God Is Good - All The Time

We have just completed a crazy and awesomely wonderful Autumn of running Streams Training Courses around the country - five Courses in six weeks. On top of all the other things the Teaching Team is involved in - work, life etc! it has been quite a stretch, but Oh, SO worth it. Cheltenham, Bolton, London SE4, Chesham were all The Art Of Hearing God Course and the final Course an Understanding Dreams and Visions Course back here in our Streams Training Centre in Cheltenham. God has been so gracious; sending us such hungry, open and lovely students from all over the UK plus Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Eire! Thank you God!

There is something extra special in doing so many Streams Courses back to back; the anointing on John Paul Jackson's material is always extraordinary, but we have noticed that the anointing on the individual teachers increased as well. It's not simply a question of 'getting into the flow' or more practice makes us more proficient. There has been a significant and noticeable change in the lives of us all as the Course content washes over us and cleanses us - what a blessing. Two members of our Teaching Team who taught a lot during the Autumn have reported on breakthroughs in their lives as a result of teaching the material so intensely during the Autumn.

Andy Cowgill (one of our most experienced teachers) had an amazing deliverance dream during this time which has left him significantly freer and operating at a level of increased anointing in his teaching. His wife Wendy has given testimony at The Bridge, Cheltenham how God has done a significant work in her life during this Autumn and puts a good deal down to simply living the material in The Art Of Hearing God. There is such power in these astonishing Courses!

What a privilege to teach this stuff!! What a privilege to teach such spiritually hungry and gifted people!!

Our thanks to God, and to you all who are so thirsty for more of the Holy Spirit in your lives that you are willing to pay to take these Courses. What a wise and wonderful investment you have made. If you haven't looked at your Art of Hearing God manual for a while, just get it off the shelf and look at Moments of Choice, The Dark Night of the Soul or any of the other units, and allow the Spirit of God to wash over you once again and re-enliven your spirit. Bless you.

A Wonderful Month Of AOHG Courses!

Together with Wendy and Andy Cowgill, I am here in Bolton on the last leg of an Art Of Hearing God (AOHG) being hosted by our increasingly dear friends Mike and Carin Johnson. They felt some months ago that the Lord was nudging them to use the large and lovely former cotton baron's house they rent as a Training and Equipping Centre for the North West (and maybe beyond!). The training room is relatively small - a maximum of 20 for an AOHG Course where desks/tables are pretty essential - but the atmosphere Mike & Carin have developed and the welcome they give to anyone and everyone who passes through their door is such that the Course has been incredibly relational, safe and free-flowing. It's a joy to be here and because a number of the students are also staying on site, there is lots of inter-action and fun; there's laughter everywhere, which is healing and healthy. God bless Mike & Carin; Streams Training Centre, England will be doing more Courses here - including an Understanding Dreams and Visions Course in February 2011 (18-19).

8-10th October we did an AOHG in Cheltenham and we are due to do the same Course in London SE4 (Crofton Park Baptist Church)28-30th October and Chesham (King' Church Chesham offices)4-6th November. Now Dwee and I and the rest of our team absolutely love teaching this wonderful material of John Paul Jackson's because it changes lives under the anointing of Holy Spirit, and increasingly we are meeting wonderful people on these Courses who are hungry for more in the whole revelatory realm. Here in Bolton apart from 'locals' we have a woman from the Czech Republic, a Lithuanian woman who lives in Greater Manchester, someone from Darlington in the North East and someone from Cambridge. The presence of God in these training Courses is palpable and ever-present. Our God is so good and what a privilege it is to teach such life-changing material. Thank you God!

We are continually reminding ourselves of Canev Clayton's vision of a trained army of prophetically gifted people rising up out of the ground as one, ready and equipped and waiting to hear the command of the King of Kings and obey that call. It has become for us almost a mission statement for Streams Training Centre, England as we seek to train, equip and release submitted, godly and gifted people back to their churches to work with (not against) their leadership in order to build up annd bless the local church. It's exciting, pioneering work and we love doing it because it is releasing godly wisdom and LIFE in the Spirit to a fresh wave of believers. What a blessing.

