Video Transcript: The Program and Benefits

The opportunity is that ministers with established ministry, training and established Minister credentials, can receive official recognition of their training and credentials, and become a credentialed minister with the Christian leaders Alliance. That's the opportunity. 

President Henry Reyenga: So what are the benefits? 

Yeah, we're talking about the benefits. And then what are the requirements? How do you? How do you get recognized and so the some of the benefits first, there's a membership connection with that global ministers alliance that we spoke of in the last video, you become a part of this group that is global in the ministry scope. 

President Henry Reyenga: There's 1000s 

There are 1000s. Yes, and it's growing, it's growing. So then you begin to get access to the Christian leaders, social media network is a second benefit social media network is, is an online network of everyone who's a member of the alliance is invited to join that. And so you have access to ways of communicating with ministers from around the world that are also Alliance members. 

President Henry Reyenga: That's really need

Third benefit is to continue. ministry training, continuing ministry training with the Institute of the Christian leaders Institute, which were our homegrown learning,

President Henry Reyenga: We not really talked too much about the institute, 

No we have not there, 

President Henry Reyenga: There is video featured by Francis Chan, endorsing the Institute, in terms of the classes and all of that, that you will be able to watch or you know, you can move on if you don't want to watch it, but the point is the institute. So you've gone through the institute, didn't classes for them. So you've actually gone through

Our homegrown Alliance members have earned their credentials through the Christian leaders Institute, or the Christian leaders college. And the Institute is a tuition free training. Organization and online, 

President Henry Reyenga: It's on all online. 

And this is why we have global ministers because people from around the world are able to access this free ministry training, earn their credentials. And you might be wondering, well, how do you how do they get is to just take a class and get credential? Well, no, there's a there's a requirement that they submit recommendations from depending on the type of credential they're earning determines the number of recommendations they must submit. And,  that is part of the process of getting a credential. And so you want to comment on that

President Henry Reyenga: Yeah, no, we took the historic Christian principles, going back to the early church, and we noticed that there is a training piece. And we and when we actually going again, way back to 2002, and 2003, when we were started, we actually ordained a few leaders that were grassroots. They did not have training. Do you remember that? And there was a disaster. Because it's like we were we in the sense, we were too hasty. In the lane out of hands, quite honestly. Transparent.  And we learned that, you know, and then that actually prompted the Christian leaders Institute training classes in 2006. Because we knew, and we realized that we really needed to train these grassroots leaders. We just couldn't ordain them. Yeah, they had to be trained first. And that's what these classes are. And, you know, we'll maybe talk about this later, but continuing education opportunities for you. So we have so many classes, if you want to talk about matchmaking, you probably did that seminary.

Yes. or conflict navigation.

President Henry Reyenga: Yes. That's really your areas of specialty on your

Yeah, yeah. And so there are a number of ministry areas where we provide these free ministry training courses that may be of interest to you. And as a member of the you know, as a credential member of the alliance, you have access to all of our training courses, tuition free

President Henry Reyenga: And you can start a mentor center in your church

Yeah, that's a benefit. We'll talk about that. 

President Henry Reyenga: Let's keep going 

And to get the nice benefit is that you? You're granted and registered ministry we received our credentials. Yes, by going through this process, you've become a credentialed member of the Christian leaders Alliance. You will become a listed member in our alliances Minister directory so that anyone from around the world can see your credentials, what your ministry is. And that brings us to the next item, which is opportunity to register a soul center. And that we can talk about that here we are talking about the

President Henry Reyenga: It’s a place for geographic registration of your ministry and there is different types of soul centers, like fellowship ones, and a church is a soul center will

That's a separate. 

President Henry Reyenga: Yeah.

But so you have an opportunity to register, let's just say your ministry Yes, on this directory, so that you can direct others to that directory, and they can see your credentials in your training. And that is a benefit of the Alliance membership also, then you'd have access to those same that same tuition free ministry, training resources, not just for you, but for your ministry, anyone in your ministry can become a student at the Institute, and you can use those resources. However, the Lord might lead you in equipping others in through your ministry

President Henry Reyenga: And the colleges mentions here, yes, just like so important too, because some you could, this is a fees wise $3,000 in the US for a bachelor degree in the ministry, business philosophy, other things, it can be a huge resource. And at the college, these credentials can be transferred to like liberty, On how, Christian University, even seminaries like Calvin seminary hopes and western seminary, so there is pretty exciting what you could have access to for yourself or for others.

So the requirements, what do we have to do to get our credentials transfers?

President Henry Reyenga: Well, you know, a ministry training graduate credential from a Bible school, Bible college, or seminary,

so you have to have that you have to be a graduate of either a Bible school, a Bible college, or seminary, 

President Henry Reyenga: Right. And we're not going to worry whether that's a fully accredited Bible school. Right? If it's a recognized Bible school, yeah, we honor that. And, you know, this is not US Department of Education, granted, credential, this is about ministry. And we recognize that God has schools that choose not to be accredited with the US Department of Education or another government.

