Ordained Deacon Minister

Ordained Deacon Minister

My name is Charles Runyon and I am an ordained deacon minister. I live in the Philadelphia area and I drive a truck for a food distributor. I have been at my job for 20 years. I am married to Aimee Runyon and we have a total of 5 children ranging from the ages of 4-16. We are a blended family which has its challenges but with it many blessings as well. I was raised in a broken home with no father as I was growing up. I was the only boy with 3 sisters. My mother raised us all attending the church. My mother had a deep faith and a true relationship with the Lord. She always set that example for us. As a small child, I decided to give my life to Jesus Christ and wanted to follow Him. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with church growing up and I decided to walk away and get a taste of the world in my teenage years. My teenage years and a lot of my adulthood were centered around drugs, alcohol, immorality, and a lot of worldliness.

I went through a bad marriage that involved a lot of drugs, alcohol, and worldly living which unfortunately ended in a divorce. It was at this time when my heart was broken that I began to open up the Bible and read it again for the first time in many years. When I opened to Psalm 34:18 and read that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit, I knew that was me! It was at this time in my life in 2007 when I was 27 that I truly surrendered my life to Christ and fell in love with Him.

There were many times growing up that I was told by somebody that I was called into ministry even as a young boy. It was not until a few months after I surrendered my life to Christ in 2007 that I personally heard the calling. I was in my apartment all alone with God when He filled me with His Spirit and showed me the faces of many, many people from different places that I did not know. He told me that I was to preach the gospel to the broken. With this calling came a growing desire and passion for the lost! There also came a growing hunger for God’s Word as well. As the Lord opened doors, I took opportunities to study His Word. I completed a lot of Bible courses with global university Berean School of the Bible online. I am always looking to deepen my study of God’s Word and am so thankful for a ministry like Christian Leaders Institute to further my studies!

I know that I am called to the inner city or street ministry. My wife and I had a wonderful opportunity to experience that. We helped plant and pastored a Ministry Center for 2 years in the Kensington part of Philadelphia. God allowed us to minister to different people in many ways that were broken. It was amazing to see the transformation happening in people’s lives. We found so much passion and joy in this ministry and both believe this is the ministry area that God is calling us to no matter where the location! We both sense God is going to use us to join Him in planting a church or a ministry like this one day again! We are excited about where He is going to lead us in the future!

I love my wife and all 5 of my children. I do understand that they will always be a priority and my highest calling to ministry. Being an ordained deacon minister with Christian Leaders Alliance will help me to serve my church and community better because they can trust that my calling is not only recognized by me but also by others. People will also trust me to minister to them knowing that I have studied to show myself approved as a deacon minister. We are in a church now in the early stages of a building project and will be given opportunities to evangelize the community. My pastor also wants to have a local mentor center in the building when the building project is complete. I will be given opportunities to help teach and mentor local people who are called to ministry. As I mentioned, I have had the opportunity to serve the inner cities in evangelism and discipleship.

I am so thankful for CLI because they can provide me the training I will need to serve wherever I go. Finances can be a barrier to a called minister but because of CLI, this barrier has been broken down. The training I receive at CLI will help me for the future in the ministry God is calling me to! Please consider praying for me as I walk into the ministry that God calls me to in the inner cities. Pray that the Holy Spirit will soften up the hardest of hearts for surrender to Christ. Pray also that God will give us the faith we need to depend on his provision to minister in these areas. I also ask that you would pray that the Lord will help us to launch a local mentor center from our future building in our local church! I am so excited about where God is going to lead me and my family with the help of my training from CLI and the deacon minister ordination.

Author: Henry Reyenga

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