It was 1997, I was 18 years old and in a local Ministry Training School in Hong Kong. My life was at a hectic pace with a 365 day program expecting 4 hours a day for each of the following: Class, homework and practicum. We were cramming 4 years of Bible School into one and adding an internship. This was all in Cantonese. I was the first foreign student having engaged in only 3 years of language study when the average English speaker requires 7 years for fluency.
All my homework seemed to take 4 times as long as everyone else, I was sleeping 6 hours a night, no days off, and falling asleep anywhere and everywhere.
One day, things got interesting. We began a new course with a local Chinese pastor training us. And this guy was no normal pastor, he was an ex corrupt cop and heroin addict who had gotten clean by the power of God and was now ministering in one of the darkest places in Hong Kong – Temple Street. The topic of our class? Deliverance.
He was what I now consider old school, the kind of person that would check to see if you needed freedom by how much you would scream when he would bind a possible spirit oppressing you, based on a combination of hearing God and interviewing you to find out what might be lurking in the dark corners of your soul.
There was a companion class being taught by a well-known Christian psychologist on active listening, identifying triggers, tracing fruit to root and using prayer to find Jesus in processing painful memories. Practice on each other included painful confession, dark secrets, and intense re-visiting of those moments in childhood we prefer not to think about. My personal healing journey started here.
This was the beginning of training and laid the foundation of my next 28 years of ministry – inner healing, deliverance, and pastoral counseling.
Yet what really defined my passion for freedom through God was when people I had been discipling and making little headway with experienced dramatic breakthroughs through this kind of ministry.
Over the years, I devoured books, went to seminars, took classes and learned as much as I could about it. I discovered that many people in my world did not have access to any form of care, spiritual or otherwise. And I could see the pain and dysfunction they lived with as a result.
By the time I was hired at Hub and Spokes International in 2015, nearly 20 years later, I had written the manuscript for 8 books, with plans for up to 40 on information I felt every pastor, leader and lay minister needed to be able to maximize restoration and transformation in their churches.
That was 10 years ago, and in the last 10 years, God has used my collaboration with Christian psychologists, clinicians and a life coach to upgrade my skills, insights and tools in partnership with Holy Spirit. What I do today is still grounded in scripture, rooted in prayer and the Truth that Holy Spirit is the Counselor.
At the same time, it’s taken on a different flavour – one more nuanced, informed by science, faith-based psychology and sensitivity in addressing trauma. I’ve also left behind approaches that depend on my relationship with God – which would limit clients to what they can receive through me. Rather, I prefer to coach clients on how to receive directly from God – allowing them to receive what they need for a lifetime.
This is why I no longer call it inner healing and deliverance, or even prayer ministry. Restorative Care keeps all the old school tools yet bears in mind important aspects.
It includes:
-Tailor-made work because healing is not one size fits all
– Stabilization through God
– Prayer based stress reduction
– An integrated approach that addresses the heart, mind, body and spirit to navigate struggles together with God
– Serenity work that explores what needs to be let go of, what needs change, and how to focus on where God’s power is for you through valued action
– Gentle memory processing (Holy Spirit lead and often carefully tailored to minimize risk of re-traumatization).
– Belief work that takes into account how each individual processes information focusing on getting Truth to the heart not just the head
– Deliverance through the use of your authority as Holy Spirit highlights the need
– Compiling tools for consistent connection with God based on what actually works for you
– Working myself out of a job (because although your healing journey is for life, most people don’t need lifelong care)
– Ongoing availability (because even when a client has graduated sometimes they can use a tune-up)