from Columbia ...
from Jakarta, Indonesia ...
from Dr. Warren Reeve, leader of the Bandung International Church ...
from Dr. Roy Matheson, Professor Emeritus, Tyndale ...
from Sarah Combes, Agape Counselling Center in Beijing, China ...

Comments from Columbia

April 30,2002.

Dear Agape International,We want to express our gratitude for the life and ministry of Alfred Davis and his wife Martha during their recent visit to our country. We appreciate your support which made this visit possible.

The event in which our brother Alfred participated as speaker was for Pastors, lay counsellors, and Christian Psychologists. This seminar was part of a ministry called, "Free Servants" that our church is initiating. The objective of this ministry is to train and minister healing to leaders.

We had participants from several Colombian cities, and representation of different evangelical denominations. Although, it was the first time for an event of this kind in our country, it touched a key and needy issue for Colombians. The psychologists and Christian professionals of the human sciences especially were encouraged to practice what they learned as they see the relationship it has with their faith. All the participants were motivated, and encouraged us to continue with this type of event, recognising the immense need that exists in the national leadership.

We would like to point out some of the comments from the written evaluation.

Regarding the most important things they learned:

God, the Holy Spirit, can be the main agent in counselling and direct the process.
The best way of working, in counselling, is not the one that I do and know.
To know the areas of my life in which it is necessary to invite Jesus to enter, so that
He brings complete healing.
Not to believe the lies of Satan.
My freedom will help others.
The love and grace of God.
In all processes of healing or counselling it is very important that the client appropriates the truth.

Regarding the positive aspects of the event:

Excellent speakers of quality and experience.
They taught with truth, grace, and humility, and showed an open way to confront the church.
They were spiritual and sensitive.
They spoke with clarity and spiritual authority.
Humility and commitment.
The topics were appropriate for leaders and pastors.
The unity of the different denominations, through the Holy Spirit.
The transcendence of this ministry.
It opened the road for God to work in Colombia in this aspect.
God's people are getting ready to face the devil's warfare.
A new method to help others to be free.

Other valuable comments we received were:

Congratulations on motivating the training of leaders and Christian professionals.
May God keep using you to train and form leaders.
God is using you greatly to bless the leadership, the church, and Colombia in general. 1 Cor. 15:58. Thank you for this sowing in Colombia and for this great opportunity (for the church of Colombia and for many who are beginning their ministry) to help more people.
I returned with a broader vision and with a new touch from the Lord on my heart.
Thank you for expanding the Kingdom of God without discrimination between churches or denominations.
It was spiritual refreshment for our ministry. It has been the best conference I have ever attended. You are showing with this event an example of unity, which is part of what the church needs; a wonderful topic that has to do with the call that Christ makes in our hearts. He is leading us to a deeper commitment in what we do.
It was confirmation for many of us and really helped out with many doubts I had. I better understand the power of God's Word.

We would be very happy to have them back in the near future for another week of training. Thank you again for your participation in the ministry.

May God bless you,

Felipe Webb
Co-ordinating Pastor
Comunidad Cristiana El Redil de El Poblado

Comments from the Jakarta International Fellowship Church,
Indonesia regarding the November 2002 Training Session:

April 30,2002.

Dear Alf,

Again, thank you so much for coming to us. Notes keep coming to me on how wonderful this past weekend was. It really had significant impact!!! Here are some excerpts from participants ...

"Dear Alf and Martha,

Thank you for coming to Jakarta to minister in Jesus' name. Your mission to allow Jesus to be the Counsellor and Healer was clear to, and greatly appreciated by those who attended our three day conference. We greatly appreciated your teaching on Christ-Centered Inner Healing and Spiritual Warfare. The Lord moved in very powerful ways through both your teaching and your prayer ministry. Our church will be forever changed.

"I have been going through my notes again and thinking of how much I have been blessed by attending this workshop. I just want to thank you for all that you have done for organizing it. It was appreciated more than words can say."

"Just wanted to let you know that I learned much from the workshop. It was an eye-opener and I am still stunned and amazed by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Comments from Bandung, Indonesia

Dear Sir,

Recently, we attended the Christian Counselling and Inner Healing conference by Alf Davis.

We were encouraged in several different ways and recommend the same.

First, from a pastoral perspective... my wife and I have served in four churches ranging from 60 to 1200 in membership, in three different countries, as solo, associate and senior pastor. Presently, we are serving an international community in Bandung, Indonesia. In whatever context we find ourselves, the need for inner healing and deliverance is escalating. Perhaps we are catching up to God's agenda and are only now becoming more aware of how to minister to deep needs as opposed to surface feelings. The material Alf delivers is credible and long-term "soul medicine" for individuals, married couples and ministry situations that we have encountered over nearly twenty years of ministry. People ready for real change gently encounter Jesus the healer which is very different than hearing advice from an experienced counselor. Our resources are limited but Jesus' healing power is divine and applies to every specific person and situation.

