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Post by pastorkelly on Jan 6, 2020 6:22:04 GMT
This post is for you to share a little about yourself with each other. It is a good way to see where others are from and to learn more about how that person came to being in Ministry School classes.
I would like for each of you as an assignment, to tell us your story. It should be under 1000 words, and tell of how you were saved and sanctified, and what your goals are in taking these classes. I will post my bio here so that you all know who you are working with. Again this is a good way to get to know one another.
MY BIO
I was born in Butler Missouri, the son of an Air Force serviceman. Though I know my father, he left my mother when I was just three years old. He was not much of a part of my life as I would have wished.
My mother moved us into a small home next to my maternal grandparents. Mother worked as a barkeeper in an old biker bar outside the town we lived in to keep us afloat. Though working in a bar, she continued to take us to church as much as she could.
When I was five, my mother met a man who would eventually become my stepfather. The first part of this new life was great. My step-father would take us fishing, hunting, and swimming. We had a lot of fun together. Just before they were married, we moved to a small town in southeast Kansas, and life was good.
My stepfather was a logger and a tree surgeon. In the summer, money was abundant and plentiful. In the winter, we had many days that we were hungry. I remember eating wild game and homemade biscuits every day at times, but life was still good. God provided all that we needed.
Early in the 1980s, there was an accident. My stepfather was injured by a saw blade. He contracted a blood poisoning, and nearly lost his life. Because he did not know he had contracted this disorder, his brain became chemically imbalanced which caused mental issues that continue to this day. Depression, anger, sadness, and fear are all that consumes him. My mother caught the most of his rage and other issues, though he never harmed her physically. There were times that the boys of the family felt his anger, but we wrote it off to the problems he had. Because of these issues, church became a side note to all of us. Mom tried to get us to keep going, but that too slowed until we stopped going all together. We moved from that place in 1986, because he felt uncomfortable living there, feeling the house was possessed.
We then moved to Savonburg Kansas, another small town in southeast Kansas. Though on welfare at the time, we made ends meet. I attended a small school thirteen miles from home and was having a great time. I met a girl at school whom I enjoyed being with and who is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Natalie is her name. Natalie is a farm girl who loves life and cared about me. This (love and care) was somewhat new to me, as I had grown numb to compassion due to the situation at home.
School was not a priority and I seldom opened a book. My grades gave reflection to this as well. Natalie was all I thought about and all I cared to think about. I was the stereotypical high school male, chasing after girls without a care in the world for anything else. I managed to make it through school with a two point something grade point average. I had scholarships to attend a few colleges, but I was not about to continue to go to school. I was going to make money. I made a sufficient salary due to a decent job, however, I liked to party. I was drunk nearly every night.
In 1994, Natalie and I married and moved to Iola, Kansas, just thirty miles from home. We started attending a local Baptist church where we felt at home. I say we, but I really did not care to go. Our life was not easy at all. I had grown accustom to drinking and she was set against it. I began hiding it from her the best I could and made excuses not to go to church.
In 1997, we had our first child, Emily. This was what I needed to start a transformation. We went to church more regularly and I took a job as a police officer in 1999. I enjoyed the power and loved the action and adventure. Shortly after graduating the academy, Erin, our second daughter was born.
I worked as a police officer for thirteen years and had a few incidents that haunted me. One was the death of a child and the other a suicide that took place right in front of me. I left law enforcement due to an injury and started working with the youth of the church. I also started hanging out with some local bikers who belonged to the Christian Motorcyclist Association.
On October 18 2007, Charlie, a great friend, invited me to a motorcycle rally. He said, “It will change your life”. I had known Christ for quite some time, but not for real. During this rally, the speaker was addressing me. The Holy Spirit convicted me on my alcohol usage and instructed me to stop. Now, the speaker was talking to everyone, not just me but the Holy Spirit convicted me so hard that I fell to my knees and asked God to come and heal me. I quit drinking and chewing tobacco that second and will never touch it again.
Since then, I served as the Youth Movement Representative for Kansas and an Area Representative for four adult chapters for the Christian Motorcyclist Association for five and a half years. In 2013, I started working as a licensed minister in the Iola church and obtained my District License. My walk with Christ is never dull. I previously served as the associate pastor in Iola for three years before being placed on the pulpit supply list for the Joplin district for a short time. On October 18, 2015, just 8 years after my moment of Sanctification, I accepted the call to be the senior pastor McCune Kansas, where I have now been for over four years. In 2018, I accepted the position of Secretary of the credentials board for the Joplin and less than six months ago, the coordinator of the Joplin District School of Ministry. God is still using this broken man to expand His Kingdom.
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Post by abeecham on Jan 6, 2020 22:12:55 GMT
I'm new to this. Are you wanting us to post our bio as a comment? Thanks.
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noah
Full Member
Posts: 122
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Post by noah on Jan 7, 2020 0:42:46 GMT
I was born in Springfield, Mo. my original name was Noah Nicholas Martin Highfill. My Mom was young when she had me and was a full-blown Meth addict who was being supplied by my grandmother. The feds had kicked in my grandma's house where me and my mother lived. I had tested positive for methamphetamines so the state proceeded to take me from my mother. I went from foster house to foster house till I was three. Then My mom and my dad got back together and was going through the process of getting me back. Unfortunately my mother was still addicted to drugs and my dad couldnt handle it. He knew he couldnt do what it would take to raise me so he told the case worker that my mother was useing, and the state took me once and for all.
