MINISTRY TRAINING COURSES 2008

EMBRACING UNFAILING LOVE
May 2-4, 2008

What sustains you on your life's journey, when things are going badly or life is full of hurt or disappointment? The fact is life holds little meaning without love. We are all desperate to be loved. Our search for love and acceptance permeates every area of our lives, our marriages, our families, and our work. The psalmist David, who had his share of rejection and hurts had a lot to say of God's love sustaining him on his journey: "… you "unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me" (Psalm 40:10) "Your unfailing love is better than life itself" (Psalm 63:3). "The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness" (Psalm 25:10). Jesus could walk His journey to the cross because of His Father's unfailing, sustaining, love. Embracing this kind of love goes way beyond our knowing that God loves me. Encountering His absolute love has the power to radically transform our heart and life. This course will help us go beyond simply knowing and even experiencing God's love to being willing to embrace this unfailing love and to learn how this love can work for us in the face of life's challenges.

· Embracing the Search for Love
· Why Love Cannot Fail
· Letting Love Heal You
· Why Love Can’t Get Through
· Loving Like Your Life Depended On It!

EMBRACING YOUR FREEDOM
May 23-25, 2008

"Christ has truly set us free … now make sure that you stay free, for you have been called to live in freedom" (Galatians 5:1,13). How do you embrace freedom when your pain, hurts, disappointments and fears shackle you to your past? These hurts and pains of the past trap us in a despair or mindset that numbs us to the hope of the future. But God created us to live in a deep, satisfying relationship with Him. Instead of experiencing emptiness and lingering pain, He wants us to be exhilarated and satisfied by His presence with us. Our spirit knows we were created to drink deeply of the "life that is truly life" (1 Tim 6:19). Freedom comes when we deal with the issues of our past so that we can embrace the journey to maturity. The good news is that it can happen. This course will help you identify and remove the roadblocks that keep us from embracing our freedom and of being filled with the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).

· Moving Past Your Past
· Embracing the Provision of the Cross
· Why Forgiveness Releases Destiny
· When it Hurts too Much
· Embracing Your Tomorrow

EMBRACING THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS
June 6-9, 2008

When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, He gave them a mandate, a destiny. They were there for a purpose. They were given power and authority to rule over all things, to expand the garden, to create on earth what was already in heaven. They could be as creative and as adventurous as they wanted to be. They could dream big. They could reflect the extravagance and creativity of their Father. Like God, their vocabulary did not include such words as "impossible, failure, I can't."

David’s life is a wonderful picture of thinking big and of fulfilled dreams. When David announced he wanted to build a temple as a dwelling place for God, God didn't object. But He did make it clear that it wasn't His idea to do it. Yet David's dream and his creativity and passionate desire helped write history because God honoured and embraced David's idea. We are no different. We tend to wait for God to initiate. But sometimes, God wants to honour the dreams of our heart and to partner with us as we pursue the dreams burning within us, just like He did with David. He never intended for our hearts to atrophy. He loves to see the blaze of excitement and thrill of dreams taking life. God has chosen you to be a history maker. You are allowed to dream big. You are God's creation. This dynamic, fun and creative course will allow you to think big and to embrace the dreams God has placed inside you that need to come out.

· What’s my purpose in Life?
· Co-labouring With God
· Speaking the Language of God
· Daring to Dream
· Embracing the Unknown

EMBRACING LIFE'S SURPRISES
June 20-22, 2008

On every journey there are surprises. Some are good and readily embraced. Some are not so welcome and some we simply refuse to embrace. After all, why embrace what I don't like? Why embrace something that seems to want to work against my best interests or well being? As human beings, we crave familiarity. We long to be secure. When our hearts are unsettled, any unwanted surprise becomes an enemy that threatens our sense of stability. But life's surprises should be seen as part of growth and a crucial part of life. As frightening as the unknown can be, God wants us to embrace the unknown that lies one step beyond our ability to see and predict. The disciple's journey with Jesus was full of surprises. Imagine being asked to feed 5000 people; or being told to not be afraid in a violent lifethratening storm; or to forgive that abuser servant times seven. What we do with the negative surprises in life becomes either a point of growth and maturing, or it destroys us. We either run to Him or we run from Him. We either embrace what is happening so we can learn what God wants to teach us or show us, or we can stay where we are. This course will help you to recognise and embrace life's surprises as a tool for encountering God and all He has planned for you.