First requirement is you've had some training, you've had that training, and that training has been credentialed by an institution of learning, 

President Henry Reyenga: And we want your credentials to be web, we have an activity in this class by which you can send your credentials to Christian leaders Alliance.

Second event is that you must be a minister in good standing with the church or denomination that issued your credentials. And so if you if you don't have existing credentials, but you've been serving in a, let's say, you're serving in a church that is non denominational. But you'd have that you have a certificate or degree of training at a school, and you've been serving at a church, we would, you would submit to us proof that you're in good standing as a connectivity, 

President Henry Reyenga: That is endorsement or recommendation, there will be an activity for that. 

Yeah, Then you would register as a student at the Christian Leaders Institute, which you've, if you're watching this, you're already probably in the system.

President Henry Reyenga: We is the credential transfer course, which is this course

this course. Yeah, yes. So you do have to complete this course in order to have the transfer, take effect. And so you're already on your way in that requirement. 

In some ways. These are all these things. And I know from being part of a mainline denomination of Christian Reformed Church, there were all these types of requirements. And I know we have a few more to serve, I just want to kind of break this up is that you know, this is not in you probably already know what we're talking about, because you've had requirements like this. Like in some organizations, psychological assessments, you know, we're not doing any of that kind of stuff. But I mean, it is interesting to think about really,

yeah, so it's continuing on in these requirements. Then you will you will schedule an interview with a representative from the Alliance to go over your the things you submitted your dreams, your priorities, your hopes, and your ministry. experience your credential year. And to just confirm that you've met those requirements that we've previously listed, you'll submit three written endorsements of your walk with God and your ministry effectiveness. And we like for one of those if you're married to go from your spouse. And if you have a partner in ministry that you know, someone who knows your walk, it's really what we're looking for,

President Henry Reyenga: you know, in a lot of ways that this could also be used to establish good standing, good standing Some nominations, have good standing letters and all that, and some do not. So let's not get worried in the details. Or if there is a good standing letter great. If not, these submission of three written endorsements, we would take that as also are in good standing. 

Yeah, we're not trying to create barriers to the transfer of your credentials. What we're, what this process does for us, it helps us get to know you. And it helps you get to know us. Then the next requirement is to acknowledge agreement with the Christian leaders Alliance, statement of faith.

President Henry Reyenga: And we'll have that for you read it over look at it, we might even do a little presentation about that. But this is an important piece as well. 

And it is important because we want to be in alignment. Yes, we are. And and so if there are things in the statement of faith that are just contrary to your tradition, or your background, then this just as in free may not be for you, right. But if you if you do if you are aligned with our statement of faith, but we're excited to have him on board. And then finally update your credential status. You know, once you become once you become a member of the alliance, we have our members update their credential status every three years to remain in good standing, including there might be a continuing education requirements, it might be a class that we would say, we'd like everyone to go through this class, when they renew their credentials, and it may just be an informational class, it may be a substantive class, but we want to keep the membership current, this isn't a credential that no one is going. Yeah, I think we were talking today about your credential. And, you know, I'm an attorney by training. And so I have to update my I renew my license every year. Right, I have to take continuing legal education courses every two years. And we're not talking about renewal of a license here. But we are talking about maintaining your status as a credential to minister and we want to be in relationship with you, we don't want it just to give you a credential. And then we no longer speak with you. This isn't about money, we're not trying to get money from you. We're trying to build a ministry relationship with a network of revival leaders around the world. And we'd love for you to be a part of that, if that's the Lord's will for you.

President Henry Reyenga: This requirements going to become crucially important in the soul center program, which we're going to get into. And, you know, in those who've had posted credentials, you know, maybe their requirements, and they're just want to be posted, at first, they're going to be posted. But we are strengthening the credentials across the board. But we know for sure, in the soul center one we're going to be very specific if there's a geographic location, that someone's doing ministry, that these credentials to be renewed every three years is really important, because you're suggesting and saying to the Lord, that you are doing ministry at a physical location.

And we want that directory to be current. We want every ministry that's listed there to be active. And the renewal process is one way that we monitor that and keep that current.

President Henry Reyenga: So as we look at this whole thing, it really does bring that next discussion about soul center. So maybe we should just have a little discussion about a soul center.