I continued to bounce from foster family to foster family until I was six. I don't remember a lot from my childhood but what I do remember wasnt good and i repressed alot of stuff. I had always wanted to be adopted by one of my foster families but none of them ever did. Finally God blessed me with a family, and it was a good one. They raised me right taught me about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately I had some issues that I did not know how to deal with. I had some deep seeded hurts that I dealt with by turning to drugs and sexual immorality. My parents made it very clear either I followed their rules or left the house and I chose to leave the house at the dage of 16. With No clue what the world had waiting for me I thought it was rainbows and butterflys. This choice to leave and forsake the teachings of my youth caused me to live a very shady lifestyle. I would lie cheat steal from anyone and everyone. This led to multiple felony convictions.
At the age of 22 I had my first son Nicholas, I had a wonderful woman who didnt use drugs and just wanted the best for me and our kid. She didnt approve of the way i had been living and begged me to change my ways. By this time i was a full blown heroin addict unable to stop or put the street life behind me. I found myself knowing I had to quit but unable to and now with two kids.
By now I have been in prison two different times and countless attempts of getting sober. I had my third child with the same woman, and the depravity of my situation was all too real. Me and the kids mother fought non stop over my using and i refused to quit even though i knew I had to, I was just too weak to put in the effort to quit. Finally in 2016 I overdosed on heroin in front of my three kids and dfs said that I wasnt allowed in the same house as them. Instead of getting sober and going to a long-term treatment program I decided to run and take the cowards way out. I left my kids and there mother and went to my biological mothers house were she was trafficing methamphetamines. Long story short I ended up in prison for three years were God started to work on my heart I was in my Bible everyday, still was not ready to change i was going to get out of prison and go back to my moms cause that was the only person who was willing to put up with me. By the grace of God though she got indicted by the feds which forced me to find a homeplan.
God made it possible for me to get into the Victory Mission year long discipleship program. At first I was not dead set on change i figured I would use it for the resources and be on my way, but God had a different planned and revealed himself to me in so many ways. So I found myself at this amazing church and God totally captured me. I am fully submitted and surrendered to his will for my life.
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Post by abeecham on Jan 7, 2020 2:27:44 GMT
My name is Alisa Beecham and I was born in Neodesha, KS to parents who were still in High School. They were soon wed and my father became a trucker and was gone most of the time. When he was home, he was usually drinking and wasn't allowed to care for me after he was caught putting alcohol in my bottle.
My mother worked jobs as a secretary in a few businesses before she got the job that would change our lives from bad to worse. She started working for an older, wealthy man and soon divorced my dad and was remarried. We (my full biological brother and myself) were subjected to the horrors of man that would lead us both down paths of escapism by way of substance abuse.
By the time I was twelve years old, I was smoking pot and using hallucinogenics and had figured out I could easily escape reality at home by drinking large amounts of cough syrup in my bedroom. At age fourteen, I convinced my mother to let me go live with my dad by way of threatening suicide. That only lasted about a year before my paternal grandparents took me in to live with them. At this point in 1993, my home life became secure and loving but I had already become a high-functioning drug addict.
I moved to California for college right after high school graduation in 1995. I tried all the right things to fit in with the "good" crowd (including joining a sorority), but that was short lived and I soon found myself back in the comforts of partying. I'd only ever been to church a handful of times in my youth, so with no reference of living life for a higher purpose I searched for love in all the wrong places. I basically spent the next ten years dating the exact same type of person that my step father was in hope that I would be enough for someone to want to change. I had no idea or concept that it was me that needed to change.
In 2005, I moved back to Kansas to be closer to my paternal grandmother after the death of my grandfather. I ended up pregnant with my first child shortly after that. I was sober and stopped smoking cigarettes. I'd been told since I was very young that I could never be a mother so even though I would go on to continue to seek abusive relationships for several more years, I never turned back to drugs. I did all the things I was supposed to do over the next 10 years like serving in the church I was going to at the time and being home at night for my children, but I was still just empty. Not even the love for me that my children (a girl and a boy by this time)showed was enough.
During a terribly abusive and destructive marriage, I was finally brought to my knees and began to seek God earnestly. After "trying out" a few local churches, my children (a daughter and 2 sons at this point) and I ended up attending the Nazarene church in town. That first Sunday we went, I totally ended up in the wrong Sunday school class and was with all the senior adults! We all had a good laugh about it and they welcomed me with smiles and then gracefully pointed me in the direction of a class with people closer to my age the next Sunday. I got a letter in the mail from sweet Imma Jean that next week and for the first time in forever I felt like I wasn't invisible and maybe if she could "see" me, then others at the church would as well.
