Urban Ministry
An urban ministry has reached Alexander Mitchell Hixon, a CLI graduate, and in return he wants to start an urban ministry for the homeless.
My name is Alexander Mitchell Hixon. I’m a volunteer with my church’s urban ministry in Denver, Colorado, USA.
I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church for all of my childhood. Even though I grew up in the church, I stepped away for a couple of years due to perceived hypocrisy. I truly accepted Christ in August of 2012 after being led to Movement 5280, an urban ministry for the homeless. God opened my eyes and guided me back to his unfailing love. As a result of God bringing me back to church and walking by my side, I have decided that I want to further the kingdom more.
My prayer is to start a church for the homeless here in Denver and tell everyone the Good News. God has given me the gift of talking to everyone about Him and who He is. As a result, I see myself as an urban minister. A lot of my prayers and my calling is coming from my volunteer work I do every week with the homeless.
An enormous challenge that I face with spreading the word is working with alcohol and drug users. These are men and women who need God the most but are kicked around so much that they fear anything to do with God or people. My pastor and a fellow volunteer are standing by my side with my goal of becoming a pastor.
CLI is giving Alexander the training for his urban ministry and calling.
A scholarship for CLI would be a major help and blessing to me. I’m 25 and jobless; I’m working on getting on disability due to the fact I have some physical and mental disorders. Those hurdles don’t stop me from talking about God even though they prevent me from working a quote “nine to five” job. My prayer is for God’s guidance and mercy in this endeavor and to bless the people I interact with on a weekly basis.
My name is Rebecca. I’m blessed to be called of God to fulfill His purpose on the earth. I would say my Christian journey began when my parents received the Lord Jesus as Lord and personal saviour in 1988 (I was only 2 years old) after being Muslims. They make it a duty to bring us up in the Lord according to biblical principles. My siblings and I became adapted to a daily devotion with our parents in worship and Bible studies. In 1992, my parents became committed members of Foursquare Gospel Church where they both received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and water baptism. At age 6, I decided to respond to an altar call to receive Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour. My faith in the Lord increased based on what my parents taught from the Bible and the wonderful testimonies I heard in church. My mom became an intercessor and deliverance minister and I would see her get involved in intense deliverance sessions, setting the afflicted and demonized free through the name of Jesus. I would say, seeing my parents get so involved in the work of the Lord through missions, pioneering churches, intercessory ministry, my faith in the Lord grew.
In 2003, I left home for a diploma program in Computer Science at Edo State Institute of Technology and Management. As a fresher, the first thing I could think of was finding a good Christian fellowship. I did find one and I began to experience God in a whole new level. I could see youths with a burning passion like I never saw in the city. I joined the choir and also became a leader. I received the baptism of the Holy spirit and gift of prophecy. I began to learn to discern and to receive inspirations from the Lord. I also became open to a heavy warfare. The Lord also began to speak about his intentions to use me for ministry. I also saw the Lord help me achieve excellence in my studies.
For the past ten years, my life has been about tests, trails, sufferings, deserts and wilderness experiences. I am glad the Lord has taken me through the process of humbling me and giving me an understanding of spiritual warfare and life generally. My sufferings led me to be closer to the Lord and to hear His voice more. Although, i have been tempted to give up, yet I have faith that giving up is not an option.
I do hope to see God’s plans fulfilled in my life. I’m glad to be a student here.
My name is Pastor Ray, and I live in the U.S., in Missouri. I am so blessed to be a part of CLI, even though I do have a seminary Masters in Bible and Theology. I’ll explain why.
I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior back in 2003 and told my wife and family that I would follow Him wherever He led me and do whatever He called me to do. Still will today, of course, but I didn’t know what that would look like back then at all.
In 2006, we moved closer to Kansas City, and I began to teach at Wright Business School in Business Computing, Keyboarding, and Software Applications. I also began to live out my faith and saw it come up against some enemy-filled folks out there. By His grace, I not only survived, but actually, that’s what drew me to seminary training, and in 2008 I graduated!
However, and this is one reason I will cherish CLI for sure, I didn’t realize that seminary quite often doesn’t prepare you for REAL ministry. And it certainly doesn’t often have mentoring or discipleship as its focus in your preparation for ministering to others. Actually, in my personal experiences, my seminary didn’t give me much of anything other than great study habits and a lot of head knowledge (not that it was at all useless, by the way) and some sense of my own personal accomplishment. Somehow during the whole process, God got left out, and my own “work” got done.
Oh sure, I called it the Lord’s work, but, in reality, it was just more schooling, only this time it was “for and about the Lord”. It turns out that a few years after I graduated and began teaching Bible in a Christian school, that the Lord showed me that although that knowledge was a great thing, and I still cherish it, that ministry was so much more than just “knowing about Him”. You have to “know Him” (experience Him) for yourself and then begin to learn to invest that into others.
As I’ve read testimonials over and over again at CLI and even spoken at great length in person with one of your graduates and a ministry partner with me now, I can’t wait to “experience” the presence of the Lord in your courses!
I hope everyone who reads this will become significantly encouraged that, just because it’s free, doesn’t mean it’s second-rate. And, because it’s free, we have an obligation as believers to support each other and the future leaders who come to CLI! Also, free doesn’t mean to blow it off, folks, trust me. I’m proof that you can blow your time in seminary anywhere and just “get a degree”, but TRUE mentorship-level, discipleship-level training that’s free…..WOW, what a treasure! Thank you, CLI!
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