We're Set For Growth

The last month has been pretty frenetic on the Streams Training Centre front. There is a change on the cards; in the past we have either had to hire a venue to hold John Paul Jackson's Streams Courses, or more recently had our own Training Centre for the Courses. Recent developments have opened up other venues for us around the country. The first offer came from Pastor Steve Sheppard at Waters Edge Elim church in Poole where we recently held an Art Of Hearing God (AOHG) Course for 34 students. Steve loved the material so much he offered the church building for any future Streams Courses we want to hold on the South Coast. We work well together and the church people are fantastic - especially the Russian speakers (we're hoping to teach them the AOHG through an interpreter).

Next Dwee and I were at the Bethel Sozo Ministry training event in Northampton and an old friend offered his newly refurbished church for any future Streams Courses in North London.

Then I travelled up to Harrogate to meet up with Tim Eldridge who I had first met at a Prophetic Round Table in Bolton. Tim and I just clicked and again he offered to seek out a venue and help promote Streams Courses in North Yorkshire.

Finally, some friends we met on previous Streams Courses here in Cheltenham have offered us a venue in Bolton to hold Streams Courses in.

We are also running the AOHG Course in both South East London at Crofton Park Baptist Church and at Kings Church Chesham and we are hoping to develop strategic relationships in those places as well.

This is all very exciting for us as these new venues will provide opportunities in addition to those we are offering from Cheltenham. Looks like we're going to be busy. Exciting!

Well Excuse Me!

I know, it's been a long time since I added to this blog, but it's been an enormously busy and frankly, fairly stressful couple of months while we got our new facility opened up for the Art Of Hearing God Course towards the end of May. We did it - it was a massive effort by Martin Maull and David Climie to prepare the place - decorating, adding in another loo, but God bless them they did it. Now we have a permanent venue for the delivery of John Paul Jackson's fantastic Streams Courses here in Cheltenham.

There are some teething problems - during the first AOHG Course we discovered just how hot in can get under a metal roof(!!) and how noisy our unit is (along with other tenants, we are trying to convince the managing agents that they need to do something to sort out the noise levels). And during the Course one of the loos broke (- just the flushing handle!). But generally, the venue worked really well and we are SO excited about what the future holds for us in this new venue. We are going to be using it for the new Courses which John Paul has been writing (yes!) and for our regular Dream Interpretation workshops and Streams Dream Interpretation days (July 17th - go see on the website to book in for this!) as well as The Bridge Cheltenham's new 'Under The Jacaranda Tree' revelatory and prophetic discussion and workshops.

So, it's full steam ahead - we are in a new season of favour, thank you God!

New Training Centre, England Near To Opening

Only a month since the team from Bethel were here - and that was an AMAZING time! - and we have now taken possession of a new Unit on an industrial estate here in Cheltenham which will double up as church office for The Bridge, Cheltenham and also provide us with a permanent Streams Training Centre, England venue upstairs. Aleady a second loo is being installed, the kitchen area being re-modelled, speakers 'platform' installed in the Streams Training Centre which has also been painted. Carpet tiles will go down early next week I guess and the desks and chairs will be put into place together with video projector and large dry wipe board. It's going to be brilliant to have our own place for teaching the Streams Courses written and developed by John Paul Jackson. We shall also be installing a p.a. system with special headset mic system for the teachers.

The first Course in the new venue will be the Art Of Hearing God - May 20-22 (which is fitting as this is the foundation Streams Course and the 'gateway' Course for the other Streams Courses such as Understanding Dreams and Visions, Advanced Prophetic Ministry and the new ones in the pipeline.

Bethel Team Arriving Saturday

It's fever pitch here at The Bridge! There is such an air of anticipation amongst our people (not just Dwee and I) about the arrival of Trisha Wheeler and her team from Bethel Church, Redding, CA. We know they are going to deposit something really special with us during the 10 days they are with us. I'd like to think we will bless them as well...

