A complete honor is the only way to describe the time I had to sit under Gerrit Gustafson. As a young person, 16 years in age, I long for the real and the authentic. Gerrit preached both. With meekness, humility and a soft spoken voice he showed me the way to come before the Lord in Spirit and in Truth.

To see the Lord using someone from the generation that is going before me gives me hope. Thank you Jesus and thank you Gerrit.


I'm 22 years old and I grew up in a church environment. I started singing in the worship team when I was 16 and began leading worship shortly after. I was sure since then that my calling is to see the fresh and transforming presence of God revealed to people.
I'm the 'second generation fruit' of Chris Bowater's great influence in Portugal and I had heard several times about Worship Academy, but being from Portugal I never thought I'd have access to the course.

The dream became a reality as I believe God will make other dreams become reality. My generation is called to break down some cultural and religious barriers and I believe that worship can play a key part in this process.

Worship Academy has opened my eyes and my spirit and I challenge everyone with the same heart to take part in this great resource.

Session 3 of Academy was once again spectacular. Special kudos to Lauren Wood who blessed us with a chocolate pie desert that was irresistible!

Stuart Burns is an excellent teacher and communicator - he stimulated our interest and broadened our understanding of the early church. His extensive understanding of the times and culture allowed him to bring out interesting facts that would not come up in a typical study - we could have spent days in his teachings.

Also, the thought of sacred space and that when we take communion we are not only taking it horizontally with those in the natural but also celebrating it vertically with those who have gone before us was a new perspective to me.

Ian, our visitor from Canada was likewise a true blessing. He mixed with us all and did not know a stranger in his presence. During his time of sharing he spoke that God loves being our Dad. We cannot hear enough of the loving ways of our Father.

Wow! God loves to seal our time given to Him with His love as only He can. Our worship is growing more in Him and in everything we do to glorify Him. We worship Him when we spend time with Him.

Worship Academy is a blessing to my life and I'm forever grateful for how it is enriching my life every time I attend. Some days I say, God I have so much to do today! But if I worship Him first, at the end of the day I say, God only you could have helped me accomplish what I had to get done today.

I am His child and I want to make Him a proud Dad and worship Him in every thing I do. He loves us with a love we could never earn and it's a love we can't lose. God has great things in store as we worship Him more.


We just finished North American Worship Academy block 3 with Dr. Stuart Burns - wow! I have never enjoyed learning about history so much. He is so dynamic, and funny. What a master teacher! I feel so blessed to be receiving so much through NAWA.

A few of things that stood out to me are:

1 An awareness of how our context influences our worship, and yet, all of us, even from different cultures and contexts, are united by Worshipping Jesus;

2 The realization that we are all part of a VERY LARGE family and that when we worship, we are all joined together, across the world, and with Heaven. The scripture "being surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses" has taken on a new meaning;

3 The awareness of how many of our brothers and sisters that are literally laying their life down for the Gospel.


The Worship Academy was a bit of a mystery to me intially! Not knowing what to expect from the weekend made me a little nervous...

Arriving at the venue for the weekend I saw that the environment was friendly and energetic. Throughout my time everyone made a real effort with people so that we all felt welcome and comfortable. I left feeling that this was going to be a great environment for me to go further in understanding worship and deepening my relationship with God.

For me personally, Worship Academy has started the ball rolling in helping me to realize what true worship is - and it starts with lifestyle! The teaching on Academy is practical and a real help not just for me but for my worship team back at home.

If your a Christian looking to find out more about Gods heart and your love for worship the Worship Academy is for you!

For me Academy has been really challenging. The worship is uplifting, the fellowship supportive and the word challenging. When you listen to the CD's for the second time you think 'yeah, I remember that' and the point gets further reinforced - the whole experience is so helpful!

Worship Academy has not only equipped me to feel affirmed in my gifting musically, spiritually and in leadership but being with the ‘family’ has bought a lot of real issues that I battle with, such as an anxiety disorder I’ve had for a number of years, to the foreground for genuine healing in a very safe environment.

Through God’s grace, Chris, Andy and all the other guest visitor’s wonderful input, along with the support of my new life long friends - this is more than just a retreat now and then – this is real Christian growth in His Glory.

I don’t just recommend worship academy, I suggest it essential you join the vision as soon as you are able.