at a typical online seminary. The CLI scholarship will allow me to do the studies, and we are praying that the Lord will make it possible for us to contribute monthly to CLI to help others do this as well. But the bottom line is that without the offer of free studies, we could not make the financial commitment for me even to begin.
I now pastor our second church plant, having raised up leaders in our first and turned the church over to a national pastor in 2001. We planted this second church, Living Word Church in Lviv, in 2003 with the assistance of three leaders from our first church plant. Our calling is now clear, and our lives are planted in Ukraine until the Lord Jesus returns. Pray for Ukraine as hearts here are more open to the gospel as a result of the ongoing war with Russia in east Ukraine.
God is faithful to qualify the called, but He sometimes calls us to become further prepared as well. I look forward to the studies, the challenge, and the glory I pray that this will bring to God.
Mark was called to minister in Ukraine are you called to minister somewhere? Get training at CLI today!