Christian Leaders Institute even brings quality free online ministry training to residents in destitute Nigerian areas. Emmanuel Odok is grateful for finding CLI and the free Bible based courses offered. The following is his story that ultimately brought him to seek training at Christian Leaders Institute.
My name is Emmanuel Odok and I live in the Nigerian city of Calabar, Cross River State. Located in West Africa this is one of many impoverished areas in this country. In this Nigerian area God has been helping us to propagate the Good news of the Kingdom. We are faced with many difficult challenges. Poor road networks and lack of maintenance make travel difficult. We are also hindered by an inadequate supply of electricity for the community. Many residents have no electricity at all. There is a severe lack of funding to build and equip worship centers and organize outreach programs.
God has blessed Nigeria with a fertile land for Ministry to thrive but recently, … ‘the “Gates of Hell” have opened into our areas and they are known as “Boko Haram”. Their aim is to hinder the advancement of God’s Kingdom in Northern Nigeria using nearly any way possible.
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This excerpt is from Wikipedia.org: The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad[2][3] which is better known by its Hausa name “Boko Haram” is an Islamic group and takfiri militant and terrorist organization based in the northeast of Nigeria,[6] north Cameroon and Niger.[7][8][9][10]Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002,[11] the organization seeks to establish a “pure” Islamic state ruled by sharia law,[12] putting a stop to what it calls “Westernization”.[13][14] The group is known for attacking Christians and government targets,[13] bombing churches, schools and police stations,[15][16] and kidnapping western tourists, but has also assassinated members of the Islamic establishment.[17] Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2002 and 2013.[18][19][20][21][22][23] The group exerts influence in the northeastern Nigerian states of Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Yobe and Kano. In this region, a state of emergency has been declared… You can only imagine the conditions this Christian Leaders Institute student has to survive every day. It is people like Emmanuel and others living in fearful situations who can certainly benefit from free ministry training online through CLI.*****
I knew the Lord through my mother; now deceased; as a child in the early eighties. When my mother experienced the hand of God upon her life in which she was healed of physical issues she made sure we all converted from the Catholic Church to The Pentecostal of Nigeria Inc. I backslid when I was in high school and stopped going to Church. Sundays were seen as conducive for playing football and fishing.
I left the village and moved to Calabar, the state Capital, after high school. The Lord saw me restored to his sheepfold in December, 1996. In February of 1997 I presented myself for baptism, having resolved to serve Jesus in Spirit and truth.
I desire to empower God’s children to discover who they are in Christ; to appreciate and appropriate their God-given potentials and to live for him daily. I identify most with the word Evangelist firstly, because as Christians we should evangelize the world for Christ. Secondly, one of the things I have enjoyed doing since I was in school is to evangelize. I order tracts from the USA and distribute them as I witness.
God has been faithful to me and my family; both local and extended. We have enjoyed His providence, guidance and protection. I wouldn’t say there is a particular experience that prompted me to pursue Ministry training here in Nigeria. However, what I do know is that I have the calling. I enjoy ministering and having experienced spiritual rebirth. This gave me a yearning to bring the lost to God.
My local Church has really encouraged my ministering. They have given me the platform to operate as a Sunday school teacher since 1998. I also teach Bible Study classes and preach on Sunday services.
My wife, Rosemary is God-sent and indeed a bundle of encouragement. Whether there is enough or not, she doesn’t complain. She’s learned to survive in abundance as well as in lack. Several times I have had to leave her alone with our young son and little or no money for days, so I could attend to the needs of the General Overseer of my church. Bishop Effiong Efiom ministers outside our town of Calabar often and I assist him. This I do trusting God to supply my family as I seek Him first in my service. My mother, of blessed memory, and my siblings have always given me encouragement as well as advice to keep pressing on. They often call me Pastor, Evangelist and other titles. This challenges as well as encourages me to do more for the Lord.
Discovering Christian Leaders Institute is indeed a turning point in my life. I have longed for leadership training in the same way the deer pants for the water in a brook. In 2001, God enabled me to satisfy one of my dreams which was to acquire myself a “better” Bible. I stumbled on an NIV study Bible at the rate of ₦2,500. (₦ is the symbol for the Nigerian currency Naira. ₦2,500 is approximately equal to $15.53 USD.) This amount was 83.33% of my two months allowances as an industrial attaché at PPMC. PPMC is a subsidiary of NNPC, located at Calabar depot. (PPMC is Pipelines And Products Marketing Company, Ltd. of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.)
In 2003, God brought Pastor David Feddes my way via “The Back to God Hour”. Through his radio program he was able to answer many of my Bible related questions. He remains one of the best Pastors I have ever met. I have read most of his publications which have been great benefit to me. Through Pastor David Feddes, I was also able to pursue a correspondence bible course called “Great truths of the Bible”. This was through Cross Roads Bible Institute, Chicago IL.
Christian Leaders Institute will no doubt help me with my dream of becoming an adequately furnished Christian Leader. I desire to bring others the truth of The Gospel Of Jesus Christ in the right ways.
