Aaron Thomas lives in Mountain Home, Idaho. Married, four grown children, four grand children. Foster parent for 12 years.

He retired from the military in 1990, after 24 years of service (Air Force). Went back to school got an Associate Degree in Electronic Engineering and worked in that field for several years before the constant travel took a toll on both himself and his family. Left that field went into corrections, first adult than later juvenile (retired from corrections and work). He loved working with the juveniles even though they were more challenging to handle than the adults. One of the things he noticed repeatably with the juveniles is that the young parents did not have a clue or realize that they lost their child at a young age. And that the main reason, almost 85 % of the time, the juvenile was in a state correctional facility and not a city detention facility, was because their parents did not have a solid foundation on raising them. So that is his Ministry calling, reaching the lost generation (parents).

Aaron came from a catholic background. He left Catholicism probably about 15 years ago. It no longer felt right. Joined a non-denominational church and felt good about it. About 5 years ago, a husband and wife team of pastors at that church started a new ministry and he joined in with them. Little did I realize who much of a fit it was. Immediately upon joining them (No Limits Christian Ministry), the pastor informed him that God told him that Aaron was to be their head Deacon. Two years later that call to preach started tugging on his heart. He discussed this with the pastor and he said God had told him the same thing, that I needed to start preparing myself to do that. Aaron told the pastor that he is 60 something years old and that starting a church/ministry at my age did not make any sense. He informed Aaron  that God chooses people for his work and age does not matter.

He researched several schools and when he came across Christian Leadership Institute it just felt right. So he enrolled in the basic course and now here he is. Ready to press on toward that goal the GOD wants for me. Because of the training I have received from CLI, I will be better equipped to do this.

He is an Ordained Deacon Minister with Christian Leaders Institute.

Alesta Deslandes is a minister of the Word with the Christian Leaders Alliance. He has a plan to reach Jamaica. Alesta is blessed with a wonderful wife who shares his ministry calling and provide tremendous support in his current ministry engagements.

With the strong Christian emphasis in Jamaica, He grew up in Church, at the age of ten accepted Christ, publicly declare his faith, and was baptised. Since then He have felt a call to Christian Leadership.

He has a dream of seeing true revival come to Jamaica that will spread to the entire Caribbean and impact many unreached people groups all over the world through missions. There are three components of ministry that He want to be involved in 1) The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 2) discipleship and raising up leaders and 3) caring for people through humanitarian efforts.

Alesta began his studies with Christian Leaders Institute in 2015. He is a Bachelor of Divinity degree graduate and have been ordained as a minister of the Word.

He is open and ready to mentor CLI students and graduates and provide support for ordination into the Christian Leaders Alliance.

Amanda has been a student with CLI since 2016 and since then she has completed 51 credit hours and earned her Deacon Ordination.

Read her Testimony Below in Amanda's own words

Hello! My name is Amanda Lopez. I was born and raised in California, USA. I grew up in a severely broken home surrounded by drug addiction, alcoholism and abuse. Throughout my teen years and into adulthood, I formed the same type of life for myself. At 18, I had my first child with a much older man who was controlling, abusive and addicted to drugs and alcohol. I too was swallowed up in getting high and becoming an alcoholic. After 3 1/2 years, I left this relationship and entered into single parenthood. For years, I went back and forth between living sober and living high. At 25, I was again in an ungodly relationship with child number two on the way. After four years of living in a clearly broken and dysfunctional relationship with no hope for peace in sight, I had to make a choice. I took my two children and moved in with my mother--whose husband and my very near and dear stepfather was passing away with cancer. After his passing, I left my mother's house and entered into yet another ungodly relationship. However, this time we got married after 3 years of living together (both completely lost to the world, drunkenness and other sin bondage). In early 2008, the Lord began to release dreams to me that directed us to start attending a nearby Southern Baptist Church where we surrendered our lives to Jesus. It was during this time that God revealed Himself to each of us in an extremely real, supernatural way! Several months later, we moved across the country with our two children to an itty-bitty town in WV where we dwelt in the Appalachian area for four years (and baby number three joined the family). We attended a small, local church within which our foundation in the Word of God was established and we entered the world of ministry.

We knew at this point that there was no other path for our lives but to serve the true and living God! No turning back! 

