CWG Ministries Newsletter - October 2003

October 2003 Gods Voice Worldwide From Dr. Mark Virkler
Author of Communion With God and President of Christian Leadership University
Vision: To Saturate the World with Communion With God

Special Issue: Introducing Lamad Encounter Groups (L.E.G.s)

This newsletter contains: Group Registrations for Seminars; Mark Virkler's Lamad Encounter Group on Divine Healing; A Nine-Month-Old Lamad Encounter Group; Lamad Groups Behind Prison Walls; L.E.G. Testimonies; Start Your Own Lamad Encounter Group!; $1500 Needed for Printing in India Can You Help?



While Greek uses two different words for 'to learn'and 'to teach', each having its own content, goal, and methods, Hebrew uses the same root for both words [la mad] because all learning and teaching is ultimately to be found in the fear of the Lord (Deut. 4:10; 14:23; 17:19; 31:12,13). To learn this is to come to terms with the will and law of Godanyone who knows anything has learned it from [the Lord], the source of all truth.
(from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)


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I Experienced a Lamad Encounter Group Which Explored Divine Healing! Mark Virkler
I have just completed three wonderful months of exploring how to enlarge the release of the anointing in my prayers for physical healing for myself and for others. The Lord drew together Frank Gaydos, Dr. Gary Greig and me, each of whom has a passion to be more effective in healing prayer. Frank Gaydos is the Pennsylvania State Director for Curry Blake's Healing Network and has explored entering the Lord's presence in-depth, and then sensing and releasing the healing anointing. I found Frank on the internet when perusing Curry Blake's website.

Dr. Gary Greig, one of my spiritual advisors, has had a passion to see healing coupled with teaching ministry as demonstrated by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For Gary, teaching is incomplete if healing does not accompany it. I believed I should be getting better results with healing prayer than I had been, and felt God saying that if I would take a year and focus on healing, He would give me a breakthrough.

Well, for ninety days the three of us e-mailed back and forth several times a week, sharing with each other what we had found that worked, and coupling each others' strategies with our own to see if we could get better results. All three of us became excited as we saw great advances in the effectiveness of our healing prayers.

Gary Greig summarized our discoveries into a 70-page article entitled How to Release God's Healing Power Through Prayer, which covers Five Keys to Releasing the Lord's Healing Anointing. This can be freely downloaded from www.cwgministries.org/freebooks. Accompanying files to download include: Divine Healing Toolbox and Divine Healing Testimonial Worksheet. Gary is currently making this into a college-level course which he will be teaching to Regent University students, and which CLU will also be offering.

I am personally thrilled about three things: 1) That my healing effectiveness has increased tremendously. (I would be glad to come to your church to do a Physical Healing Workshop and try these newly discovered principles in a group setting to see how we all do. Contact me if interested.) 2) That by working together as co-learners over the internet, we were able to accomplish in three months what I had expected it to take me a year to learn. 3) That we could formalize this kind of small group learning process so others can accelerate their learning, also. This we have done through our proposed Lamad Encounter Groups.

Purpose: To transform lives by bringing people into interaction with the Holy Spirit. Lamad learning groups begin with real life issues and add enlightenment from God which produces transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lamad Encounter Group member is required to interact with life, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit.

Main Activity: Family and friends gather in a home, a church, or other building for 12 weeks to discuss and practice the truths they are exploring through a Lamad learning experience.

Lamad books, cassettes and videos are available at: www.cwgministries.org.

Lamad college-level courses are available at: www.cluonline.com/section4.htm.

An expanded definition of lamad will be available at www.cwgministries.org/LamadDefinition.

L.E.G. Facilitator: Guides group discussion and learning experiences. See preparation requirements at www.cwgministries.org/LEGFacilitator.

L.E.G. Participant: Completes lamad book/course during the 12-week learning experience and participates in group discussions and activities.

Internet Groups: Lamad Groups can be internet groups which gather weekly for an online chat. Chat rooms can be established at www.yahoogroups.com.

CLU Audit/Credit Options: If four or more Encounter Group participants are enrolled in Christian Leadership University, taking the lamad course for credit from CLU, the course tuition for these students will be discounted $100 off the published price (does not apply to one-credit courses).

A Lamad Group participant may begin by auditing the CLU course ($25 plus cost of course materials), and then change to a full-credit CLU student anytime before the end of the course by simply notifying CLU, completing all course requirements, and paying the difference.