My Sunday school class was over the book "Not a Fan" by Kyle Idleman and man… I felt like he was writing it just for me! On a very, very dark night in 2015, while studying for Sunday school class in my bedroom, the words on the page all of a sudden had a pulse and the room began to pulse and the pulse was to the beat of my heart. I immediately went to my knees in a confused and scared plea to God and wouldn't you know that the very next page of the book was the prayer to Salvation! I spoke the words out loud and felt something break loose in my heart that set me free.
From that point on, I immersed myself in church and was baptized in November of 2015. When my marriage eventually did dissolve, I was left with a strength and a peace that I never thought possible because my heart and self esteem no longer teetered on the acceptance of man but stood firmly in the trust and faith I have in Jesus. For some, this may seem like a hard thing to make sense of as being a good thing.
In 2017, the Lord started showing me things about where He was wanting my life to go. In 2018, He started pressing a calling into my heart and I spent that year really praying for clarity. I became heavily involved in the lives of the women who attend our Saturday church called Axis. My time aside from work as a hair stylist and a mom of three began to be filled with rich relationships with women who were still struggling for freedom from drug abuse. Funny enough, when I finally knew what I was supposed to do, our head Pastor resigned at the end of the year thereby stalling any new pastoral candidates from getting a local license. I spent the first 2 months of 2019 praying about "what could I do without a local license?" and the Lord finally set me straight by shouting at me that He was my license and to stop dragging my feet. In March of 2019, my friend and I began teaching a class to the women at a local recovery shelter each week. And then after many months of knocking on doors, relentless phone calls and showing up in person, we were finally allowed to start the jail ministry I had been called to do from the beginning! I am called to love on women in recovery and help them walk through it and learn to trust in Jesus. By 2021, that same friend and I will have a women and children's shelter program we will run in our town. My dream is to offer hope and community and healing to women by way of Crossroads (jail ministry) and Hope Tank (recovery program) to help them begin to knock out the generational sin that plagues their families. The Lord did it for me and has charged me with leading others to His grace. All of the pastoral classes will guide me and refine me not just as a person, but as a leader in ministry.
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Post by hrisner on Jan 7, 2020 3:19:28 GMT
My name is Hannah Risner and I live in Independence, KS. I am a mom to four amazing kids and I am currently self-employed. I was born in Witchita, KS to unwed parents. My mom decided to give me up for adoption so that I could have a better life but my father wanted to keep me. I was placed in an adoptive home and a three-year custody battle ensued. My father ultimately got custody of me and I lived with him until I was sixteen. My father may have fought for me but he ended up abusing me and by the time I moved out I was so lost that all I wanted was for someone to love me. Between the abandonment of my mother and the abuse of my father, I began to make choices that I didn't quite realize would impact my life the way they did. I went from relationship to relationship trying to find fulfillment. Empty. That's what I felt every single time. One night I was in a really dark place, I couldn't go on anymore. I told God that if this was it for me then He just needed to take me home. I believed in God but I didn't know Him. I cried out to Him that night and He showed up. He spoke life into me, He gave me hope and I have never forgotten that day. I believe that was when I fully surrendered it all to Him. It still took me several years to fully break some of those old patterns in my life, it took counseling, a lot of accountability and a lot of people loving me where I was. Jesus has changed my life. He is my father, my friend, and my husband. He takes such good care of me.
I ended up going to the Nazarene church because that's where my grandfather went. I became a member and started to walk through doors that God continued to place in front of me. I knew that I had a call on my life to minister to women but I wasn't quite sure what that would look like. Once you have been set free you want nothing more than to go and help others be free. I began to speak at different places and through this, it became clear to me that I had a call on my life to pursue ordination. I have my district license and currently am on the leadership team for Axis Church which is a church plant under the Nazarene church in Independence KS. God has opened doors and myself and my friend are currently in the process of obtaining a building to open up a shelter for women and children. We also do jail ministry which has been such a blessing. To be able to love these women and to expose the lies of the enemy is my main focus. God wants His children to be free and it's our job to help them take off the grave clothes!
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Post by Ann Robertson on Jan 7, 2020 14:49:28 GMT
My name is Ann Robertson, and I live in Springfield, MO, where I am Discipleship Minister at The Well Church. I was born in Kansas City to very Godly parents who remain a central part of my life today. Raised in a Wesleyan-believing denomination, I was not Nazarene until almost 4 years ago… THAT was a God thing and a cool, but separate, story. My Associate’s degree is from a denominational university, Bachelor’s is in Elementary Ed, and my Master’s is in Marriage and Family Counseling. My experience draws from all three areas, and I am grateful for that experience. I have taken MPP classes at NBC as well as Awakening School of Ministry and am excited to give the District classes a shot.
I am mom to a couple great young ladies plus have a crew of girls under my leadership that are extended family... AND a Yorkie, Maddie, that tends to be the boss. I answered the call to ministry as a child but was not in a denomination that affirmed women in ministry; however, that did not stop me. I just chose to live my life totally surrendered to Him and never thought twice about the issue of not being ordained. When I left teaching AND my former denomination in the same year, I went on staff at a very large church where I was ordained non-denominationally. Now as a Nazarene, I have a local license and should receive my district license this summer. I am also the newly appointed leader of the District Singles and am trying to work with our district leaders on what that has looked like in the past and what it should look like going forth. It is a journey 😊
Regardless of where I am and what my “title” is, I pray that I am found faithful helping people come to Christ then growing that relationship.