Yeah, all ministers that are credentialed by the Alliance are eligible this as an additional benefit, are eligible to register your ministry as a Christian leaders Alliance, Soul center, and we use that term soul center. I think you've described it well, it's a geographic, it's a ministry that's happening in a place, geographic location. And these are we're going to there's a separate soul center registration course, at the institute that you'll you'll want to go through in pursuing that but briefly, a soul Center is a ministry that's led by a CLA a Christian leaders Alliance, credentialed member. And there are various types of soul centers and one of the reasons we're using The term soul center as opposed to a church, for example, a church is a soul center. But there are many other areas of ministry where the soul is ministered to, right? Let's say, I have a small group that meets in my home for a Bible study every week. We call that a fellowship, Soul center, There are the scopes of ministry, a larger ministry might be a ministry practice, like someone who's doing life coaching, right, as a ministry, and that is a ministry practice soul center. There might be a ministry organization, that is maybe a national ministry or an international ministry. And that says, a different type of soul center, and a church's assault center and mentor center. You mentioned earlier you asked if I'm mentoring discipling young men, for example, and that's the ministry the Lord has called me to I can register as a mentor, Soul center. And so we're trying to recognize these different types of ministry places, creating a place where they can be registered, where people can find them. Right, and where you can send people to the soul centers.org website to locate them. 

President Henry Reyenga: Right, In some ways. It's like the book of Acts, you know, the ministry to the widows, the Greek and Hebrew widows, was an example in the early church. It wasn't just the ministry of the preaching of the word that the apostles were doing. It was actually a different type of ministry, to the souls and we use the word soul because we believe that that word speaks to God created humans, male and female, and gave them and breathed the breath of life and they became a living soul. And this is it. Many people have not really thought about their soul. But St. Augustine once said, My soul finds no rest until it rests in thee, you know, and we see that's what's happening all over the world. 

Yeah, yeah, as you mentioned, that even the serving of tables, hospitality ministry, is another as if it would be a fellowship, Soul center. But there's so many types of ministry, so many types of ministers within the alliance. And what we're doing with the soul centers, what we trust in the Lord to do through the Soul centers is encouraged people in ministry, you know, there may be someone attending a large mega church that is engaged in hospitality ministry, right, and the church is just too large. And it doesn't have the capacity to recognize the hospitality, a little hospitality ministry that maybe one or a group of women in the church or maybe they're running a soup kitchen, feeding the feeding the hungry, it just doesn't fit into the church's ministry structure. And so they're doing it but they're kind of just doing it out on their own, and they're not aligned with anyone and what we're trying to provide an opportunity for ministers that are in the alliance and credentialed and doing these things, it provides that opportunity to get recognized, and to be a part of something and not just be alone in registry. And it's exciting,

President Henry Reyenga: I came upon a young man. Young were 60 in his 30s, who was ordained at a local church, and then moved to another part of Virginia. And he went through our credential program, because he wanted the skill of doing a wedding because he was a youth credential minister, and they never had done weddings. So he flew in the wild to do a wedding this community and the local government officials would not recognize him to do a wedding unless in a geographic location, like where is your religious society? You know, how Where are you affiliated? Yeah, okay. So here's an example where this is an existing minister that had existing credentials, that was transitioning to a new community, and had no local society or church or something that he was part of yet. Yeah. And in this case, he has the credentials. He could have transferred into Christian leaders Alliance like this, yes. And registered a soul center with a geographic location that then the government officials looked at right away. 

Yeah! so many people in ministry that the scale of their ministry doesn't warrant creating a corporation and registering with the government and, but but through the, through the Alliance. We're providing an opportunity for those small ministries to have a place to register their ministry that doesn't make it a corporation. It doesn't give you any legal benefit. But it's a place where you're registered. And you can send someone to look at your directory listing, like a government official and say. This is what I'm doing and define ordination. Yeah, if there's a player or there's some shows that you're doing something of ministry related in a place, and sometimes that opens doors for us in ministry, sometimes it gives us that credibility that people are looking for to say, Okay, I see you do have that credential. You do have that, you know, I don't know if you know, with your credential with the Christian Reformed Church, did they have a directory like that online? Or no, to say, hey, there's Oh, yeah, you have a credential. But that's what we're providing through the alliance is that credential directory, that we keep it current. And we verify, even though it's a global network, as best we can, in the in this type of environment, where most of our communication is virtual. We through those endorsements, and through continuing contact, we build relationship, and we provide that opportunity for ministries to be recognized.

President Henry Reyenga: So what then happens is you continue continues to this class, gets credentials in good standing at Christian leaders Alliance, and then you can enroll in the register of soul center class, right away. So in order to get to a soul center, then it's step one is finish this class. Step two, registering the soul center. And step three, you're with us. And you're one of our ministers. We serve you, you are launched into the world. And then you have all the other benefits, including that you can take to to human education. You can start to mentor center. Oh, really, Yeah. It's just an exciting time

we begin praying for you, and ad are here for you and we look forward to building relationship with you. Should the Lord lead you down this path in a soul center again, it's just a local place, right where souls are ministered too

President Henry Reyenga: Love it. And so we pray that God will take that next step in your heart, whatever that is.