The Group Facilitator will receive $25 tuition credit toward the future purchase of a CLU course for each paid full-credit CLU student in his group. If the facilitator has previously completed the course with CLU, he will earn two extra CLU credits free of charge for leading the group. If he disciples twelve, his next course could be completely paid for (12 x $25 = $300, which is the average cost of a CLU course). If he desires and is approved as a CLU adjunct faculty member (www.cluonline.com/AdjunctApplication), he may assist CLU in grading the coursework of L.E.G. participants, receiving an additional $25 gift of tuition credit for each CLU student graded.

All CLU students enroll directly with CLU at www.cluonline.com/apply, ordering their course materials from CLU. When registering for a CLU course and desiring a Lamad Group tuition discount, a Lamad Encounter Group Order Form must be completed. This is available at www.cwgministries.org/LEGOrderForm. If a total of four students do not enroll with CLU for full credit for the course, then the L.E.G. discount will not be extended to members of that group.

If videos are available for the course (see course materials list at www.cluonline.com/coursedetail.txt), you may choose to order them to watch as a group. In this case, be sure that when group members enroll for the course they state that they do not need the cassettes.

In addition to individuals establishing Lamad Encounter Groups, churches may also institute Lamad Groups to train their congregations (www.cwgministries.org/ChurchGeneratedLEGs).

(Lamad Encounter Groups operating in Texas cannot be graded by a CLU adjunct faculty member in that state. Completed coursework must instead be sent to an assigned CLU instructor outside Texas.)


A Nine-Month-Old Lamad Encounter Group
I have taught 'Communion With God' at least five times in the last ten years at various churches, and wrote my exams four years ago at Canadian Christian College, becoming a Certified Pastoral Counselor. In the four years since then, I have run across several people who want to know what Bible College I went to and if I have a B.A.

I started to understand that I did indeed need to pursue that avenue if I wanted doors to open up. As a working mom with kids and over 40 [now 47 and holding fast] I realized I could not attend any of the Bible colleges full time, and they did not offer any part-time studies or even correspondence courses. I really believed I needed a place that I could be in RELATIONSHIP with and believed in mentoring!

My husband and I started our first Christian Leadership University credit course in January 2003. We phoned Mark Virkler and asked if a few of us could do the 'Communion With God' course together for credit while others just took it for interest. Mark offered to come up and kick off our study with a seminar! We sent out flyers to all our Christian friends and more. Some who attended took the study manuals and books home with them for their own studies or church groups while several others signed up that day for the course we would be running. Some registered as CLU students, some just enrolled for interest and awareness.

We have an awesome, diverse class: two Free Methodist elders, a counselor, a Baptist pastor, several charismatic Catholics, a Native woman, intercessors -- some in their 20's, some in their 70's! -- worship leaders, school teachers, Salvation Army officers, another pastor and wife who travel in from out of town, and just ordinary people! I love our class. We have so many flavors that edify each other. The dynamics are wonderful! We all love each other and have an awesome working relationship!

We had twenty-two students in our first course, with thirteen taking it for college credit. Six of the students continued with 'Take Charge of Your Health' for credit in the summertime, and this fall we have started 'Counseled by God.' We have already mapped out with prayer the first half of 2004 with 'Fulfilling Your Financial Destiny' and 'Dream Interpretation.' We have tried to insert lighter courses in between the heavier studies to give the ongoing students a bit of a break. However, we have only felt refreshed so far after each course and can't wait to get on to the next one. We are all excited!

One of the students keeps saying, 'Do you know how blessed we all are that we can do this right in our town? And have Mark come visit and encourage us on!' It indeed is a great blessing, not to mention how it is enriching all of our lives. I also am blessed in that I can be operating and sharpening my gift(s) as a teacher [and counselor when needed] by leading this group.

I love the lamad method of teaching and living it out. I try to make the teaching interesting. When we did 'Communion With God,' we divided into four groups, each presenting a skit from the beginning of the chapter on phariseeism. This helped us all remember the teaching by driving it home in a fun and creative way. It also allowed others to use their gifts and talents, and we found out we had a lot of actors and actresses in the group! My husband, our worship leader, would also coach the class to enter into worship using the eyes of their hearts. It was wonderful!

In our adventures with 'Take Charge of Your Health' we received permission to substitute presentations for one of the book reports. Topics presented included fasting, pH balance and water testing, muscle testing, cancer and apricot seeds, body cleansing, detoxing, exercise and many others. Many of us have lost a lot of weight! We joined fitness gyms and changed our eating habits! We are living it out! We were so excited about this course none of us wanted it to end! A must for all! I have been invited to teach 'Go Natural!' on the Six Nations Reserve at a Word Faith Church, as they have so many health issues with poor nutrition and alcoholism.