They are going to lead us on Sunday 21st (from 10.30am) at our usual venue in the St Marks and Hesters Way Community Centre on Brooklyn Road, Cheltenham and they will be doing Prophetic Art (as will others from The Bridge and visitors from as far away as Bath and Leeds. In the afternoon (after a shared lunch - if you're coming, bring food for yourself) Trisha Wheeler will be leading a workshop on Prophetic Art which will be a real challenge, and if there is time and the weather permits, we'll do an outreach at the end of the workshop.

We are so grateful to Christ Church, Malvern Road, Cheltenham for allowing us to use their beautiful church for two evening meetings - one on Monday 22nd dedicated to Healing (and yes, the team will be doing ministry!) and another on Tuesday 23rd which will be all about Bethel's Culture of Honour which undergirds all they are and do as a fellowship.

It's going to be a full week of Kingdom activity and we are anticipating God will really MOVE in and on our town of Cheltenham! Yea God!!

Prophetic Introduction Event at Chesham

Dwee and I took a team of 8 to The King's Church, Chesham on Saturday to lead an Introduction To Prophecy event. We met the Pastor Rob Gorst and his wife Sue through fairly extra-ordinary revelatory circumstances, and the Lord has just linked us together in a supernatural way, so we were not surprised when we just connected with the people in their church. The Presence of God was thick and heavy during and after Andi Foster's worship and the Spirit of Revelation was all around. Sue in particular had a powerful word for The King's Church - alabaster jars of oil were being thrown down from heaven and smashing all over the floor. As one of the team said at the time, when you walk in oil your footsteps carry the oil wherever you walk. Our understanding is that the prophetic is about to grow and break out at The King's Church. Wonderfully, Rob and Sue are wise and godly Pastors who will steer the ship well as they have a passion for Jesus and a love for His people.

Tell Them What They Don't Know

I've had some email correspondence this week from someone who has been deeply wounded by insensitive, and frankly ignorant, sharing of a 'prophetic' word. This sort of thing causes so much grief and damage amongst God's people. John Paul Jackson in his Art Of Hearing God instructs us to: "Tell them what they DON'T know - tell them that God loves them!" Too often, immature understanding of what to share and how to share it brings prophecy and revelation into disrepute. It does not need to be so! If only church leaders would insist that anyone seeking prominence or even approval as a prophetic voice takes the Art of Hearing God and Advanced Prophetic Ministry Courses before being unleashed onto their vulnerable congregations, then far less damage would be done and prophecy would be restored to its proper place in local churches. Check out these amazing Courses at www.streamstrainingcentre.co.uk

Finding The Formula

As followers of Jesus, maybe especially in the Western Church, we tend to be focused on finding formulas rather than finding the Father. In other words, we shy away from intimate relationship with our Father in heaven (because we are afraid of rejection or disappointment or of not being in control) in favour of cold and impersonal religious formulas. I call this vending machine Christianity (or works). If I do this, in the 'correct' way, then God will deliver thus and so. On healing, for example, our preference too often seems to be a 12 point 'how to' rather than opting to spend time with the Three-in-One learning the ways of heaven and building understanding and intimacy so that His Spirit flows through us to heal for His glory, not our own.

On-Going Training, Networking and Growing!

My friend Andy was on the phone yesterday following a meeting he'd had with a contact called Chris who had taken the Streams 'Understanding Dreams and Visions' (UDV)Course in Scotland with our good friends from the Streams Training Centre up there (www.northatlanticdreams.net). He, Chris, had apparently loved the Course but was now a little unsure about how to move forward with the new training he had received. This is a common enough issue and one which we at Streams Training Centre, England are thinking through in terms of what we can do to help.

