Preaching Christ to the destitute certainly isn’t a dream job. They don’t have much. If you pass a collection plate out, you might not have a penny in it when it gets back to you. And many of them are so jaded by life that they just can’t believe there’s a God out there that actually loves them.
But Debra and her husband Nickolas believe that preaching Christ to the homeless is what they’re called to do. They see the pain and suffering that they’re going through. They know there is One that can heal them. And He has called them to be His witnesses to the homeless, the outcasts, the deaf, the lame… They will be preaching Christ to those cast aside by society.
I am Debra Figueroa. I am married to Nickolas and we have a daughter, Joy, who still lives with us. We have six other grown adult children who live also in Milwaukee–a Midwestern city in the United States. I am being called by my awesomely, big and mighty God. He loves me so much as He speaks to my heart with a still, small, voice. I have heard this voice as a child and always had a choice, but chose not listen. I was scared. If I listened, I chose not to believe. When I believed, my believing was crushed because I listened to the discouraging words and chose not to trust. Instead I gave in to fears, doubts and negative thinking.
Wow! I was discouraged a lot but God is calling me to be an encourager and to live the dream and vision that He gave me. In fact, I was convinced at times that I didn’t have a voice of my own until recently. So I became a victim of my own thinking and circumstances. With that thinking how could I encourage anyone?
I did not realize the many challenges and obstacles I would have to face. With a blended family of 4 children, I stayed busy with practical everyday living and not liking many aspects of my life even though I was faithful in church. My husband and I had three more children together. He was not living for God and I was worn out from constantly fighting so many spiritual battles all day long.
Finally, I decided that it’s a heart issue and I was tired of the excuses and letting uncertainty control my life. God promised me life so abundantly and rich. He said he would bless me and my family exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or think. So I got tired of being a victim and chose to rise up as a victor instead. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When I made bold decisions to move forward to believe and trust God I could see my warrior-self rising up to take authority and fight the real enemy.
So now I am ready to take the final quest and journey into the far reaches of His Kingdom. God has been teaching me to look for and notice patterns. He wants me to be a creative communicator and writer. I have had this interest for a long time. He wants me to creatively communicate in a way that makes clear the intended message He wants me teach. So my passion is combining these skills and to show people how to have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God, their maker and creator and to live out that relationship by making a difference in their community, and serving God with their whole heart.
It has taken me a long time to be fully ready to give it my all but now I am ready and willing! I do have a vision that reaches beyond what I’ve ever thought could be possible because of how I limited myself in the past. It had to take a severe church hurt and a very rocky marriage, a death of a grandchild, some severe health issues, very hurtful relationships with others and us losing our house to bring me to this point. After serving in a church and doing what man wanted for 15 years and putting God’s vision of me evangelizing in the community on the back burner I am ready to step out in full faith to fulfill my purpose through Christ. I have been running from it long enough because of lack of confidence in myself. But God is building my confidence in Him. He is my confidence and strength. He is my stronghold and shield. My faith is in Him. He is leading me and directing me because of my willing heart.
God’s timing is perfect. My husband is now serving God with his whole heart. He is drawn to our new small church and the loving pastor. Our church is multi-cultural (so is our family) and is in a predominantly racially mixed and troubled neighborhood. But God is in control and He has a destiny and purpose for all of us. The Pastor is behind our vision and we support the Church’s.
My husband and I also want to help the homeless. I am moved by the plight of the single-parent families who are trying to make ends meet. Drugs, alcohol and sexual perversion dominate the lives of the people who are crying out for freedom from their bondages. Statistics show that homelessness in our area hits hard the single parents raising children on their own who can’t make it on low paying wages. How can I sit comfortably in my home with the blessings of God and not share my resources and the practical help that they need so much? It is with God’s love being demonstrated that they can finally receive the love of God for themselves and make a decision to serve Him.
A CLI scholarship would allow me to gain credentials to reach the homeless, broken, blind, lame, and deaf in this community. This scholarship is so important for helping me to mount up on eagles wings and to soar to new heights in Christ Jesus so that I can do my part to fulfill my calling. The time is now. I am so ready. I give God the glory. Amen.
