Hosting A Seminar

Posted Monday, March 28, 2005

What is the Abiding Life Seminar?
The Abiding Life Seminar is an introduction to the principles of Abiding in Christ. Topics covered include a theology of suffering; understanding your self-life and unique self; relationships with God, yourself, and others; unbelief; and the practical outworking of the abiding life in Christ. This is accomplished in either three 2-hour evening sessions or two 2-hour evening sessions. For a complete review of the ALMI seminar, please request "Living the Abiding Life" tape or CD series.

How Do I Host an ALMI Seminar?
Hosting an ALMI seminar is simple. Contact our office at 303-972-0859 for possible dates. The basic requirements include picking a facility, providing an overhead projector or LCD projector and screen (Michael stands by the projector to write while speaking), the distribution of fliers (downloadable from this Abiding Life website), and the designation of a person to oversee the selling and accounting of materials at a book table.

What is the Cost of Hosting a Seminar?
The fixed cost for the host/hosting organization is airfare, hotel lodging, and transportation for Michael Wells. Because of the heavy travel schedule, time needed with the Lord to prepare for the sessions, and a strict diet, Michael has been forced to shift from sleeping in private dwellings to hotels. Separate from the fixed cost is the freewill offering taken each evening by the host. These funds go directly to the Abiding Life Ministries worldwide mission efforts.

Downloading the Fliers
Please follow the instructions below to download the ALMI promotional fliers to announce your upcoming seminar. Fill in your time, place, and date and print.

Downloading Michael Wells' Bio Sketch and Statement of Faith
Please click here for Michael's Bio and Statement of Faith.

Under whose authority does ALMI operate?
Abiding Life Ministries International is an incorporated 501C3 that as such operates under the bylaws, constitution, and board of directors that fulfill all federal and state requirements. However, it is the board of directors' decision that when Michael Wells is speaking, he comes under the authority of the host organization and will operate to the best of his ability within the guidelines the host has set. Controversy is minimized by a commitment to stay with one topic: there is nothing Jesus cannot fix in a person's life.

Book Table Requirements
The following notes are for those who have volunteered to help with the book table at the Abiding Life Ministries seminar. Please accept our heartfelt thanks.

Please do not make it harder than it is; it is actually pretty straightforward. Mike goes out with $100 book table change; as he goes from church to church it sometimes gets folded in with the rest of the cash and disbursed, so it is possible you won’t have change at your table (unless you provide some). Ask him, though; maybe he has it and forgot to give it to you. People are generally fine with having no change and will donate their change due or pay by check or credit card (we can only accept MasterCard or Visa). You do not have to charge sales tax unless your seminar is in the state of Colorado; you will not be charging the shipping charges listed on the order sheet.

You do not need to write down everything that was sold, since the ALMI office keeps a record of what was sent to you, and anything that does not come back is marked “Sold.”

Order forms are only enclosed so that:
1) you know how much each item costs.
2) in case you run out of an item and people are disappointed, they can order the item by mail, or you can take prepaid orders and I will
send the whole lot to the church. NOTE: be sure to mark on any order form whether the person received the item or it needs to be shipped.
3) if someone wants to pay by Visa or MasterCard, it is easiest for you to have him step aside and fill out the credit card info on the
order sheet; again, please mark on the order form whether the person already received the material or it needs to be shipped.
4) the back of the order form has a bit of a description about the content of each item in case people have questions about anything
on the table; you can just hand them the descriptions.

The items that will not be sold include sample newsletters, if available (no charge for anyone interested in taking one of those); sign-up cards, specifically for people who want to receive the ALMI newsletter (these can also be used for registration if you choose and/or for drawing names for door prizes); and return envelopes for people wanting to take an order form to order later by mail.

Mike will give the person in charge money to ship unsold items back to the ALMI office in Colorado. Please contact the office for any questions you have that were not addressed. Thank you again for your help.

Speaker Requirements
We are often asked if Mike has any special requirements when traveling, and we really appreciate that concern. One friend in Tennessee, describing Mike to the Africans, said, "He is as flexible as a garden hose on a hot day." That pretty much describes his needs for a conference. But over the years, in a variety of situations, he has discovered that the time alone with the Lord before and after a conference is as important as the actual conference. Therefore, the only absolute necessity is a nonsmoking room without roommates in a moderately priced hotel/motel. Mike shrinks from the thought of appearing to be exclusive and has so enjoyed the personal time in homes; however, he is finally admitting his shortcoming of so enjoying being with people that he stays up until all hours of the night talking, counseling, and sharing, even when he has promised that he will not. The result is a reduction of the time that he knows needs to be spent in preparation before the Lord. He says, "Doing an Abiding Life conference is different from just speaking. I must be able to witness to what Jesus is speaking into the hearts of the people. The external witness must agree with the inward witness of the Spirit. This takes time listening to the Lord." And with an ever-increasing travel load, not having time alone makes him enter the next portion of his schedule exhausted.

Also, Mike is down to one meal a day, and that is lunch. He doesn't like to speak on a full stomach and doesn't sleep well after evening meals, so he doesn't eat supper when he's doing the seminars. He wants to be in his hotel room quietly spending time with the Lord by 4:30 p.m. on the days he is doing his evening speaking for the seminar.

 

Mike likes to be available for two counseling sessions each day (usually one hour each). Please do not schedule counseling for him ahead of his arrival, because plenty of those requests will arise once he's there. Also, do not schedule 6 a.m. meetings or breakfasts for him.

What About Taping or Videotaping the Sessions?
The ALMI seminars are not to be taped by the host. It is an unnecessary distraction. Other tape/CD sets will be available for sale at the book table; those, too, can be freely copied by the purchaser.

Hosting an International Conference:
We at ALMI recognize the financial impossibilities of hosting an Abiding Life conference in a developing country and to that end our local ALMI support team wants to help.

We want to make the process as simple as possible. Therefore we suggest the following.

1. A site for the conference must be chosen. ALMI will not incur any cost for the facility.
2. Contact ALMI at conference@abidinglife.com to set a date.
3. The conference will run for three full days. The first two days are an introduction to the ALMI material and the third day is devoted to practicing personal discipleship. Bringing your spouse is strongly suggested.
4. The conference will be limited to thirty participants. We suggest that you invite those that are interested in discipleship and the emphasis of ALMI, "Christ in the you the hope of glory."
5. Invitations will be sent out. ALMI will be responsible to provide lunch and supper, all materials, travel expenses, and accommodation (if it cannot be secured locally by the conference attendee) for each participant.
6. Cost of promotion will be covered by ALMI.

Please download seminar resources here. Available resources include posters in several formats and radio ads.