I am excited, as this is just the beginning! We all love the fact that all the courses are Spirit filled and Spirit led. They encourage Holy Spirit encounters. It is not all head knowledge with dry studies and information. We live each course out.

I will be stretching the students this week in our 'Counseled by God' with some object lessons/props I created: four pairs of eyeglasses with colored paper inserts in the lenses. Each pair of glasses will have a different word: FEAR, ANGER, GUILT, and INFERIORITY -- the four main blocks to wholeness and moving forth in your calling.

I will wear each pair of glasses individually as I teach. If I am looking at the world/others through those eyes, how does that affect my perception of life/others/situations? What conclusions do I draw about others and myself when I wear them? Some of our group may receive revelations that they have been looking at life through 'guilt' glassesor 'anger' glasses. And then we will enter into journaling and allow the Lord to speak to them personally about that. We are all praying that we could have pure eyes and a pure heart so we can SEE Godlooking through the eyes of Christ!

I wouldn't want to study or learn any other way. This is fun, exciting, and we don't forget what we have learned because we have personalized it.

Don't wait ten years to do this like I did -- jump in and get your feet wet nowWOW! That reminds me that last year at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship I had a vision. I was standing in the rain with yellow rubber boots, a yellow umbrella, and a yellow raincoat. Even though I was protected from the rain, I ran to each new puddle, splashing in each one and then running to the next puddle, getting my feet soaking wet. The Lord told me to look behind me and when I turned around, I saw many little ducks following me from puddle to puddle. I can say one thing for sure, these are NOT dry studies, they are all wet with the Spirit of God, and His anointing is splashed on each course!

Excited in What the Lord Is Doing - Sharon Willson


Lamad Groups are operating behind prison walls!
Derrick Harvey, a CLU student and a prisoner, is so excited about the growth taking place in his life through CLU courses that he has motivated 12 other inmates to enroll in the Through the Bible series from CLU. He is meeting with them weekly and facilitating a Lamad Encounter Group.

Henry Siska, a prisoner in Winkoek Central Prison in Namibia, has four men studying together and receiving CLU credit in that prison. Many other inmates are spreading the word about CLU courses in their prisons and to their families outside of prison, and these people are ordering lamad books and enrolling in CLU.


Start your own Lamad Encounter Group!
We have many people offering our lamad books and courses in small group settings in their communities. We want to invite you to draw your friends and neighbors into an encounter with the Holy Spirit by initiating a Lamad Encounter Group. You can change people's lives and heal your nation by restoring the Church to a walk of intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Be a blessing to others. Share the gift of Spirit-anointed living with those around you. Their lives will never be the same.


Testimonies
Another Canadian L.E.G Jason Major
My friends and I have a heart to see revival in our own neighborhood. By coming together, we are forming a team that will walk in the power of the Holy Spirit to minister to those around us. The unique opportunity of a Lamad Encounter Group allows us to grow as friends together and receive college credit while ministering to our own community. By taking courses together, we can learn from each other and deepen our own learning experience. Our group of seven has been able to take the 'Communion With God' course at a reduced price, which has made it affordable for us to begin our college education right at home.


Lamad Course Testimony - Leslie Bresee
These courses are great and just the kind of thing I want to spend my time and money on! A big difference is the surprising amount of time that I need to get the work done. The work is of such a different nature than the typical college course. Those assignments largely consist of reading, highlighting, and memorizing for tests. Your courses slow me down, for they require deeper knowing, some repentance, and some time to absorb what I am learning. It is more of a devotional learning.


Begin a Lamad Encounter Group today! The hyperlinks in the section on How to Create a Lamad Encounter Group will help you get started. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Mark Virkler at [email protected] or Cheryl Rinn at [email protected], or call us at 1-800-466-6961.

The form of the Church of the future will resemble the form of the Church of the past.


$1500 Needed for Printing in India Please Help!
Israel Krupanandam and his team have just completed translation of Through the Bible by Mark and Patti Virkler into Telugu a dialect within India. They have a Christian printer who has agreed to run 1000 books for $1500 U.S. We could really use your help with this project! You can donate online, or mail your check with a notation Telugu Printing Project to 1431 Bullis Rd. Elma, NY 14059 (credit card gifts also accepted). All tax-deductible donations so designated will be wired directly to them. Thank you!


E-mail: [email protected]
Website: cluonline.com
Enroll in Christian Leadership University: cluonline.com/apply
Mark's Speaking Itinerary: cwgministries.org/itinerary
Online shopping for books by Mark and Patti Virkler: cwgministries.org/catalog
Ordination opportunity: cluonline.com/network
Establish a church-centered Bible school: cwgministries.org/college