20 years ago the first Thrive Training ran as an experiment to see if relational skills could be passed on from one adult to another. The dream was to see greater transformation in lives and communities, and the results were better than we could have imagined! God has brought us from humble beginnings to seeing the fruit of people changed by the skills AND exponential impact as these individuals have spread the skills in their spheres of influence.
Stories from our community
As we come to this milestone in our Premier Training ministry, we have experienced thousands of lives changed first hand to become more relational. We gathered testimonies from past participants to share with you. We love to see the ripple effects in their lives and the lives of those around them.
Hover to pause and read testimonies and watch videos below from past participants:
Part 1 - Skills for me
15 short stories from around the world.
Length: 28 mins
Featuring: John & Sungshim Loppnow, Gina, Claudia Hendricks, Amy Brown, Dan & Betty Lacine, Marion Entz-Harris, Pastor Lee, Kurt & Heidi Smith, Linda Seals, Dana & Pam Bryan, Matt & Toni Daniels, Wendy Albrecht Kembel, Barbara Moon, Michel Hendricks, Noel Jacobsen
Part 2 - Skills for others
Relational Skills in action | How our participants have used the skills in real life and passed them on to others.
Length: 25 mins
Featuring: Cynthia Jacobsen, Wendy Albrecht Kembel, Michel Hendricks, Dan & Betty Lacine, Matt & Toni Daniels, Dr. Karl Lehman, Noel Jacobsen, Marion Entz-Harris, Dana & Pam Bryan, Kurt & Heidi Smith, Barbara Moon, Linda Seals, Amy Brown, Sandy Coursey
Part 3 - History stories
Stories that shape our history | Past participants share an impactful moment from their involvement in our training.
Length: 16 mins
Featuring: Noel Jacobsen, Linda Seals, Wendy Albrecht Kembel, Matt & Toni Daniels, Marion Entz-Harris, Michel Hendricks, Barbara Moon, Sandy Coursey
Thrive training history
In 2001 Dr. Jim Wilder and Chris Coursey began thinking about the research that confirmed that relational skills could be learned and passed on between a mother to her child. Up to this point, no one knew if an adult could pass on brain skills to another adult, but using the exhaustive research of Dr. Allan Schore of UCLA (whose work has been cited over 14,000 times in scientific literature), Dr. Daniel Siegel from UCLA and more, Wilder and Coursey went to work.
The THRIVEtoday team designed practical exercises to equip people with relational brain skills and started putting this brain theory into practice. Wilder understood the complex brain theory about joy while Coursey lived in a redemptive community as a pastor, so he could test the exercises with people from the fellowship. Together they put the framework for an event like no other and called it THRIVE Training, the word they felt was the closest to Jesus’ description of the life God offers, mentioned in John 10:10 as, “abundant life.”
In October 2002, in a church in Baldwin, Michigan, we reached our minimum goal of 25 people registered and never looked back!
The first THRIVE Training was an unprecedented success. Trainees reported deep transformations and profound healing from the exercises. Many said, “If I knew THRIVE was going to be like this, I would have brought 5 friends with me!” We ran another event the following year and the momentum increased as did the training tracks, from 1 to 4.
With each training the team learned something new so they improved the exercises, sharpened the focus and increased the potency. At the time of this writing there have been over 30 THRIVE Training events with people from all over the United States including Mexico, Canada, Africa, Australia, Brazil, Uraguay, Sweden, Germany, South Korea, New Zealand, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland and more.
Thrive training today
We currently run 2 Thrive Training events in the USA per year.
If you wonder how you can have greater health in your emotions and relationships and desire transformation in these areas, we encourage you to attend a THRIVE Premier Training event.
Being together, in person, makes it much easier to be relational and build skills together! It is always a time full of fun and brain-changing practice that truly impacts how we show up in the world.
Join our next training!
Starting july 16, 2023 in Holland, michigan