· Why we need to Embrace life’s surprises
· Working Through the Negative
· Dying to Live
· When Heaven Invades

EMBRACING THE FATHER'S GIFT OF HOLY SPIRIT
October 17-19, 2008

Imagine spending time and energy searching for that special gift for the person you so passionately love. You spare no expense and when the time comes, you place the gift in their hands. With breathless anticipation and joy you wait for their response. But it never happens. The gift is received but quickly ignored or pushed aside. And the heart of the Giver is grieved, not so much for the indifferent response perhaps, but for what might have been for the recipient.

For many of us our response to the Father's gift to us has been less than honouring and respectful to Him. We have not truly embraced His gift, the Holy Spirit. Some have treated the gift as a doctrine, others a theology. Some have been too afraid to interact with Him. To others He is just a resource in a time of need, used but not loved.

God never for a moment expected, nor wanted, us to Embrace the Journey apart from Him. He made every provision possible to ensure He was with us all the time by giving us His Spirit to indwell us. This course will challenge you to embrace this wonderful Gift in ways you may have never before experienced.

· Why did the Father give me this gift
· Awkward Moments with Holy Spirit
· Making Things Right with Holy Spirit
· In Step or Out of Step?
· Who is in Control?

EMBRACING LIFT IN THE WILDERNESS
October 31 - November 2 , 2008

I will allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope; there she will sing and will call Me 'My Husband,' and no longer call Me 'My Master'(Hosea 2: 14-16).

In scripture, the wilderness is portrayed as both brutal and beautiful. It is a place of deep brokenness and despair. It is also a place of profound transformation and encounter of the glory of God. Knowing how to embrace suffering and hardship is an invaluable tool of transformation. It allows you to be anchored in the truth of God's favour towards you, regardless of what the circumstances of life may be. It allows your soul to be firm in the manifestation of His love and faithfulness towards you, even when it seems like the promise has gone unfulfilled. It is in the fire of trial that intimacy and trust is forged. As human beings, we hate the arid seasons when prayer seems unanswered, God seems distant, and trouble seems to be everywhere. But it is in the desert that fruitfulness is born. It is through the door of trouble that hope, singing, and love spring to life. There is a treasure waiting in the wilderness if we could only learn to recognize it. Come and join with us as we explore the riches waiting to be discovered in those of wilderness times.

· How Did You End Up in the Desert?
· When You Find Yourself on the Potter’s Wheel
· Has God Forgotten Me?
· Leaving the Desert

EMBRACING MARRIAGE
November 14-16, 2008

Marriage is a unique gift given by God. From Genesis to Revelation, we see hints and pictures of God relating to His people as a husband relates to his wife. In Ephesians 5, Paul explains the mystery of sacrificial love between a man and a woman as a shadow of the desire and intention of God to live in fellowship with those He created. So often, the beauty of marriage and the intimate vulnerability that God intended is lost in busyness or familiarity. Instead of a journey of discovery and disclosure, transparency and embracing; we find that the journey hasn't led to the depth of intimacy that we crave. Come and join with us as we explore the purpose and pitfalls of marriage, and take the next step in embracing oneness.

EMBRACING THE KINGDOM
December 5-7 , 2008

We know that Jesus is King and Lord. But in order for a king to be a king, he must have a kingdom. Jesus taught that "The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:31)." There is a profound shift that takes place in our spirit when we perceive ourselves as participants in the kingdom of light rather than prisoners, or even ex-prisoners, of sin and shame. That shift not only impacts our personal lives, but it is a catalyst to release the kingdom of God. But what if I could live as a king, in a palace as though it could possibly be true? When we tap into living in the presenceof the King and His kingdom, we will begin to live on the earth the way that they are heaven. Divine power is unleashed in us and through us. The dynamics of heaven were meant to be an integral part of our daily lives. Yet, if we are honest, we have little understanding of the ways of kingdom, much less how to order our lives by those principles. What does it mean that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, and that we are a nation of kings and priests before Him (Eph 2:6, Rev. 1:6)? As Christmas approaches, reminding us again of the coming of our King, come join us as we discover the ways of kingdom living and the power that kingdom will unleash, if we let it.

· From the Pasture to the Palace
· Developing a King’s Mindset
· Kingdom Principles
· Ruling Over Your Domain

Course fees are as follows:
$95 Registration, $60 Accommodation, $40 Meals
A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 deposit is required as a minimum payment for each course.