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Post by jeriejr on Jan 8, 2020 0:51:30 GMT
My name is John Erie Jr. I attend Fort Scott Nazarene. I am married to my wife Stephannie. I have 4 kids, Aleana- 18, Koby- 17, Payton- 12 and Cyrus- 5 weeks. I was born in Chanute, Ks and I don't remember my parents being married. I gave my life Christ as a kid at church camp, but because I only went to church on my weekends with my dad, God wasn't prominent in my life and as I got older I strayed.
My childhood was rough. My stepdad was an alcoholic and he was physically, emotionally, and verbaly abusive, and my biological father didn't seem to care. I was sexually abused my another family member. Due to the abuse, I had trouble believing I had a loving Heavenly Father because the actions or inaction of the father figures in my life, so I gave up.
I was bullied a lot at school. In an effort to fit in had my first drink of alcohol and first look at pornography in the 4 or 5th grade. I was suspended from school in the 7th grade for getting drunk in the locker room after PE. As I got older I numbed my pain with sex, drugs, alcohol, pornography and work. I had my first child at 19 and my second at 20. Their mother was an addict and alcoholic as well. We eventually split up. I received custody of my kids in 2004 and cut back on the drugs significantly. Eventually I quit the drugs when I married my first wife. In 2008 I became a paramedic and work took over as my way of not dealing with life. The marriage was riddled with anger and infidelity on both parts because we were both very broken people. After a divorce in 2015 I moved to Fort Scott and began attending church there.
I married Stephannie in 2016. I never dealt with any of my issues and because of this I continued to struggle with alcohol, sec and pornography and fell into a deep depression. I began doing drugs again, after losing my job, nearly my family and considering taking my own life I re-devoted my life to Christ in 2018. I was at my bottom and all I could do was look up. Almost immediately God delivered me from desire to drink, for pornography and sexual immorality. I did still struggle with the craving for drugs, but eventually he helped me with that too. I am active in our Celebrate Recovery, help on the greeting team, work with the 5 and 6 grade youth group, and lead a prayer meeting.
I felt God was calling me to ministry at the beginning of 2019 when Dylan Robinson was at our church telling his story. I felt the Holy Spirit say "I want you to so this too." Later as was reading though a second full read through of my Bible God showed me Genesis 50:20 which says "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." As I prayed through that, I felt God wanted me to use my past pain to help others. At the advice of my Pastor and others I am decided to start the course of study.
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Post by msauerwein on Jan 10, 2020 2:56:40 GMT
My name is Mike Sauerwein. I am currently serving as a youth leader with Connecting Point church in Columbus Kansas. We are a church plant from PittNaz that started last February and have been doing well averaging between 90-120 people per week. We are getting ready to launch our youth programs in February, so my schedule is about to pick up.
Personally, I come from a Mennonite Brethren background. I joined the church of the Nazarene back in 2012 in Garden City Ks. I am also a High School teacher in Columbus teaching classes such as Personal Finance, Accounting, Entrepreneurship, and computers. My relationship with Christ began at a young age through the AWANA program at my church in western Kansas, but for many years was a shallow faith that I would claim when convenient. I would later attend college at Tabor College in Hillsboro Kansas graduating with a degree in Accounting and Finance. My faith really began to deepen when I became part of a men's group at GC Naz, and realized that my faith needed to be more than a title. My call to ministry happened at PittNaz a few years ago, but I ignored it for awhile thinking that I needed to be qualified first before pursuing it. After stepping out in faith to join the church plant in Columbus, God made me realize I needed to stop running from my calling and I pursued and was granted my local license through PittNaz.
I have been married to my wife for 12 years and together we have 2 kids, Mollie - 8 and Beckett - 6
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Post by Chris Diller on Jan 11, 2020 2:36:47 GMT
Hi everyone, my name is Chris Diller, I am Pastor at a church plant in Erie Kansas. I had what used to be called a normal childhood. My dad was pretty distant, my mom watched a lot of daytime tv. We played baseball with the neighborhood kids on the front lawn of the high school across the street from the block we lived on. We shot fireworks on July 4th, we walked to school, and to the city pool. It was pretty normal to us. As I grew up, my relationship with my dad became more and more strained. Mom too. In the 6th grade I had my first experience with alcohol. It became a pretty regular thing for me as I went through junior high and high school. Lots of Friday nights dragging Main Street and getting inebriated. Small town America life.
I met Kelly at one of the high school jobs I had. She became my best friend, my wife and the mother of our kids. We are still married, and serving the Lord together. But it hasn’t always been blue skies and Daisy’s. I had issues. There was infidelity on my part, I hurt us. We are happily married today due to some work on my part, and a whole lot of true forgiveness on hers.
