The ELS Intensive:

Healing & Equipping for Life

A Rousing Success! 

      We have renamed our annual Embracing Life Leadership Training.  It is now, The ELS Intensive: Healing and Equipping for Life. We just finished the Intensive last week and we, as usual, come away from it with excitement for what God has done, tender feelings towards the participants we had and gratitude for everyone that made it happen. Please read the articles below to get a taste of what goes on at one of our events.  You may want to have one at your venue or church. 

Jonathan, Neil, Debbie and the team. 

                   Quote of the Month 

"Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the day approaching". Hebrews 10:24-25

Intensifying and Excelerating

By Jonathan Hunter 

 We recently completed our four-day Embracing Life Intensive and wanted to share a few testimonies from of our attendees. But first: In general, most participants found our "Immersion Version" to be much more convenient time-wise and the healing experience more impactful than when spread out over 14-weeks. This got us to thinking of additional ways of presenting the material. We've recently come up with a slightly abridged, two-day Embracing Life Series (ELS) dubbed "Fastrack", as another option for folks to consider.

To be readied for Spring of 2012, the ELS Fastrack could be done both locally and on ministry trips nationally and abroad by our team. The Fastrack will be short enough for most people to attend. It offers sufficient exposure to our style to decide if, later on, its the kind of healing group they might want to be more involved with. Our material has a markedly different approach in ministering to people with life-altering conditions; we cover a broad range of healing and discipleship issues. We really them get it first before even considering leading a group.  As the late John Wimber of the Vineyard Church Movement used to say "It's caught, not taught " and "Leaders lead" We are confident God will raise up the few who realize EL is the ministry they feel called to. This brings me to the invitational part of this article....

Recognizing the increasingly agenda-packed lives of most, we at Embracing Life Ministries want to make ourselves available to you for engagements in ways that are configured to your church family/community needs and abilities. Our various ELS / More Life! Intensives, abbreviated programs and weekend editions (as well as trainings) are created for you to consider having at your locale.  We believe the brief comments below from the recent Intensive testify of how our healing offerings can be a true blessing to your people. 

From Sue: "I came to this [Intensive] to deal with an unbalanced life and fear of becoming a caretaker for my aging parents. God is beyond good! He revealed where the shame (that had become a familiar friend through the years) first entered my life...and God took the shame! He also provided a great bond with the women in my small group [see Debbie's article below] and empowered me through them & the Holy Spirit, to continue to rise up and be a voice of truth & freedom, with authority. We are women of authority! I received an apostolic blessing to take this message to others and I choose to do that! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

From Eric: "What an incredible four days! What a profoundly moving experience. There were times when the presence of God was close and intense, like the night we nailed our forgiveness to the cross - there was such a Holy Presence in that silence. For me personally, the Self-hatred and Listening Prayer session was a deeply, rich experience. After I put a cross over the bad words & looked at it, something happened deep within & I couldn't shake it. I sensed the One who is "lowly & gentle in heart" in a way I never had before & He wanted to destroy the words that had been a curse over me all my life. That's difficult for me to grasp. All the speakers were great & spoke from such a depth of experience; their "credentials" of pain and suffering - whether past or current - gave them such credibility. You wanted to hang on to their every word."

From Alison: "When we renounced the spirit of death I had a delayed but deep experience that I took the risk in sharing with the whole group. I really appreciated bringing this to the light, especially in this group. I feel freer from the enemy's darkness, having exposed this.

 Don't hesitate to contact us any time for future EL speaking and ministry possibilities. You're family.  We are there to serve you in whatever way we can.

    I wanted to give some of my observations about the small group times at the EL Intensive. First of all, the Intensive lived up to its subtitle "Healing and Equipping for Life". In our small groups, we saw deep healing and transformation of the ladies attending. It was a touching time of personal healing for me as well.The Lord certainly chooses the participants that come and in this case it was a beautiful combination. In the women's group, I noticed a bonding with, and acceptance of, each other almost instantly. This provided the needed time for open sharing and for ministry from the Lord: everyone was pretty comfortable from the start. As each woman received what she asked for and needed from the Lord, the rest of the group observed and interceded silently. We do this to make sure everyone is focused on themselves first and then on others later in the Intensive.  Once released to pray for others we were all "equipped" to minister to each other. One of the first themes that seemed to come up on its own was about "mothers". For some of us it was from the perspective of being a mom and for others it was about their moms. The Lord brought lots of freedom for the women. As each person shared there was light and truth being spoken; darkness and places of death were being expelled. They seemed like such an extraordinary group of people, but then again I think I say that every time.

A testimony from one of our group members : "I really received from the women in my group...saying that they saw me as a sheep who needed to be tied into the flock so that the enemy can't pick me off. Amen! That's an endearing image that I will hold onto". Alison