I started going to church with my mother when I was young, but didn’t really KNOW God. My mother was a very good Christian woman, but my father was an alcoholic.
For a while I started to work my way to God and began to really love God. In 1999 I was baptized and for a few years I lived for God. When I entered 8th grade I started to fall away. I started using marijuana and running with the bad crowd.
When I turned 16, I now had a driver’s license and a truck. I continued using marijuana and started experimenting with even harder drugs. I also began drinking excessively and having premarital sex with multiple partners.
Many times I had tried to get away from the world and move closer to God, but it didn’t last. One night I was so messed up on drugs that I contemplated killing myself because I thought I would never “come down”. I began to pray to God to sober me up. Instantly I was sober. I began to cry and thank God. Slowly I made my way back to God.
I have been clean from drugs for years and haven’t consumed alcohol to the extent of drunkenness. I have been studying the bible and doing a bible study with my brother daily via text. I have dedicated my life to serving people daily in my career, but now its time for me to serve God.
I now know what its like to be “on fire” for God. I want nothing more than to please God in all I do. I have recently started here at CLI and cannot wait to see what God has in store for me.
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I am Richard Foster, husband to Roslyn, father of 6 and grandfather to ten. I am a resident of the west coast of Australia and live in a suburban community about 100 miles from the State capital of Perth. Australia is an affluent nation that enjoys high levels of health and safety. It is quite isolated from the world by its geographic location and history. Perth occupies the same time zone as Beijing and Singapore, and it is cheaper to travel to Indonesia from Perth than the other capital cities in Australia.
The high standard of living, isolation, comparative wealth and security of Western Australia is reflected in the beliefs of many of its people. There is a general sense of self-sufficiency, and, therefore, the need for God is not recognized.
There are indigenous communities, and the increase in migration, especially from Asia is bringing change from the Colonial past and a greater exposure to different faiths and cultures which is beginning to have an effect on public policy, sense of self and identity. Ministry can be comfortable, but testing. By census over 60% of the nation identify as Christian but less than 10% attend any place of worship. Australia has been cited as being one of the most atheistic countries in the world.
I came to the Lord in my late teens after flirting first of all with the street culture and then the ‘flower power’ movement of the late 60’s and 70’s. Having grown in a fairly dysfunctional home, I sought a sense of identity in various sub cultures without much success. At the invitation of a friend I attended a fundamentalist church where I came to believe in the reality of God without feeling the need to make any sought of personal commitment to Him, however after a period of wrestling and questioning I understood the need to surrender my will to the Lordship of Jesus and accepted him as my saviour. As still quite a young believer I was invited by my Pastor, and the first mentor, to preach in a youth service. I think I made a mess of it, but he obviously saw something I didn’t and persevered with providing encouragement and opportunities. Ever since I have felt called to communicate the word of God by preaching and teaching.
Initially my desire to enter vocational ministry was not shared by wife, so I worked in areas of administration and management until 1986 when I joined a para-church organisation on ‘faith’ basis. Over the next years, I moved between pastoral roles and business type activities until being invited into a full-time pastoral role. While I had studied in various places and at different times, I didn’t proceed to conclude formally any formal Biblical or Theological training, and life just got too busy. After a period lecturing in a secular college, I was invited to assume the role of Senior Pastor in the church I now serve and where my wife and I expect to remain for some time.
Despite advancing age, I retain the dream of challenging young people and providing them with the confidence and belief to achieve their goals. Until recently I was working bi-vocationally as a Lecturer in Business and Management, specifically to final year high school students who were not coping with usual school curricula. I have also been invited to travel to Uganda to help to teach capacity building to young men and women there as well as to provide some training to disengaged youth in mining town close to where I currently live. These, I believe are components of the dream that remains within me.
This course through CLI will, I believe, provide me with some structured learning and discipline to aid in fulfilling that dream.
I have been called to a local church as Pastor, and so I have its endorsement on my life and calling. This is a church of young families in a growing community. It does not own buildings or real estate but has a passion to reach the community, especially those in the 4 to 14-year-old window. The most effective way that others can pray for me is that I will be able to balance the challenges of the administration of a church while retaining my passion for preaching and teaching the word of God.
From Atheism to Wicca To Jesus Christ
My name is Elizabeth Hoff.
I grew in a Christian home. I grew up going to Sunday school. I sang in the children’s choir at our church (we used to travel around town performing in nursing homes and retirement communities).
I had a falling-out with the church after I left high school. I became an atheist when I was in college (my “angry student” years). A few years after I had graduated college, I had what one would term a “mystical experience” (Long story short … I had an encounter with an angel).
After this encounter, I was in a state of spiritual limbo. I couldn’t go back to being an atheist. At the same time, I couldn’t quite go back to my childhood church, either.
From there, I became a Unitarian-Universalist, an agnostic after 9/11 (at the time, I was haunted by the question, “Why would a loving God allow this to happen to his children?”), and a practicing Wiccan for several years.
As a practicing Wiccan, I cast spells and did rituals. I realize now that it was more-or-less an exercise in ego gratification on my part (“Look at me! I’m a powerful sorceress!”).
As time progressed, I began having doubts about my spiritual practice. I began asking questions — “How is it that these ancient gods and goddesses can communicate with me and I with them? I cannot speak their language. I don’t adhere to the ancient ways.”
I came to the conclusion that I was venerating man-made images. I sought to “pierce the veil” — to touch the Divine Presence that lay behind the images (the facade, if you will).
In 2010, I became a born-again Christian. I walked away from Wicca shortly after that (my behavior had simply become inappropriate). I threw away all the trappings of Wicca that I had collected over the years (my spell books, my collection of ancient Egyptian icons and statues, what-have-you … Gone).
I have studied the Bible for over ten years. I am seeking comprehensive ministerial training (up until this point, I have been primarily self-taught, acquiring bits and pieces of biblical knowledge here and there). I would like to teach, write, and evangelize.
In terms of my prayer life, I tend to be a contemplative. I pray the Divine Office every single day.
I don’t know what God has in store for me in terms of my ministry.The Holy Spirit has led me this far. Everything that I have done thus far I have done for Him.
I am a person of limited financial means. A scholarship from Christian Leaders Institute would allow me to pursue the training that will enable me to further my present ministry and become a more effective evangelist. I have no doubt that the rigorous training provided by Christian Leaders Institute will provide the intellectual challenge that I crave and need.