Just as Apollos, who had zeal but knew only the baptism of John, was adequately furnished by Aquila and Priscilla; there are many areas in my Ministry that CLI will help equip me for.
Pray that God, who has called me into Ministry, may do everything in His power to make me faithful and fruitful.
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We at Christian Leaders Institute work hard to provide the free online Bible based Christian ministry training and courses for these kind of situations. Many Nigerians have no access to churches or education. The fact that we can help those who have access learn and receive this quality training so they can bring Jesus to their families and communities brings us great joy. If you want to help us help others or to sign up for your free scholarship to receive free online Bible training CLICK HERE to learn more!
Free Ministry Training At CLI Helps Bud Welton Follow his calling…
My name is Bud Welton, and I live in the United States. I was born in the Midwestern United States where my parents attended a Christian College. My wife and 2 children are incredible blessings through my processes of growth and maturity. We home-school our children, for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is to include Christian values and teaching. Our nine year old boy and seven year old girl are true blessings from God. They are amazing, frustrating, encouraging, and so much more. They love the Lord with all of their heart. My children and wife are wholly supportive of my calling and my need to prepare for service to the Lord with ministry training.
When I was about 18 months old, my parents both finished college and we moved to another town so my father could attend seminary. Shortly after beginning seminary training, my mother became ill and my father stopped attending so that he could work and care for the family. We moved to the Eastern United States, where both of my parents had extended family to help support us.
After moving to the Eastern United States, my mother’s physical health began to improve. My brother and I were being raised in a Christian home, surrounded by the love of Christ. We were attending a Bible-believing, God-fearing church and attending a Christian elementary school for our education. It was here, as a five year old child, that I realized the breadth of my separation from Christ. One afternoon, I approached my teacher and asked her about this. She led me through a Biblical explanation of what I was beginning to discover, and I came to accept the gift, by grace, that Jesus had offered me – atonement and salvation.
Slowly, as the years moved on, abuse entered our home: Sexual, emotional, and physical; mental health issues began to plague us. More physical ailments were followed by a devastating car accident. With each incident bitterness grew. My family left their faithful walk, following the lead of my father. We fell – I fell further from God as each year came. As a young teenager, I was kicked out of our home.
I remember nights of sleeping under a bridge to keep out of the rain; breaking into a library to stay warm at night; searching for unlocked cars so I could sleep with four walls and a roof. I remember staying with one friend or another for as long as I could – until I my welcome was worn out. Through it all, I continued to attend high school.
After two years of this, during the middle of my junior year in high school, I came into contact with my aunt and uncle. They had become aware of my circumstance and were growing concerned for my health and well-being. They invited me to join their church youth group for some Christmas caroling. I reluctantly accepted their invitation. I continued to participate in the youth group activities but as the months progressed, their concern for me grew. After a time, my aunt and uncle invited me to live with them until I was able to finish school.
The faith, love, prayers, and hospitality of my aunt and uncle were the first steps through which God was to redeem me. What an awesome God! Their kindness and hospitality led me to a Christian summer camp where I would meet a Godly man who would point me to a Christian college in New England. At the Christian college, God brought me to a man of God who spoke more truth into my life.
During these times, as God was working in and around my life to call me to Him, to redeem me, I felt called to His service as a pastor. I was scared so I ran, I hid and I stumbled. I fell and yet God continued to be there to pick me back up and set me back on the right path. Often, God would use Christian men to do His work in my life.
Finally I reached out to God with the words, “I am yours. Use me.” It has been difficult but I still feel called to pastor to God’s people – such a humbling and intimidating responsibility – and I feel ill equipped as I have had no formal ministry training.
At my church, I currently serve as the Director of Men’s Ministry. I work full-time running a program dedicated to educating, equipping, and encouraging fathers to be active and responsibly involved in the lives of their children. I have the privilege of doing some great work for very broken families. I often feel I am just “dressing” a wound. “Fatherlessness” is a symptom of a fallen world and men desperately need the Spirit at work in their lives. Men need to understand what the Bible truly teaches about manhood. I love what I do, but I strive to learn more to direct them in dealing with sinful natures using Scriptural knowledge. This is an absolutely amazing opportunity to help ensure that every man of our church is actively engaged in an intentional discipleship process.
I am also currently being presented to the church as a deacon candidate and if approved by the church membership I will have the honor and responsibility to serve the needs of the congregation in another capacity. Through this all, I meet with our pastor on a regular basis in a system of intentional discipleship and accountability.
My wife asked me recently if we should send the kids to a brick-and-mortar school so she could go back to work and I could attend a seminary to further my ministry training. We prayed and fasted and after some reflection realized that God wants us to continue on the path which we have been travelling. It was at this time that I discovered Christian Leaders Institute and the amazing ministry training and instruction they offer. The scholarship that Christian Leaders Institute makes available for is exactly what we need to prepare for our next step in our journey toward faithful service to the Lord.
