As a couple, Olive and I have been coming into a period of grace and overflow. There is a lot to be said for loving others because you have an overflow in your own lives. Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength causes the springs of love, peace, joy, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control to overflow so you can lay your life down for your friends and love your neighbour as yourself.

This current period of blessing in our lives can be attributed to a number of secondary causes under God but there is one I want to draw attention to in this blog.

Two years ago (October 2019) I went on the business trip of a lifetime. The first week was spent in Apple’s new “spaceship” HQ in San Francisco and the second week was spent in Los Angeles at a conference.

During the weekend in between I travelled by car from San Francisco to Los Angeles and stayed in Monterey. I had prayed before I went to the US and felt led to go to a church like the one we attended at the time (Openarms.ie) and look for people that were like us at that church, i.e. mature Christians but not on the leadership team.

I identified Chris and his wife and spoke to them for about 15 minutes, swapped contact details and moved on.

A few weeks later back at home I got an email from Chris recommending that we get in touch with Keith and Susan Schaad of the Tree of Life Ministry School in Monterey.

We weren’t aware of it at first but it turned out that Keith and Susan were regional directors of Bethel.

Tree of Life Ministry School offers online and in person courses which are an affordable online opportunity for encouraging, equipping and empowering individuals and groups in developing their biblical and practical spiritual ministry. It focuses on getting the student exposed to the Culture of the Kingdom and operating in their Prophetic, Healing and Out-of-the-Box Evangelistic gifts.

Olive and I decided to do the courses ourselves. So far we have completed first year and are part way through the second.

What we have noticed is that there is an increase in the fruit of the Spirit in our family lives: Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some of this at least we attribute to the way our minds have been changed about some things through the teachings we have received over that time.

In addition we have been experiencing increasing health over the last two years. One could argue about the reasons for this but at least some of it is related to the teaching and mindset changes that we are experiencing. We are not getting any younger. Someone asked me recently did I have any pain and I can honestly say I don’t. I did some years even months back (and still do if I overdo exercise or come off tea!).

So that is why we want to introduce this teaching to Ireland and elsewhere internationally. I will also say that the Holy Spirit has been confirming this to Olive and I, the leadership team at Tree of Life and others connected with us.

If you want to be invited to take part leave a comment and one of us will get in touch. We plan to start the course online and in person on Monday Sept 13th, 2021.

[Edited 07/09/’21]