After our time in WV was fulfilled, we moved to OH where we were called to another rural-area church. We also gained permanent custody of our niece bringing our family to a size of six! We went through many trials in our marriage and family during this time. Sadly, instead of healing from the wounds of our marriage, we distracted ourselves with ministry and helping others. We made our first mission trip to Honduras, which was eye opening on a number of levels. Most ironically, to the great need of revival in the hearts of Americans! We also moved to the Columbus, OH area to join an urban church and continue mission work within the city of Columbus--specifically to extend love and hope to broken families, those who are homeless, impoverished and drug addicted, among a multitude of other detrimental life situations. On top of that, I spearheaded the missions program at our local church, developed a 12-week missions program and led multiple teams on mission into the heart of the Navajo Nation. To watch the power of God flow through this ministry and into the Native American population was beyond words! As amazing as the Lord showed Himself during this time, there were also major setbacks in our personal lives and marriage. After years of giving all of ourselves to the work of the ministry, our marriage crumbled. We resigned from the ministry and, unfortunately, could not endure the great trials, wounds and damage that had already been done. We both backslid into sin, our marriage dissolved and I had to spend much time healing and receiving restorative ministry.

Praise God, however, His grace is sufficient to bring us through the most devastating life events!

MINISTRY TODAY

Today I can stand and give all praise and glory and honor to the Lord more than ever before! Through every trying event of the last several years, I can say that His mighty hand has been ever-present and His love, grace, and mercy beyond expectation! I have since remarried to an amazing Christian man and we have given ourselves to growing in the Lord together, fully understanding the desperate need for Christian marriages to prioritize the FIRST ministry in the home.

My heart burns with passion for both street ministry and world missions—with a piece of deep knowledge as well for the need for reform within what we today call "mission trips." As a "missionary" called to the city of Columbus I have seen many challenges within the urban mission field—a wide variety of opposing religious beliefs (and the accompanying hostility directed toward our outreach efforts), a heroin epidemic, alongside escalating social justice issues. By the grace of God, we are able to minister truth, hope, and reconciliation in the midst of it all!

I also see a reset in the body of Christ moving in the direction of house worship, local houses of prayer and true family/community living like the early church so clearly demonstrated for us. There is a strong need for Fathers and Mothers in the faith to arise for the next generation to come forth and take their place in the kingdom--all free from religious facades and walking in pure love for one another, secure in our identities (not our titles) as sons and daughters of the Most High! The need for transparency and vulnerability is at an all-time high and I pray to be one to keep the door wide open for true fellowship in Spirit and Truth with my kingdom family.

Amanda is willing to help serve other students at CLI!

Andy Elliott is a follower of Jesus, husband, father of four, business owner and pastor of a new church plant named, The Beat Church, in the greater Austin, TX area.

Although he was raised in the church he turned to alcohol, pornography, and anger. He believes much of this stemmed from doors opened after having my first sexual contact at the age of 5 with an older male cousin. He praises God for a friend who brought him to a pastors house at 3 am passed out drunk in the back of his car. It was an ugly beginning but proved to be the turning point to restoring his relationship with Jesus.

He began Christian Leaders Institute in 2016. He received his Bachelor of Divinity and is now ordained as a minister of the Word in the Christian Leaders Alliance. He is willing to mentor CLI students and help them become ordained in the Christian Leaders Alliance.

Anthony Francia lives in New Mexico. He got a late start in life. He grew up with parents that took us to church, but when he went to Junior high school he started to hang with the wrong crowd. He started to smoke cigarettes and drink beer. Little did he know that his life would spiral out of control. But God turned his bad life into a testimony to others.

Anthony's original sentence was 37 years in the penitentiary and was going to plead 12 years but God had a different plan. He entered into the drug court program and was on probation for 1.5 years. He spent 6 months in jail where he received Jesus in his life and God changed him.

Now Anthony is preaching the gospel at a nursing home where he spends Saturdays with wonderful people and helping homeless people some with drug addictions. He wants to learn all he can about Jesus. He can do this on my own and with the church with the Holy Spirit leading. He accepted an Associate Pastor’s position at Soul Harvest Ministries in Albuquerque New Mexico and God is working through him. He thanks Christian Leaders Institute for helping him continue to learn about Jesus and ministry!

He got ordained as a Deacon Minister with the Christian Leaders Alliance in 2018.