I worked as a radio personality at the local radio station, advancing to program director and morning drive on air. That can be a great job if your ego needs stroked. Mine did for about 9 years. But eventually I left that career. But while I was PD, I covered shifts as needed including Sunday mornings. This was when my spiritual journey began. The pastor of the Nazarene Church in Chanute started a Sunday morning gospel radio show, and I taught him how to run an hour long program. We became friends-ish. He asked me to help them out at church by running their sound on Wednesday nights. Conveniently, he had planned a series of sermons explaining our spiritual need on Wednesday nights. I eventually started going to church on Sunday morning too. I was welcomed by so many people. Feb. 22nd 1992 I gave my life to Jesus. I went down to the altar with a heavy weight of sin, but at the moment it happened, I felt a literal weight lift off of me. It was a real experience. I have not been the same since. I would love to say that I have had steady growth, but that would not be true. I have had spiritual lapses and I have failed at times. Jesus is always waiting right where I went wrong. Waiting for me to turn around, His grace is sufficient.
I have served in the church ever since I was saved. I served on the Sunday school board, the church board, as church treasurer, and now as pastor of a church for almost three years. At 56 years old, education is more difficult than it used to be. But God continues to open doors, and I continue to step through them. He leads, I follow Him.
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Post by danna on Mar 5, 2020 22:06:08 GMT
My name is Danna Brauburger, I grew up in Independence, Missouri and attended a cult that is headquartered there. Dad grew up in the RLDS church and so we continued because he wouldn't go anywhere else and mom knew we needed to be in church. I have fond memories of being in church anytime the doors were opened and I learned to count change by counting the church offering on the card table in the living room on Sunday afternoons. We stopped going in 1984 because they voted to induct women in the priesthood and that was a huge no-no for my dad. So until I was in my 20's church was non-existent but I still had an empty spot in my life. So I filled that with different things thinking it would make a difference, which of course it didn't.
After I got married and had kids we moved to Nixa and I began going to the Methodist church in town since my husband grew up Methodist. That is where I got saved in 1996 but my husband had issues with the pastor so he refused to go anymore so I began going to the Nazarene church because Pastor Gary had filled in a Sunday and I had heard him preach then. I quickly grew to love the doctrine of the church and the people. We went to Scenic after 7-9 years at Nixa and that is where my call was formed. My husband passed away in 2014 right as I began my classes and pursuit of ministry so this has been an interesting journey. I have two kids, Lyle is working towards being a youth pastor and Emily is married to a great young man also called to ministry so that is an ongoing thing for them as life unfolds.
I have been associate pastor at Springfield Dayspring for the last 4 years and am continually seeking what God has for me in this interesting journey of life and ministry.
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Post by timmeryc on May 22, 2020 0:00:48 GMT
My name is Timmery Clark, and I live in the heart of the Midwest, Springfield, MO. My favorite color is blue. I mention this because as a child, and even now though to a lesser degree, I could “see” numbers, letters, words, thoughts, sounds, etc in color. I could go through the alphabet and state colors in place of letters, because I “saw” each one as a color. Kind of quirky, but it was fun! I found it also really helped me absorb and remember educational materials. The older I get the less prominent this is for me (so sad! I need all the help I can get, academically!).
This area in Missouri has been my home for most of my life, except for the 10 years I moved to San Diego. I graduated from Drury University in Springfield in 2003 with a degree in architecture. Six months after graduation, I moved to San Diego where I eventually found a job in engineering construction. That felt very different from architecture, but I was happy to have that job.
God began healing and growing me in those years, and He gave me a calling that I was to speak His hope and truth to those around me. In a radical career shift, I attended seminary at Talbot School of Theology (Biola University) and have my Master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling as of 2010. I got to experience such godly wisdom from my professors and classmates in those years of seminary. Some of those classes were taken 10 years ago, and while I don’t always remember the class content, I still very much remember the godly character and traits of the people at Talbot. Inasmuch as the coursework was valuable, I treasure having so many models of Christlike lifestyles lived out in front of me.
While I was attending Seminary, I was the Post-College Intern Pastor at my church in San Diego. Working in the church was stretching and life-giving for me. But one day, a co-worker took me to the ministry fair she had organized and for the first time I realized sex trafficking was a real issue. It was not merely a movie plot. There were real men and women experiencing this horror, right in my back yard. From that day forward my heart was broken for the issue.
Shortly thereafter, I began working for a non-profit in San Diego that was a residential program for women who had been trafficked. They already had a thriving adult program, but wanted to launch a program for minors, which is where I factored in. In my role I was required to become a foster parent. I am single with no children, so this was a big game changer for me! Parenting broken teenaged girls who had been sex trafficked…let me tell you, that was an experience! That was a unique season in life that I had not been looking for, but God sweetly let me discover that I enjoyed parenting teenage girls (despite the many challenges!).
That was life consuming work, and after a year I was fatigued and burned out. In 2013 I moved back “home” to Missouri. I became a homeland missionary with an organization called NightLight, where I was the Restoration Coordinator. For the next 5 years I worked with adult women who had survived the traumas of sex trafficking. That position let me experience a variety of situations. I would attend our outreaches, where we went to where the women were working, and our team showered the women with love and dignity. I was mostly responsible for counseling, case management, and overseeing mentoring. Occasionally I was invited to participate in “stings” hosted by Highway Patrol, the FBI, Homeland Security, and our local police department. What an opportunity to model the love of Jesus to women who have been so taken advantage of, who had learned that they could not trust those around them. This was long, hard, good work. One of my favorite pieces of my work at NightLight was starting a Survivor Group. The women were hungry to know others that had experienced something similar, and together they found healing as we unpacked lies they had believed, and replaced them with the truth of God’s identity.
