Don’t Let the Lack of Formal Bible Education Stop You
My name is Courtney Johnson. I live in the United States of America. I accepted Jesus Christ, as my Lord and Savior, in a small South Texas church when I was 12 years old and was baptized in water that same year. I was filled with the Holy Spirit, one year later, during a home Bible study.
I am married to Travis Johnson, and we have six children. Travis and I work in prison. I am a Correctional Officer, and he is a Maintenance Tech. Our current mission field is difficult but rewarding. There is a hunger for God within the prison walls.
Travis and I have had a burning desire to be in full-time ministry for many years. We enjoyed working with a homeless ministry for several years. We provided a sermon, singing, a hot meal, clothing, blankets and love to the unlovely. We also taught a home Bible study group for over a year. We had very little help financially so we lived on very little so that we could do more for Christ. We believe that church planting and evangelism are our callings.
It is becoming harder to preach the gospel in a nation that is convinced that sin is acceptable. There is a church on every corner, yet our prisons are full. The homeless and veterans sit under our overpasses, and our youth are at night clubs while unrepentant people sit in church pews drinking coffee while they listen to sermons that fail to convict them because the pastor is more concerned with the head count and tithes than he is about lost souls.
We feel God calling us to do more. Our lack of formal Bible education has prevented us from qualifying for positions we would love to have in the ministry. The education we will receive through Christian Leaders Institute will open doors we never thought possible.
The combination of having a large family and the slump in the economy has made it impossible for either of us to quit our jobs so that we could go back to school. The scholarship CLI offers truly an answer to prayer.
We just want to be doing exactly what God created us to do. Please pray that we will have wisdom, boldness, faith and that we will hear God clearly.
As a former CO in Alaska, I will pray for you and Travis to do God’s will for your life. What you are seeing, is what I have experienced in many churches today. Body counts and money. After thirty years of looking for a church that is into missions, FLBC is the church I’ve been seeking! If you want to learn how a church should operate, if you haven’t started any classes, church planting is it! Then New Testament Survey! In Christ, Rudyf.