I thank you for your ministry training at CLI and include you in my daily prayers. Would you please pray for me, my ministry, and discernment of God’s will as I pursue the next step toward which God is calling me? Thank you! God bless!
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As you can see by this testimony you can be a homeless teenager and be led from your circumstances by Jesus into a new life and a new circumstance. This man overcame adverse life conditions from abuse to being homeless and with the help of God and is following his calling to become a strong Biblically equipped leader for the men and families in their church. Free Online Bible Based Ministry Training available at Christian Leaders Institute makes quality ministry training and education available to anyone who has an internet connection! Learn More Now!
Train for the Ministry
Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my story. I am Michael Tutt and I am 55 years old and currently living in Dacula, a small city about 50 Km North East of Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. I was born in England in 1959 with congenital glaucoma and although surgeons operated and restored some sight to my right eye I have been blind in my left eye all my life. In 1992 the disease caught up with me and I lost my sight completely. However, God is the one who literally and spiritually heals the blind and causes them to see. Just so, he has healed me spiritually and given me a vision for salvation and discipleship in my local area. By His immense grace I will fulfil the calling given to me and, in His timing, my sight will be fully restored. That is the basis of my story.
I attended English boarding schools near Brighton and Coventry and seemed to excel academically. However, the combination of being forced to attend Chapel every Sunday, and an increasing scientific skepticism, drove me away from Christ and the ritualistic form of Christianity that seemed to pervade my education.
I took my undergraduate degree at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in Physics and Electronics and went on to gain a string of postgraduate qualifications including a Diploma in Management Studies, Masters’ degree in Intelligent Management Systems, Certificate in Adult Education, and another undergraduate degree in Social Science. Yet I account all this learning as nothing compared with the amazing grace of Christ who saved me in the Fall of 1986.
I was living in communal housing for people with limited or no vision in London, and some people who had befriended me, invited me to Kensington Temple Elim Pentecostal church. This was a genuinely astounding experience, the presence of God was palpable, like electricity in the atmosphere. The relaxed, non-ritualistic, worship made me feel comfortable in a church for the first time in my life. When the Senior Pastor, the late and blessed Wynne Lewis, preached the sermon it seemed like he was speaking directly to me. It went straight from his lips into my heart. I felt the burden of my sin: my turning my back on God, my critical spirit, and my scoffing at those who believed. With tears in my eyes I responded to His glorious call and accepted Christ as my personal savior. I was baptized by full immersion the following year.
I studied for the Diploma in Christian Ministry at the International Bible Institute of London but, as my sight affliction demonstrated, this was not the right time for me to enter the ministry. After losing my sight I was angry with God and couldn’t comprehend why a God of love should destroy MY dreams of an academic career and Christian ministry. It took me a few months to come to terms with being blind, to seek assistance to re-learn the living skills I needed to live independently, and to realize that God never promised me an easy road, that MY dreams and plans were immaterial compared with His much better plans to prosper me, and finally that I could trust Christ to lift me up in whatever state I found myself.
In 2003 I moved from England to Orange County California to marry Susan, after a long distance relationship conducted through the Internet, phone calls, and several transatlantic vacations. We lived there and worshipped at Saddleback Christian Center and then Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa until Susan retired from her work with Experian. Last year we relocated to our current home in Dacula where we have found a very supportive church family in Calvary Chapel of Gwinnett under the care of Pastor Mark Byrd. We are really just getting settled into our new church right now, but I fully hope and expect that Pastor Byrd will be able to make use of my natural and spiritual gifts in the service of Christ’s family.
I am a Pastor, that is not something that anyone can bestow on a person, it is the enormous grace of God, it is His calling on my life. One of the things that grieves my heart here is that although many profess to follow Christ, it is in a shallow, almost ritualistic way, as though by their works they might be perceived as holy. There is a pharisaical quality to their faith (faith that I believe is nonetheless genuine) that is immensely sorrowful to behold. Almost a “worship me with their lips but their hearts are far from me” (Matt 15:8) situation. Yet I sense a true spiritual hunger among many and believe they need help to know how to apply God’s word in their everyday lives.
My God-given vision is to form study groups where I can help people translate the eternal Word of God into a practical application to the issues and problems of living the Christian life, empower them with the Spirit, and provide practical counseling to fulfill whatever ministry God has called them to. This is the heart God has placed within me. Evangelism, equipping the saints, teaching the Word and prayer.
I also hope to use my long-term hobby of amateur radio to reach out to people from other countries with the gospel. I pray that God will use my communications skills to His glory.
I am blessed that Christian Leaders Institute has given me this opportunity to study God’s Word with mentors and friends who can guide me spiritually and help me grow in my relationship with Christ. The generous donations of supporters that have made it possible is an answer to prayer. I have been unemployed since coming to the United States and so a traditional Bible college is not an option. I am delighted that God has made a way for me to train for the ministry at Christian Leaders Institute. Thank you to all those who have made this possible.