Thank you for allowing me this opportunity so that I become more fully grounded in the Word in order to be better equipped to serve others. To God be the glory! Amen!
Can you see yourself preaching Christ to the poor in your community? Do you feel called to share the gospel with others? Christian Leaders Institute has many classes designed to help with preaching Christ to all people. If you would like to be better equipped for preaching Christ, or just for your personal walk with God, you can enroll now by clicking here.
There is revival needed in Puerto Rico. In a place where poverty abounds, many of the citizens are losing their faith in the church – and in God.
But God is faithful. He’s calling people of all classes and ages to lead His revival. And in Puerto Rico, Jan Ibrahim received his calling to be part of the revival needed in Puerto Rico. Jan is still a teenager, but the Lord used unexpected people to speak to him and assure him that he has been called.
Here is his testimony:
My name is Jan Ibrahim García Rivera. I was born on August 13, 1997, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. My father is Edgar Garcia and my mother is Irma Rivera. I was born prematurely. If I was not taken out of my mother’s body that day, she could have died. But God had already given a word to my parents that I would be born and that I would live. At this time, I was in the NICU and the doctors were saying that I would not make it out of there. Thanks to God, I am alive and healthy.
I live in Puerto Rico, which is an U.S. Territory, and doing ministry here is quite varied and not that difficult to my understanding. Here in Puerto Rico, there was a revival in the 1930’s that started in Bayamon. The Holy Spirit came down to the churches all around the island. There have also been some great revival leaders and mentors which are Florentino Santana, he was the Pastor and founder of the Disciples of Christ Academy and also mentor of my pastor Peter Rivera Sr., and Yiye Avila.
I identify as a pastor because that is what God’s message was to my parents before I was born. In ministry dream I want to have a good walk with God so that I can help others to walk with Him also.
I have two key experiences to pursue ministry. The first one is when I was in seventh grade, I had an English teacher that was always calling my attention and I could not stand her. But I did not know she was a woman of prayer. One day she told me to stay after class and she asked me if I attended church, which I responded with a yes. She said well, because good has plans with you. I continued my life as a teenager in the ignorance we have at that age. But then in eleventh grade, my history teacher was in middle of the class and said my name to get my attention. And said, “God loves you, and remember you have a calling,” in front of the class.
In the area where I live there is poverty, lack of faith and the people do not believe in the church. They say they are thieves due to many pastors being vocational pastors. Only a revival will lead them to Jesus Christ.
I am a teenager so I really do not know if I am going to be a vocational or bi-vocational pastor, I need to pray for guidance in that aspect. That’s why I have not sought much support in the church, because I am waiting for God’s answer.
A Christian Leaders Institute scholarship is really important to me because I could get a high-quality education for free. This would be great because I’m already paying for a biology major but I still want to answer to God’s calling for my life. Maybe I would not be a pastor anytime soon, but I could help more with this education at the youth group. And it will help me with my walk with the Almighty One.
You could pray for the Holy Spirit to guide me with some important decisions in my life about school and ministry. And that My family and I can keep on our path of sanctification.
Perhaps there is revival needed where you live. Perhaps God is calling you to be part of that revival. If so, you may find the free ministry training courses at CLI will help you be part of the revival needed in your area. I invite you to enroll in our getting started course by clicking here.
Only God has the power to transform lives. People have mastered the ability to mask and suppress, but only God can truly transform. Lives are changed when they encounter the power of Jesus Christ in a real, personal way.
Jordan Dainty had a personal experience with God’s power to transform lives. Even though he’d heard about Jesus since he was young, he was never shown how to live a daily Christian walk with God. So he ended up falling into addictions. At the young age of 13, he was under the power of drugs and alcohol.