My work with NightLight was completed in December of 2018. I never started that work with the intention to leave it, I truly thought I would be there for decades. But in 2018 God began to call me into a different area of ministry. Over months of dialogue with God, and listening to His voice, He called me out of missionary work and back into the church setting.
Last Spring (2019) I received my Local Minister’s License, and am anticipating my first District License later this summer. I’m excited about that! I know God is doing something in me and through me, and obedience is key in this season (when is it not, though?!). Currently I receive my paycheck from Lowe’s, but draw so much delight in serving as a Campus Operations Minister in my church’s north plant. In this season I am greatly looking forward to the Ordination process, and growing into my pastoring call to speak hope and truth.
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Post by cbeason on May 22, 2020 18:11:17 GMT
My name is Cheryl Beason. I was born in Branson, Missouri but have lived most of my life in the Ava, Missouri area. My parents were and still are very loving, caring, and supportive of me. My father and mother taught me how to be a dependable, hard worker. They were and still are a true example of what a Christian should be. We attended church any time the doors were open.
When I was 5 years old we moved to Ava to be closer to my grandparents on both sides of my family. All of whom were devout Christians except my maternal grandfather. (He did get saved before he passed away). I had a lot of Christian influence in my life. I have been in church as long as I can remember. We attended the Baptist church from the time I was born until I was 6 years old. It was then that we began attending the Goodhope Church of the Nazarene. This is where I still attend today. We started going there mainly because my uncle Bob Halstead, was the pastor. Let me tell you, he is the reason I love my lord and savior Jesus Christ. I was saved at an early age of 10. He is also the reason I am so passionate about the Church of the Nazarene. He was my pastor for 24 years. His example and encouragement during my youth and young adulthood have help me keep my faith in God in the good times and dark times of my life. He baptized me, and performed my wedding ceremony several years ago and I am thankful God put him in my life.
After high school, I married my high school sweetheart and we began our family. We have two daughters and four grandchildren. We celebrated 37 years of marriage last fall. I thought being a Christian would be easier as an adult and boy was I wrong. I spent several years just going through the motions of church. My spiritual life was very weak during my young adult years. I became a terrible example of a Christian. My parents continued to pray for me and I continue to attend church but not drawing near to god. During this time my husband was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. It was a difficult time in my life. However, God always has a plan and it is perfect.
I graduated from Drury University in 2000 with a teaching degree in Elementary Education. It was through this degree that I began to get my life back on track. I began to really work on my spiritual life during this time. I felt my teaching call was to public school so God would be there. I would slip God in the conversations as often as possible. I am currently teaching 4th Grade at Ava Elementary.
In was in 2014 that I totally surrendered to God and experienced entire sanctification. That year my brother was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer, (that is another story that I will not explain here). God used my brother and his vision he saw of Christ pouring out his LOVE in a revival in a Baptist church full of Nazarenes with a Pentecostal preacher. I have never experienced such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I felt God’s call on my life with a fire that started at the bottom of my feet and went up to the top of my head, yet I put off the call of ministry. My brother passed away later that year and I drew very close to God in my grieving. In the healing process God began to show me his will but once again Satan had me blinded by fear that it was his voice not God’s that was calling and once again I put off any action on my calling. I was still growing spiritually and serving in my church but I knew there was more. I was teaching Sunday School Class, leading Wednesday night Bible Study with the elder crowd and singing in the Praise Band but I knew there was more for me. I just kept procrastinating.
During the next year we had a pastoral change and I began to oversee things at the church. I began to see what it meant to fall in love with Jesus. I truly loved serving him in any way I could. Twice the Lord showed me his plan once by preforming a true miracle on my husband using heavenly angles to pull him up out of the middle of the lake and place him back into the boat when he was fishing with his dad. (there is a lot more to that story as well) Finally, a man came up to me after church and said, “you are ordained by God for ministry, I just needed to tell you that”. I thought about that a lot in the coming weeks and decided to stop letting Satan win that battle. I claimed my call to ministry and was given a local Ministers License in February of 2020. I am excited to see what God has planned for the rest of my life in His ministry.
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Post by divallfamily on May 26, 2020 3:05:19 GMT
My wife and I were married on June 21, 2000. We have two children. Our daughter is seventeen and our son is fourteen. Our son is struggling with God and church in general, so that is hard to figure out how to approach. Our daughter has a wonderful servant’s heart and loves to help with the babies at church. We attend Parsons Nazarene Church and have been there since 2009, almost ten years.
