Ministering Deacon Ordination

Ministering Deacon Ordination

I am James Ausfahl and I have received my ministering deacon ordination. I was born in and am living in Peoria, Illinois. More importantly, I was born again just outside of Glasgow, Scotland. For over two decades, God has allowed me to serve at the local rescue mission. I have been providing such medical care as I am able for those who are staying there, whether for the night or for weeks. The staff there provides for their physical wants in terms of clean clothing, a hot meal or two and a place to sleep, and their spiritual needs by laying the Gospel of Jesus Christ before them. In parallel, in my career as a physician, I have cared for those who have come to me by addressing their physical ailments with such resources as modern medicine has to offer. Yet in both places, I have felt a void, a knowledge that I have only been addressing a small, though significant, part of the needs of those for whom I have cared.

As I have moved forward in this program at Christian Leaders Institute, slowly but steadily laboring toward the Bachelor’s of Divinity degree, I have come to realize that I have always had the resources in Christ. I am able to address the spiritual needs of those before me, and in Him, I have had all the credentials that I need before my God. Yet in this world of documents and degrees, I have had no documentation of those resources. In achieving the ministering deacon ordination with Christian Leaders Alliance, I will overcome that barrier. Yet the greatest barrier that this ministering deacon ordination overcomes is not external at all: it is within myself. Always, as one who has had to achieve and maintain licensure in medicine in general and in my areas of medical specialty, I have been reticent to speak as forcefully and openly as I could and should. I felt that without the human credentialing, I had only limited and minimal authority to do so. I could not see that the authority granted me by the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. He gives me all the documentation that I could need or want, reaching infinitely higher and more authoritatively than any mere human documentation could ever do.

This course, this ministering deacon ordination, has removed that inner barrier. It has had other effects too. Moved by the impetus of the Spirit, I moved to a smaller assembly and have become involved in it. As I began the ordination class, I mentioned it to the pastor of the church, wondering how he would feel about my moving toward a deacon ordination and toward a Bachelor’s of Divinity. Doors began to open at my church for me to serve in wider areas of service than I had ever envisioned. The main one is being given the oversight (under the leadership of the pastor, and us both under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and our Lord, Jesus Christ) of the Sunday School program. I have been particularly aiding in revising the program to move toward a more complete and in-depth knowledge of the whole Bible. I cannot imagine what further doors God may choose to open, but it is His to decide and me to follow.

Perhaps the most important prayer for my ministry is the one that I offered for my sons long years ago. That I would have the wisdom to find God’s Will and the courage to obey it though it is to storm the gates of Hell never to return to this world alive again. I am now trying to fill the role of a superintendent of education for the Sunday school of a small assembly. Pray that I would be able to honor my Savior in this role and that He would equip me and grow me into being able to perform it well. Pray that I would give Him the glory for the good things He does through it, and that He would guide and direct into whatever other roles He would have me fill as I complete my training and my degree through CLI, particularly in terms of more boldly declaring that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and the only way to the Father, is what I need now, and wisdom not only as I grow in service but as I pursue my career as a physician, maintaining the physical health of those I serve that they might be sustained to gain spiritual rebirth and health.

Author: Henry Reyenga

Henry Reyenga is president of Christian Leaders Institute and Christian Leaders Alliance.