Comments From Previous Attendees...
THRIVE 2008
-"Ever since I left and have been doing the skills with my husband, I have had constant joy which I have never had before....I now know how to get and stay in joy. Thank you! It is almost too good to be true....Once you experience joy you cannot live without it." Track I Attendee, NC THRIVE
-I loved it all! Track I Attendee
-Seeing everyone synchronized to praising God together was very touching.
-(I leared) concrete things I can do with others to help the people I work with return to joy and learn to return to joy. I learned my (attachment) light was most often on. I'm changing that. Immanuel Process is great - I learned through this and will use this with others.
-(I gained) a deeper appreciation for the handiwork of God from brain to heart. Track I Attendee
-I am more motivated to continue the process of maturity. A clearer view of my maturity gaps. A good shared experience with my wife.
-We plan on getting to work on the first year workbooks as soon as it arrives and make plans for another THRIVE Conference.
-I am encouraged to study people again and ask for what I need; build belonging and talk to my pastors at my church to go to THRIVE...
-Thank you for so much for all the effort you put into designing such a well thought out and balanced combination of training materials, exercises, music, dancing, etc. It was masterful!
-Chris, Jen and Kitty - lovely job! Thanks for pouring yourselves into this week and helping make it happen. You are people who bring a smile to my heart and I appreciate your commitment to doing hard things, growing... Thanks a bunch! Track III Attendee
THRIVE 2007
Just a quick testimony of what the THRIVE conference in Aug. of '07 has meant to my life. I trusted God to go with an open, teachable heart and did my homework before the conference. I read The Live Model and Living With Men. The two books stirred my spirit with tremendous excitement and joy. During the entire week every day God taught my heart and freed me in areas I never thought as a christian I could be free in. I now embrace my salvation as I never have before. As I began to see the traumas Jesus allowed in my 62 years of life I began to see that they would become the heart that Jesus gave me. Just to give you a taste of areas I'm being freed in, I had no idea that I had been mirrored wrong in certain areas of my life and until I saw that I would never see my heavenly Father as He really is. I praise God that I'm now thriving in areas I never thought I could.
Thank you THRIVE for the impact that the tools God has given you are being used to set people free. I will be forever indebted to you for the investment you people have made in my life. I'm trusting God to attend more THRIVE conferences in the future.
In His love,
William Licking
-These last five years have been a painful but rewarding journey for our family and local community thanks to the Thrive principles. We have been very aggressive in applying thrive principles in our family and local community.
THRIVE 2005
What I learned at THRIVE:
1st year: Joy is truly our natural state (whether it feels that way or not). There are other people who know and care about this. We can learn together by “living” this week of Thrive in community. I can live differently here and afterward, and have found a rhythm I’ve been missing. I can move with others and worship more fully.
2nd year: There’s a way to synchronize (be together) with those I love, and it’s not as hard as I was afraid it would be. There’s a place of rest that I can go to – more often and more deeply than I’ve ever experienced or dared to believe before. My story along with others’ is worth telling and being heard. I enter into the dance as much as possible.
3rd year: My family is joining me here at Thrive and I can see changes in our lives because of this week and what we’re learning here. God cares about my emotions – (especially distress) and wants me with Him, as well as together with others as much as possible. The dancing has become poetry and the worship is deeper than I ever dreamed.
4th year: Once again I am stretched – moving in to more of a group identity. God cares about my pain as well as my relationship with Him and with others. Even the pain that defies words matters to Him. He’s there even when I’m overwhelmed and can’t seem to trust Him. The familiar movement and dance is an important part of what has come to feel like a “family (of God) reunion.” I’ve come to believe that this week at Thrive will change my life and I haven’t been disappointed yet.
See you next year!
. . . A regular Thrive participant (a 4-year THRIVE veteran)
“Excellent conference! You deserve much thanks and I’m so proud of C.A.R.E. Community – by that (proud) I mean I respect and admire C.A.R.E. and community…I admire/respect CARE and the community a bunch!” A THRIVE attendee from 2002, 2004 and 2005
“I was amazed at the number of people and at how far away people came for the conference. Was so very blessed by all of your efforts – Thank you…” First time attendee, 2005
“This information on brain development has opened a whole new understanding of why some things are not healing and changing in my ‘belief system’. Now I will be able to share this with my wonderful therapist and continue on in a changed path to wholeness. I’m going home excited!! Thank you!” First time attendee, 2005
“I have never experienced a conference where I not only grew, increased helping skills but also relationships, capacity for joy and fully nurtured body, soul and spirit! Thank you, it has changed, expanded how I view and participate in future conferences I will be involved in.” First time attendee, 2005
“I found this conference to be life-changing. I now can see explanations for my mental state and behaviors together with tools to help me to change my mind ‘patterns’ and return to joy. I met many great people…” First time attendee, 2005
“The lectures and exercises (and dancing) was well thought out. The community of CARE once again brought a large group quickly into experiencing the joy of unity. You fed me well and gave me a hearty appetite for more. You gave me hope and even some strategy and skills for building joy in relationships back home…” Second year attendee, 2005
“Things keep getting better and better each year! Thanks for your hard work!” Third year attendee, 2005
THRIVE 2004
I wanted to give you a brief summary of what I learned this past week with Dr. Jim Wilder at what he calls a THRIVE conference. I highly recommend it.
