Ordination Journey

My name is Charles Wiegand, and I am on an ordination journey at CLI. I was born in 1971 and raised in Eureka, Illinois, the USA, which is a small farm town in central Illinois. That community had a strong Christian presence and still does today. So, I grew up around a lot of very ethical and good to the core people. My parents took me to church every Sunday. I turned to Christ around age 13 but did not give my life to Him until I was 21 years old.

My Calling in My Ordination Journey

About a year later, I heard the Holy Spirit vividly tell me to quit my job doing concrete work, which I enjoyed. I was to trust Him for my next step in life. I assumed I would become a full-time missionary somewhere, but ended up in Greeley, Colorado, working at a floor covering company. The verses of Isaiah 55:12-13 were my sending verses from God: “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

My Marriage and Ministry

I met my wife, Naomi, in Greeley, and we married in 1995. She received her elementary education teaching degree the same year. We moved to northeast Indiana in 1997 and worked at a children’s home for 3.5 years before moving back to Colorado. At that time, we moved to Aurora, which is a Denver, Colorado, suburb of around 375,000 people.

We have done a lot of informal ministry work over the years with young kids, struggling adults, homeless, etc. In 2012, we started a non-profit ministry to teach teenagers how to work by applying biblical principles. It is still operating during summer breaks from school. I’m a bi-vocational minister and have a small irrigation/landscaping company to help keep our bills paid. Also, a year and a half ago, my wife took a teaching position at the elementary school. It made sense since over half of our kids are grown.

Finding CLI and CLA on My Ordination Journey

I still desire to share the Good News of Jesus with our community. There are so many who do not know Jesus and biblical ignorance seems to be increasing every year. I found the Christian Leaders Institute on the internet. I was looking for a way to get ordained to marry my brother-in-law and was impressed with the sound teaching of Rev. Reyenga.

Hopefully, getting further ministry training and ordained through CLI and with the Christian Leaders Alliance will open up other opportunities to minister here in our community. We have a great opportunity here as there are around 130 different languages spoken in the Aurora Public School system that our younger kids attend, and where my wife teaches.