My name is Jordan Robert Dainty and I live in the United States of America. I grew up going to church only on holidays such as Christmas and Easter, but had no significant involvement in the church fellowship. From as early as I can remember I felt moved by the word of God and the great sacrifice Jesus made for humanity. Doing ministry in the U.S. is comparably one of the easiest countries in the world. There is very little persecution of Christianity anywhere in the U.S. Church planting and finding ways and means to get education for ministry training are very accessible here. Coming to know just that little bit about God as a young child always kept me yearning for a more in-depth walk with Him. It is a true blessing to live in a country where, after my ministry training is complete, I have so many opportunities to utilize the knowledge I have gained.
When I was thirteen years old my addictions to drugs and alcohol began to take hold of my life. My great aunt Sherry caught wind of this and offered for me to go to Bible camp that summer. I went and it ended up being one of the greatest experiences of my life. I ended up attending camp through the same church two more times that year (once in the Fall and again in the Spring). During those months is when I truly accepted Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Although it would be a little over ten years before I decided to turn my life over to God.
As we might say in the U.S., God’s in the business of transforming lives. When Jordan committed himself to Jesus, he learned that it was possible to experience freedom from these addictions. Now he wants to go out and be God’s instrument to transform lives that are as lost as he once was.
My dream for ministry is very clear in my life today. Some Christian brothers and sisters of mine are in the early stages of planting a church in the inner city area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. We are all recovering drug addicts who have decided it is time to turn our lives over to the Lord our God. Even before beginning this process we realized that we would need leaders in the church who are settled in their walk and doctrine, just as Raising Up Revival Leaders has revealed. In 1 Timothy 3:10 says, “Before they are appointed as deacons, let them be closely examined. If they pass the test, then let them serve as deacons.” (NLT). If I broke down my ministry dream into two sentences, it would be expressed like this: I want to learn and grow in the Word of God, and in a relationship with Him, so that I may know Him well enough to properly teach others so that they might do the same. I want to be a legacy to what God can do to transform lives, so that when others see the blessings in my life they also decide to begin a vital walk with Him.
The title or path I most identify with in my walk with God is ‘Youth Leader’. My whole life I have had the ability to really relate, identify, and teach children of all ages. They gravitate toward me and I can only account that to a God given ability now that I see my purpose and will for God. I think that my time learning here at Christian Leaders Institute will be most well spent and most meaningful if I utilize my skills of reaching children.
Many times the best time to transform lives is during the youthful years. Addictions to drugs and alcohol often start in the early teens, and Jordan experienced this personally. Now he’s using his experience for the Lord among the youth.
Although there are not many challenges in my geographic area I know that, at this point, there are a couple challenges we are facing. We have yet to find a church that will take us under their wing to help build us up, strengthen, and teach us during this process. We do have some ideas of who we might ask or where we might go, but nothing is final yet. We are still in the process of asking and then receiving help from our local church or churches.
My family may not know it yet, but their influence on my ministry calling has been an indirect, yet substantial one. Almost every member of my immediate family suffer from the disease of addiction. My mom, dad, step-mom, and sister are still in the process of separating themselves from their active use, and finding recovery from their addiction. Due to the struggles my family faces I have been compelled to be strong and successful, so they can witness the change in my life and, in turn, want it for themselves as well.
The scholarship and CLI is so important to me because I fear without it I won’t be able to obtain the knowledge I need to be a successful leader in Christ. The classes I plan to take through Christian Leaders Institute I believe will properly equip me with the tools I need to be successful as a disciple for the Kingdom of God.
I ask that you send prayers that I can come to know God’s word, that I receive strength every day to accomplish the things I need to for this journey. I ask that you pray for our new church and that we may be successful in establishing our new place of worship. I also ask that you pray that I may gain wisdom and knowledge through the Word and that my life may be a reflection of that.
Perhaps you would like a new life in Jesus, or perhaps you could be God’s instrument to transform lives in your community. Imagine if every Christian leader in the world were setting out with a mission to transform lives for Jesus. What an effect that would have on the world!
If you could use ministry training, or just want a deeper relationship with the God who can transform lives, check out or courses of study by clicking here. Or you can enroll right now by clicking here.