Luanne Beadnell has been a member of the Alliance, Ohio, Church of the Nazarene since 2008, but it wasn’t until recently that she felt God calling her to a life of Christian leadership through lay ministry. 

“After struggling for over two years, feeling like a ship with no direction, I felt His calling on my life so strong that I really thought it was a call to preach,” Beadnell said. “I had such a hunger to learn; a hunger to know this God who gave His Son for my sins.” 

When Beadnell approached her pastor, Glen Davidson, about her conviction he pointed her to StrengthsFinder. The StrengthsFinder is an hour long online assessment tool that “measures your natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving” to identify one's personal strengths. Davidson encouraged Beadnell to take the test so they could identify where she naturally excels and how God could use her the most effectively. 

“With these strengths in mind, Pastor Glen and I sat down to figure how to go with the calling and leading I felt from God,” Beadnell said.

It was in this conversation that Davidson suggested Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries International's The Discipleship Place and their Certificate of Lay Ministry. 

“After much prayer, the guidance from my pastor, and the peace I felt, I came to realize that being a layman was exactly where God wanted for me at this time,” Beadnell said. “The courses that are offered on The Discipleship Place helped satisfy some of my hunger for learning and helped me know that the Bible is more than just a good read.”

Out of all of the classes that The Discipleship Places offers, Beadnell started this journey of lay ministry with the Old Testament course.

“After taking the courses of the Old Testament, I have a new understanding of a God who created the heavens and the stars,” Beadnell said. “I learned of the history, the era, the culture, their struggles, how far they traveled ... there is just so much more than I could say!”

After she finished her first course, she quickly went through the New Testament course and is currently working her way through the Spiritual Formation course.

“I am grateful for these courses to keep my education in Christ alive, and I love that I can do them on my own time,” Beadnell said. “I have learned how to disciple people in a way that shows people who Jesus is.”