Second, from a cross-cultural perspective... we serve God in the largest Muslim population in the world. I believe the significance of how Jesus heals and delivers people outside the Western World is paramount to the extension of the gospel around the globe. Recently I heard a veteran missionary say, "Inner Healing is the key to the Muslim world meeting the prophet Isa Almasih (Jesus)." Muslims, unlike historic Western thinkers, are very open to the Spirit of God touching the wounded parts of their souls. When Jesus meets their heart pain, Muslims are known to repent immediately and pledge allegiance to Christ. Alf persuasively convinces people, including those working with Muslims, that inner healing is a disarming way of sharing Christ with what otherwise could be fanatical Muslims. It is broadly accepted among the missiological community that God is revealing Christ to Muslims through dreams, visions and healing. Why make Muslims come to Christ through more conventional Western ways when God is clearly providing other means for Muslims to encounter Christ and repent of sin?

Third, from a personal perspective... the more I grow in Christ the more I realize the depths from which I have come. As I sat listening to Alf at the conference, my conscience was stricken and my wounds opened up. The Spirit of God was affording me the privilege to move several steps closer to the heart of God. Feeling safe and away from my parishioners, I met Alf for a private time of healing prayer. His role was that of a facilitator not counselor. Jesus met me in two painful memories. I left realizing that Jesus had replaced my pain with his presence. Two memories that once caused me to wince with self-inflicted embarrassment were now pictures of intimacy with Christ. As Alf led me through the series of prayers my wife who was observing later commented that his read on my responses, my physical gestures, and over all demeanor indicated his experience was assisting the process. He was in fact the host inviting Christ to visit places of my soul I did not know needed visiting. The experience was beautiful, peaceful, engaging and healing. I went away experiencing Jesus filling my spirit with the power of His transformation.

Alf is well read. He is a gentleman. He loves the Lord. He desires to help people. His low-key conservative Canadian demeanor serves as a warm invitation to learn all that one can absorb at the Christian Counselling and Inner Healing conference. If you are looking for long-term solutions to repeated challenges of fighting besetting sins, Alf Davis' conference is a practical pathway to tackle such a challenge. If you are looking for answers beyond textbook scenarios for ministry challenges that require the divine intervention of God, Alf can help you get there. If you are looking for cross-cultural insights to catapult your ministry into a spiritual paradigm that would motivate non-western minds and hearts, Alf will deliver the goods.

We recommend Alf Davis to you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Warren Reeve

Dr. Warren Reeve Leader of the Bandung International Church

Comments from Dr. Roy Matheson, Tyndale Seminary, Toronto CANADA

"I am happy to endorse the ministry of Alf Davis in his work of counseling and inner healing. I have known Alf for over 20 years and can attest that he is one who has a growing personal relationship with Jesus Christ and who exhibits mature Christian character. During this time he and his wife, Martha, have attended and have been members of Chartwell Baptist Church where I have been the Senior Teaching Pastor.

I have read his manual on Christian Counselling and Inner Healing and feel that the material is based on biblical principles coupled with therapeutic insights and practical experience. I have taught with him in conferences here in Canada and in the Third World where he has taught and utilized these principles to the benefit of those who attended.

I can recommend his material and his ministry to all concerned."

Roy R. Matheson, ThD., Teaching Pastor, Chartwell Baptist Church
Professor Emeritus, Tyndale Seminary

Testimony from Sarah Combes, the Manager of the Agape Counselling Center in Beijing, China:

Recently, we had a visiting speaker from Canada. His name is Alf Davis and he has an amazing ministry. He teaches and practices a type of couselling called: Christ-Centered Inner Healing. This approach invites Jesus into the pain/hurt of a person and into the memory holding that pain. When Jesus, the healer, is asked to come, He penetrates the person's heart with His truth, breaks through the lies that have been buried by layers of pain and frees the person to walk in the truth and to live an abundant life. When this healing happens in a person's life, he/she is freed to love God more and love others more because they are no longer held back by their past.

This process is an illustration of my story. I had a few sessions with Alf in Beijing, and Christ took me to several areas of my life. I found out that I had lived with a persistent fear that "I will never be ready". Everything I have tried to do, I have done it, but it has caused me so much fear and apprehension. I have had to work so hard to prove myself that I can be all that I desire to be. I have run, fought, pressed to break through that which has been pushing on my mind, that which has been like a weight dragging along the ground, robbing me of strength, robbing me of a zest and love of life, robbing me of so much joy and so much peace. I am now able to say that Christ has set me free. Instead of being held back, I am now able to step out with so much confidence. I know that deep in my heart and mind that Jesus' power will work through me to bring healing, to bring joy and to bring words of life to hurting people. I can finally rest. I am able to fall back into His arms of Grace and come into His presence with thanksgiving for the mighty truth He has brought to my life. I sing a new song today. A song full of so much love, so much adoration, so much gratitude for His commitment to fulfilling His purposes in Me. My new story is "I am prepared, ready and equipped to step out."

This new found understanding and revelation has brought me so much love and peace. I just want to shout to the world that Jesus is amazing.

The New Sarah!!!!