Part of the problem is that, at the moment, dream interpreters are relatively few and far between. Cheltenham is one area where there is a fair number of us within 20 miles of one another, but that's NOT true for many others. But that is changing, so we need to think through how we can network and work together as this thing grows and develops in England. We're trying trying to build an empire - this is KINGDOM building.

We already hold excellent Dream Interpretation Workshops roughly every six weeks. There are really informal, open to everybody whether they have taken the Streams 'UDV' Course or not. So these workshops work as a taster for those who know next to nothing but are interested, as well as those who want to practise dream interpreting and are eager for more practical hints and help. But they are based in Cheltenham, only last for a couple of hours at most, and are therefore out of the reach of many people.

So what we are looking at is perhaps offering a two option approach to helping 'graduates' of the 'UDV' put all this wonderful stuff into practice. These are our thoughts so far:

1) A single day (a Saturday, surely....) which would take place in Cheltenham primarily (but which could be held elsewhere if UDV grads can gather sufficient others to make it worthwhile for us to travel. Features of the day could be: Practical Dream Interpretation in teams and/or individuals; additional teaching and hints on specific subjects within the dreams topic; how to set up your own Dream outreach team etc.

2) A weekend where we cover all the above (with significantly more practical dream interpretation) PLUS an actual dream outreach on the streets or at an event so you get a feel for what an outreach is like (it's fantastic!).

As needed, 'delegates' would have to find their own way to the venue, find their own accommodation and pay for food etc.

We would have to charge for these events - POSSIBLY £35 for the day, and £50 for the weekend (we haven't done proper costing yet and we do have to charge to cover our costs and put some money into future work).

So, if either, or both of these options seriously appeals to you, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know by email or by posting a comment to this blog. Also, if you have better or different suggestions, again, PLEASE let me know.

I have a feeling that, for some, this might really scratch where there's an itch! And if that's true, then we'll work at setting it all up.

Disconnected Jottings

There are so many friends of Jesus who are nowhere near reaching their full potential in God, and I include myself in that sweeping generalisation. Even a cursory look through the teachings of Jesus and Paul suggests that there is much more available to us than we have been taught to expect on a day-by-day basis. Somehow we have come to believe that what is available from heaven is rather cerebral, super-spiritual and philosophical rather than intensely practical. This has in turn somehow made abundance, peace, freedom, joy, love and other God-given aspects of faith in Christ into a just-out-of-our-grasp promise that we seldom get our hands on.

Teaching and training people through the Streams Training Centre, England is such a privilege! These amazing Courses, written and developed by John Paul Jackson, literally change the lives of the students who do not simply take the Courses, but absorb the Courses. That's what happened to Dwee and I. As we allowed ourselves to be gripped by the teaching, we began, almost subliminally, to absorb it and live it. Each time we teach a Streams Course we discover another golden nugget of truth and revelation and we are very different from the people we were when we took our first Art Of Hearing God back in 2003 in Banff, North East Scotland. John Paul taught on that Course (now, because of other worldwide commitments, he only trains the teachers for his Courses) and just as he does when he trains the Course teachers, he cast vision and it was that more than anything else that we picked up from that first Course.

Nowadays our kick is to hear stories from people who have been students on a Streams Training Centre, England Course whose lives have been changed through the teaching. Only the other day, someone phoned to say how the teaching on colours in a recent Understanding Dreams and Visions Course had opened their eyes. They have visited the National Gallery in London the week after the Course and been blown away by the emotional and spiritual significance as well as the renewed vibrancy of the colours of the exhibits. I love that sort of feedback! We have to be taught how to open our eyes to the spiritual and the natural, but once the penny drops, some of the wonder of heaven is conveyed through things on earth. What you look for you tend to see and when you see it through refreshed and renewed vision it's like a whole new realm is opened up. That's worship!

You don't need to have a PhD to live a life infused with the Spirit and just because you have a PhD doesn't mean you can't live a life infused with the Spirit! It's there for us all! As Bill Johnson has famously said; "God is here, and He's in a good mood!" How did we ever get to the point where we believed otherwise?