USA Bible School – Jay Fine, a student at the Christian Leaders Institute online Bible school, reflects on the course Pastoral Care and Marriage, Which he took during the second semester of 2013. In his reflection on this Bible school course, Jay says “As I review all the information presented in the Pastoral Care and Marriage course I believe I see four primary areas that are particularly important to me: Boundaries, Conflict Management, Marriage, and Well Lubricated Nuts & Bolts.” Continuing his reflection, he further explains, “Identifying and using the proper boundaries will help me focus on what God is calling me to do, dedicate the proper time to my wife to build our marriage, and afford others an opportunity to serve.” This is a good reminder to all who are involved in the ministry. The core of ministry is service. This includes serving God as He has called you to and creating a platform for others to serve God in the church community.
As he continues his reflection, Jay says “Dealing with conflict a crucial step and primary lesson to becoming a Christian, perhaps that is why we spend so much time with it. Two of our most important steps of a Christ like life are found in Conflict Resolution – Forgiveness and Love. If the forgiveness and love of Christ were the only two things I was ever able to teach than perhaps that is the mission God has given to me.” This Bible school course, Pastoral Care and Marriage, has taught Jay some key concepts involved in pastoring a community of believers.
USA Bible School Certificates at Christian Leaders Institute
When Jay first enrolled in Christian Leaders Institute, he took the course Getting Started: Christian Basics Certificate. This course introduced him to the CLI Bible school model. At the same time, one of the assignments in the course required him to write a letter introducing himself to the Bible school faculty and donors. This letter detailed what brought him to Christian Leaders Institute and what he believed his ministry calling to be. As he talks about his ministry calling, Jay says “I believe my current calling is to continue supporting my Church as a Lay-Pastor and to serve as a volunteer Chaplain with the local Police and Sheriff Departments. Until God gives me another calling I look forward to the day (in about 5 or 6 years) when I can retire from my job and spend more time working for God.” When he submitted this final assignment, Jay became one of maybe 10% of students who start this Bible school introductory course and actually complete it. He also obtained the first Bible school certificate offered here: the Christian Basics Certificate. His work and dedication to the Lord have carried him far in realizing this step of his ministry dream.
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In measuring the impact of the Bible school course Pastoral Care and Marriage, Christian Leaders Institute asks students to share final reflections on what they learned. As Bible school student Macdonald Ndibmun Doh reflects on this course, he says, “The greatest lesson from the care listening is that I should stay quiet even when I am being accused. Hence there are sometimes good and bad surprises during listening. Humans are unpredictable, but because we bear the image of God, listening makes our listeners feel comfortable. Many do not know who to turn to during sad, disappointments or grieving moments.” He later adds, “I also learned the impact of genograms on our interpersonal communications. I learned that each member of the family has a different view of the family’s communication. This is new to me because I expected every person to see or understand things as I did. Our experiences and every thing we claim to know is hidden in our actions.” These two important aspects of counseling will be of use to Bible school students who take this course for years to come. Macdonald learned that as a counselor it is important to listen even when you want to speak. He also learned that you have to understand that people you are counseling will have a different understanding of communication than you.
Bible School Certificates at Christian Leaders Institute
As a student at Christian Leaders Institute, Macdonald had to take the course Getting Started: Christian Basics Certificate. This course introduces students to the CLI Bible school model. It also asks students to introduce themselves to the Bible school faculty, sharing a little bit about their mission and goals. As he shares his ministry dreams, Macdonald says, “I have the passion of seeing the family especially the youths live a victorious life (positive self esteem, heart attitude, talented for Christ, integrity, loyalty and influencing others to Christ) and free from lust and ailments like HIV etc. I feel bad when I see a youth robbed of her worth and value because of ignorance. Hence I am excited to counsel them especially on developmental life expectancies, sexual health, midlife crises and God’s leadership expectation for each..” It is this very passion for counseling that drove Macdonald to seek out a Bible school, and his search led him to Christian Leader Institute.
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Christian Leaders Institute continues to work to bring a high quality Bible school experience to users worldwide at no cost to the students. One student, Edy Molina, reflects on Sermon Construction – a Bible school course available at Christian Leaders. He says, “I learned that introduction is critical for any presentation… …to engage a congregation to worship Jesus I need to bring up a good introduction where all the worship begins.” He later adds, “Although a good introduction and body is a decisive part of a sermon, it means nothing if it does not have a powerful conclusion. I learned that conclusions are as important as everything else in a text because it gives a sense of fulfillment to the preaching. A conclusion is used to challenge the audience to take action about what was learned. The conclusion should be somehow related to the introduction to make a full circle when preaching.” Finally, in summarizing his experience with this Bible school course, Edy says, “I am now more confident in presenting a speech, whatever it may be, because of all that I learned in this class. I am now more aware of how to make an impact in people’s life and how to persuade them to take action over problems.”
This is the objective of any Bible school course, that the students who take it come away more able to understand and teach the word of God. Edy’s experience in Sermon Construction gave him much needed confidence in public speaking and especially preaching. Sermon Construction enabled him to become even more effective for the Kingdom of God.
Bible School Certificates
Edy Molina began his Bible school experience at Christian Leaders Institute with the class Getting Started: Christian Basics Certificate. In this course, students are introduced to the CLI Bible school model, and the CLI faculty get a brief introduction to the student. In his introductory paper, Edy writes “I have no way to thank God for all He has done for me but to obey His commands and make disciples. I am currently running a Soccer Ministry for kids and the first season went well. I still don’t know where all this will take me but I know God is in control and He will make this ministry bring glory to Him.” He also says, “Thanks to CLI, I have found a base to anchor my faith and learn how to lead others in the right direction. CLI is crucial for God’s purposes in my life because without it, I can’t get any valuable training and take my calling to its best. I have found an ally in CLI, not for my own benefit but to advance the Kingdom of God.” Edy Molina received his Christian Basics Certificate, and continued to take many more in depth courses at Christian Leaders Institute.
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