I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, called Shidler, and lived there until I finished high school. My first year of life was not without strife. Mom was sixteen at the time of my birth on Sunday December 21, 1975 and dad was twenty-six. Dad was an alcoholic all of his life and he died of cancer related to that affliction. He had accepted Christ right before he died, so that brought him and I peace. When I was one, my mom left me, in my car seat, in the middle of the road, on a cold January day, and left. My grandmother raised me from that point on. She died when I was sixteen, which coincidently was the age of my salvation. My uncle, then, “raised” me, after my grandmother’s death. He was mentally abusive and forced me to eat out of a bin. I ran away, from that situation, to a church family, that I trusted, and stayed with them, until I joined the U.S. Navy. Through the navy, I met a professor from then Southern California Bible College and Seminary, now Southern California Seminary. I graduated, from SCS, with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies with emphasis in Christian Education in 2001. From the age of sixteen, I have felt a call on my life to serve. The church was so much a part of my life. I tried for a couple of youth ministry positions and failed and was hurt. I am now forty-three and I know God has “re-called” me to ministry. It is because of a faithful lead pastor and family pastor that I am on this journey towards ordination.
First Thessalonians 5:24a says, “He who calls you is faithful.” God is a faithful and patient God.
The Sunday before Easter, the board, at my church, Parsons Nazarene Church, voted on a position. I am the Associate Pastor of Connection Ministries, which is my heart. I believe the church, as a whole, has turned away from connections or getting in people’s lives. I believe God waited for me to attend Parsons Nazarene Church, to call that which He called so many years ago. This was the first ever Nazarene church that I have ever attended. I am discipling three men and one preteen boy, teach fifth and sixth grade youth group, on Wednesdays, teach a fourth through sixth grade Sunday school class, and volunteer, two days of the week, at Remnant Coffee Shop and Café, owned by Parsons Nazarene.
I love to fish, camp, hike and spend time with my family. I am trying to be intentional about spending time with my kids and wife, as my schedule continues to get more hectic.
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Post by marlisha on Jan 6, 2021 10:46:42 GMT
Bio assignments tend to be my least favorite thing to write, because I have to put myself in the spotlight. Evangelism is so engraved in my heart that I only want people to see Jesus. They can forget my name, what I looked like, or what I was wearing (or in this case, writing). As long as they remember His love. Gods presence changes hearts, not individuals.
But I digress, my name is Marlisha Jones, I am the Outreach Minister at The Well Church-Aurora. I have a wonderful husband of almost seven years, Joshua, that supports me in my ministry. He has seen me through many ventures, even though he isn't called to what I am. He trusts my discernment and always gives me room to be me. We have three girls, pray for my husband he is surrounded by strong minded women, they are my sunshine. Our youngest is Stoney,8, though she is not my biological child I love that sweet girl with all of my heart. She is our worshipper. Then there is Trinity, also 8, who is my half sister whom I've had since she was 8 months old. She is my fireball, she questions everything, and for better words stretches me daily. She is very sensitive to the spirit and is quick to tell you, she's my challenger. Then we have Janea, the only child that I have given birth to, who just turned 18. (Im still not ok with that....just saying) Janea is a servant at heart, loves people thought their flaws, is quick to extend forgiveness when wronged, and has an understanding of the bible that most people work for. Janeas story could have been different though, she could have fallen into a multitude of statistics, why? Because her father and I both were addicts.
I smoked my first cigarette when I was around 8 and drank my first beer. I remember to this day watching the smoke cast a shadow on the concrete. And each puff seemed to be magical. I thought if I smoked and drank that I would be happy. My mom was happy when she did it, my step dad was when he did it, so maybe it would work for me. Maybe they would accept me and stop hurting me. Maybe I could be like them. I was trying to find a middle ground.
I grew up with an extensive amount of abuse. Physical, emotional, and sexual.
By the time I was 8 I had endured so much trauma that I thought it was a normal part of life. Unaddressed trauma leads to a multitude of things. By the time I was 16 I was in states custody, using a plethora of substances. I was trying to fill the God sized void inside of me. I just wanted to feel loved, to fell accepted, and to be seen by someone...anyone. People would tell me that God loved me, but I quick to question that. Because if he loved me why would he allow me to endure what I did.That question would haunt me for years.
I got pregnant with Janea at 18, I stopped my use as soon as I knew I was pregnant. I thought that I would have purpose and that my babygirl would fix all my broken pieces. I was wrong. I abstained from drug use for close to 20 months and went right back to using, selling, and running the streets. I called myself a good mother. But was I really?
I was on a downhill spiral for years it caught up with me when I was 24. I got my first set of drug charges. Do you think that would be enough...no. I went back to jail the following spring. I turned 25 there. That wasn't a very happy birthday, lol.
Something happened that second time around though. I had called Janea from jail, this time I was looking at prison time, and she crying. I asked her what was wrong, she told me she had fallen and skinned her knee. I immediately kissed it though the phone and told her it would be ok. She told me it wasn't the same because I wasn't there. It still hurt.That broke me. In that moment I realized what I was putting my daughter through. (The sins of others affect the innocent.) And my heart just broke. I went back to my cell and just cried and screamed. I was so angry. I grabbed the bible, threw it open, and screamed "If you are really there, you better show me." And I bet in that moment God was like, it is about time you came to me Marlisha!