In a nutshell, he has spent several years looking at pulling together the Biblical material on community and illustrating it with information from the neurobiology field and study of the brain. It is a bit complex, but here is a brief summary.
Healing does not usually seem to occur in isolation but we must help people find a way to meet their deep attachment needs (level 1), as well as helping surviviors, especially, learn to ask and receive to get past fear bonds that create dissociative barriers (level 2). In order for that to happen, they need someone who is safe and adequately healthy to synchronize with them (level 3). As this is in place they will be able to be a part of healthy community, assuming one can be found (level 4) and that will prepare them to find their true identity and resolve conflicts around what I call the Original Self (level 4+). This broader picture seems to fit what God has been teaching us for the last several years. The only community I know of that is doing this, at this level, is the CARE community in Baldwin, Michigan. I have come to understand that what I do addresses a part of the issues but we all really need a community to get optimum healing. Of course, others have community that is addressing one or maybe all these issues, but the CARE community is intentionally trying to model these principles. I am hoping that many others will learn from them, as they simply cannot be community for the whole world. We all need to apply these principles in the communities of which we are a part.
I am adding some of this material to one of my lectures, with appropriate brain pictures to illustrate the hierarchial structure of the brain parts, used by the mind to show in more detail how this all too brief summary really works.
Stay tuned and I'll give you additional information in the next few months on this topic.
Your fellow servant in helping to bring healing to the hurting,
Tom R. Hawkins, Ph.D.
Restoration in Christ Ministries
THRIVE 2003 and 2002
"THRIVE took us back to the biblical basics of living as God's creatures in a fallen world. We are going back overseas with a clearer understanding of what to do when things are upsetting, overwhelming, or painful. We are better prepared to help others to not only survive, but also THRIVE in the circumstances of their life. Backed by some of the latest neurological research, THRIVE will help you diagnosis problems as well as help you to grow and mature. Parent, teacher, counselor, pastor or missionary will all benefit from the insight into how our minds learn and we process traumas."
- Missionary couple working in Asia
"What would it take for you, your family, your church, or your work place to start thriving? What would happen if you were able to see things from more than your own perspective?
THRIVE helps lay down a basic framework for growing in maturity and recovering from trauma. Aside from the Bible, the resources provided in this seminar have most deeply impacted the way I raise my children, disciple others and present the Gospel."
- Church planting Missionary working in Asia
“Dear Friends,
Since I have known Dr. Jim Wilder for about a decade and have read most of what he has written – I had high expectations for the Thrive Conference. I was not disappointed. The conference greatly enhanced my growing understanding of this material, which I have been using for several years.
Jo Getzinger, Cheri Knight, and Chris Coursey have put together a “thriving” community based on the principles taught in Living From the Heart Jesus Gave You. It was obvious that their ministry has not been without its pain and “ups and downs,” but what we saw evidences the principles are working for survivors of severe abuse willing to pay the price of mutual accountability and learning to synchronize with each other, the staff, and God.
The teaching slides by Dr. Wilder evidenced a graphic artists eye, a psychologists understanding, and a spiritual grasp of “reading people’s faces” based on his deep connection to God (he is also an ordained minister) that made the fast paced lectures, illustrated with many pictures of people, animals and the creation, very interesting. Though the extensive material was overwhelming at times because of the complexity of the subject matter I believe that being overwhelmed was short-lived, at least for me, because it was repeated frequently enough that I felt like my understanding of how God made the “brain” was greatly enhanced and its implications for relationships in all contexts, not just ministry to survivors. I believe that every person ministering to the severely wounded would benefit, as well as every church wanting to have effective small groups. It is hard to think of anybody who wouldn’t benefit from such an experience, but more on that later.
The teaching by Jo, Cheri and Chris enhanced the presentations by helping us get insights into the way community was carried out in Baldwin. The community members were vulnerable, open to each of us and demonstrated just how far they had come. While they didn’t minimize the price they have paid, I was very blessed by their attitude and obvious growth.
As good as the teaching was, however, what made the conference so outstanding was the group exercises of “returning to joy” from moderate levels of the various negative emotional states. Further, the experiential small groups led by community members led to both greater understanding of the teaching and gave opportunity for developing meaningful relationships with the other group members. I can’t speak for the other groups, but the one I participated in gave me a healthy connection that I believe will reap eternal dividends.
The only caution I would have about the tremendous benefit for anyone who might attend is that people who are highly dissociative, with unfinished trauma will find that of necessity the exercises are designed to stir up moderate levels of negative emotions and then return to joy. Those with deep level “unfinished trauma” and deep “attachment deficits” may find some of the experiences may trigger overwhelming feelings that may require a slower pace and one on one connection to a therapist/prayer minister to find their way back to joy. Even with the caveat, I think a survivor well along in therapy, with a good support base may find the experience helpful.”
- Dr. Tom Hawkins, Restoration in Christ MinistriesOther Comments: