Gospel Ministry Ordination

My name is Justin Halbersma and I am receiving Gospel ministry ordination and training at Christian Leaders Institute. I’m married to a wonderful woman named Emily, and as of right now, we have no children. Of course, we have plans in the future for children, should the Lord bless us with such! I’m a cat person, and we have three cats…Phantom, Scarlett, and Nanugi. I’m 40 years of age and am self-employed. I can’t honestly say when the Lord graciously saved me in Christ, as I grew up in a Christian home. My teen years were full of confusion as I began exploring the world around me. I attended a public school, but something kept me from following the destructive paths my friends were on. While they were out partying, I was content to go to the Friday night hockey game and spend an evening playing video games and watching Hockey Night in Canada. I am an outgoing person, but I just never had the desire to follow in my friends’ footsteps. I know now that God was protecting me because left to my own devices I most likely would have eventually followed their path. I became keenly aware on August 2, 1999, that God was pursuing me and I fell on my knees that afternoon and confessed to Him that I needed to be saved.

Since then, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. I have come to despise my sin more and more, but also know that in Christ, I have an Intercessor who forever pleads my case on my behalf. It’s all because of Jesus I’m alive! In Christ alone, I have put my trust, my faith, that His finished work on the cross is fully sufficient to pardon me in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. Because of Jesus, I can call this holy and righteous God, “Father.” He loves me with an everlasting love through Christ, and I am forever in love and grateful that God didn’t deal with me as my sinful nature deserves. He gave me so much that I have never deserved through His grace and mercy. I enjoy the freedom of knowing that death is but a door through which I will pass and finally behold my Lord face to face. And for that day, I wait. But in the meantime, there is much work to be done.

My reasons for enrolling in Christian Leaders Institute extend into the inability to attend a seminary due to financial reasons. I have felt the prompting of the Spirit pushing towards being a Minister of the Word, and I was blessed enough to help a small church in Ontario with pulpit supply while they were searching for a full-time pastor. They have their pastor now, and I have since moved to Nova Scotia, where I was born and raised. While I led the congregation in that time we had together, I felt more and more a sense of, “This is where I’m meant to be.” I have a mentor, a Reformed pastor with over 20 years’ experience in the ministry, who reviews and approves all my sermons before I bring them to God’s people. I believe in rightly handling and dividing God’s Word. I make very sure to do my studies as I compose sermons so it is the Word of God being preached, not my own thoughts or feelings. My gospel ministry ordination goal is to gain the skills and knowledge necessary for me to be properly ordained as a pastor in a church.

A gospel ministry ordination at CLI, coupled with its online delivery, has made these goals attainable. I’m not looking for fancy degrees, I’m looking to have a solid foundation upon which to properly proclaim God’s Word to the world. CLI has given me the tools to be ordained, as well as be able to rightly handle God’s Word and be a servant to His people. A scholarship would go a long way in providing me those tools at CLI. Doctor David Feddes and Pastor Voddie Baucham are two of my favorite preachers, and it has been a privilege to learn from them and the other great teachers at CLI.

Learn about ordained minister study programs at Christian Leaders Alliance.