That night I screamed, cried, and read through Psalms 119, 120, and 121. The guards thought they were going to have to put me in a med cell. Surely, I had lost it. I remember my cell door opening, my face was a mess and a girl walks in. She says I am Mistiqa Gomez and I love God. I do devotionals every morning, I pray, this is my last stop, and if you don't like it I don't care. Everything changed after that.
God seen me. He heard me. And from that moment on, I've chased after him with everything I have.
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tanya
New Member
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Post by tanya on Mar 23, 2021 15:39:46 GMT
This post is for you to share a little about yourself with each other. It is a good way to see where others are from and to learn more about how that person came to being in Ministry School classes. I would like for each of you as an assignment, to tell us your story. It should be under 1000 words, and tell of how you were saved and sanctified, and what your goals are in taking these classes. I will post my bio here so that you all know who you are working with. Again this is a good way to get to know one another. MY BIO I was born in Butler Missouri, the son of an Air Force serviceman. Though I know my father, he left my mother when I was just three years old. He was not much of a part of my life as I would have wished. My mother moved us into a small home next to my maternal grandparents. Mother worked as a barkeeper in an old biker bar outside the town we lived in to keep us afloat. Though working in a bar, she continued to take us to church as much as she could. When I was five, my mother met a man who would eventually become my stepfather. The first part of this new life was great. My step-father would take us fishing, hunting, and swimming. We had a lot of fun together. Just before they were married, we moved to a small town in southeast Kansas, and life was good. My stepfather was a logger and a tree surgeon. In the summer, money was abundant and plentiful. In the winter, we had many days that we were hungry. I remember eating wild game and homemade biscuits every day at times, but life was still good. God provided all that we needed. Early in the 1980s, there was an accident. My stepfather was injured by a saw blade. He contracted a blood poisoning, and nearly lost his life. Because he did not know he had contracted this disorder, his brain became chemically imbalanced which caused mental issues that continue to this day. Depression, anger, sadness, and fear are all that consumes him. My mother caught the most of his rage and other issues, though he never harmed her physically. There were times that the boys of the family felt his anger, but we wrote it off to the problems he had. Because of these issues, church became a side note to all of us. Mom tried to get us to keep going, but that too slowed until we stopped going all together. We moved from that place in 1986, because he felt uncomfortable living there, feeling the house was possessed. We then moved to Savonburg Kansas, another small town in southeast Kansas. Though on welfare at the time, we made ends meet. I attended a small school thirteen miles from home and was having a great time. I met a girl at school whom I enjoyed being with and who is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Natalie is her name. Natalie is a farm girl who loves life and cared about me. This (love and care) was somewhat new to me, as I had grown numb to compassion due to the situation at home. School was not a priority and I seldom opened a book. My grades gave reflection to this as well. Natalie was all I thought about and all I cared to think about. I was the stereotypical high school male, chasing after girls without a care in the world for anything else. I managed to make it through school with a two point something grade point average. I had scholarships to attend a few colleges, but I was not about to continue to go to school. I was going to make money. I made a sufficient salary due to a decent job, however, I liked to party. I was drunk nearly every night. In 1994, Natalie and I married and moved to Iola, Kansas, just thirty miles from home. We started attending a local Baptist church where we felt at home. I say we, but I really did not care to go. Our life was not easy at all. I had grown accustom to drinking and she was set against it. I began hiding it from her the best I could and made excuses not to go to church. In 1997, we had our first child, Emily. This was what I needed to start a transformation. We went to church more regularly and I took a job as a police officer in 1999. I enjoyed the power and loved the action and adventure. Shortly after graduating the academy, Erin, our second daughter was born. I worked as a police officer for thirteen years and had a few incidents that haunted me. One was the death of a child and the other a suicide that took place right in front of me. I left law enforcement due to an injury and started working with the youth of the church. I also started hanging out with some local bikers who belonged to the Christian Motorcyclist Association. On October 18 2007, Charlie, a great friend, invited me to a motorcycle rally. He said, “It will change your life”. I had known Christ for quite some time, but not for real. During this rally, the speaker was addressing me. The Holy Spirit convicted me on my alcohol usage and instructed me to stop. Now, the speaker was talking to everyone, not just me but the Holy Spirit convicted me so hard that I fell to my knees and asked God to come and heal me. I quit drinking and chewing tobacco that second and will never touch it again. Since then, I served as the Youth Movement Representative for Kansas and an Area Representative for four adult chapters for the Christian Motorcyclist Association for five and a half years. In 2013, I started working as a licensed minister in the Iola church and obtained my District License. My walk with Christ is never dull. I previously served as the associate pastor in Iola for three years before being placed on the pulpit supply list for the Joplin district for a short time. On October 18, 2015, just 8 years after my moment of Sanctification, I accepted the call to be the senior pastor McCune Kansas, where I have now been for over four years. In 2018, I accepted the position of Secretary of the credentials board for the Joplin and less than six months ago, the coordinator of the Joplin District School of Ministry. God is still using this broken man to expand His Kingdom. Attachments:bio for school.docx (12.45 KB)
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