2013 - The Story Keeps Unfolding

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Created on May 15, 2013

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Dear Ones:

How well I remember a statement made to me several years ago, “You are the steward of a great story!”  What a story that has unfolded, and continues to unfold, in Aglow International….46 years and counting.

Just this past month, in a brief conversation with Loren Cunningham, Founder of Youth with a Mission, and University of the Nations, he asked how many nations Aglow is currently in.  My response of, “nearly 170,” brought a delighted grin to his face and he quickly added, “Don’t forget the rest!”  Both Aglow and YWAM were founded in the 1960’s with an apostolic, global calling to make God known in the nations of the world.  I honor Loren and YWAM for the impact they have had in the world…even as he honors Aglow and the impact we have had around the globe.

I also honor you, the reader of this letter and a participant in Aglow’s story.   We are all privileged to be a part of this incredible story of God’s intentionality in calling Aglow International forth.  Truly His favor has been upon us.  All glory is His.

The Story Keeps Unfolding

This past year, Aglow has welcomed 3 nations into the Aglow family; The Republic of Georgia, The Isle of Man, and Cyprus.  We recently received a request from Swaziland “calling for Aglow,” as well as Qatar and Taiwan.  God continues to open up territory for us to take!

Daily, we receive reports from nations around the world…of their conferences, their outreaches and the impact they are making in their communities and cities.  It is amazing to hear of Aglow women and men establishing orphanages, Bible schools, holding conferences with hundreds attending, sometimes traveling hours and hours to start a new fellowship or to conduct Leader Development.

In Uganda, Aglow women and men are preaching the gospel in primary and secondary schools.  They have been given permission to talk to all the students and to offer each one a Bible.  They have also been given permission to enter Muslim schools with nearly all of the Muslim students also taking the Bible.  They have discovered that children between 4-14 years all accept the Gospel message very easily.

In Namibia, our leader wrote that “Aglow is burning like fire in Namibia.  Souls have been saved; people are delivered and set free. “In February, they held their first outreach in one of the cities near them.  500 men and women attended with 30 giving their lives to Christ and many were set free.  At that same meeting a prophetic word came forth for Aglow.  “Aglow will be the center of global attention.  Aglow will reach the unreached and revival will breakthrough in Aglow and spread to the entire world.  We must not be limited by the resources that we have, but we must take a step of faith.  We must not fear.  God is on our side!”

That’s God speaking to us from Namibia!!  And our response is…we are arising and we are fearless!  It is a Gospel revolution and a grace awakening! In the U.S. women and men, are beginning to walk in their true identity of how Heaven sees them. They continue to work in prisons, in schools, with the homeless, and are doing incredible things in their communities as well.  Aglow truly is rising to that place of showing the world Who God is and Who He is in us.

Ireland

In January, Tony and I traveled to Ireland for the European Leader’s Summit.  Jervae Brooks, Executive Director International Field, and Joan Bennett, Assistant Director International Field, accompanied us.

One of the statements that came forth in the 2008 Word to Aglow, was that God was going to upgrade our thinking in ways that would astound us.   We had little idea what that meant.  We have come to see that it is allowing the depths of Heaven to so invade us that we are no longer the same people we once were.  I was greatly encouraged to find that the men and women at the European Leader’s Summit are marinating in the truths we have encountered as a ministry.  The National Leaders have picked up the sound coming forth today and are speaking it time and time again into their nations.  There is a profound grace awakening!

Profound Change

Not only is the corporate Church in a time of profound change, Aglow is in the process of major upgrades.  We have become a transformational Kingdom culture with mindsets not of this world. A process of renewal is taking place.

Process, itself, speaks of transformation. That transformation comes to us through one of two ways.  We encounter God’s truth in a way that wrecks our world, removing old mindsets, leading us on a journey of processing that truth. Or, we walk through times of processing the truth that we have heard, but not yet fully grasped, which brings us into an encounter.  Either way, our old, limited mindsets are replaced by Heaven’s unlimited way of thinking and our world, as we knew it, has changed forever.

I want it to be known of Aglow men and women, that we are a people of a different spirit.  It is time for us to stand in the presence of God so the nations of the world can possess all God has given to His people.  As we continue to release the message of the ascended side of the Cross, nations will be transformed.  It is time.

From Upgrade to Updraft

During the International Board of Directors meeting in March, a word came that we were moving into an “updraft” time, when that upward movement of His Spirit will carry us further and faster than we have moved up to this time.  We spent considerable time in worship and prayer, speaking into the nations.  There is such a sense of life in this ministry as we continue to move into the future God has prepared and prophesied for us.

One of the things spoken over Aglow is that we would be a prototype ministry that God would reveal in the earth.  Part of that reality includes the decision, in recent years, to include men in Aglow.  Men’s groups have started coming forth in various parts of the world.  That, too, is part of our unfolding story.  It is a piece of God’s original intention as spoken in Geneses 1:26-28, which was for men and women to take dominion in the earth, together.

Early in the year, I felt God saying it was time for Aglow to go to the next level where men are concerned.  Since 1981, our mandate has been Male – Female Reconciliation.  A few years ago we officially welcomed men into the ministry with a change of our constitution. I felt God was saying it was time to bring a man or men onto our International Board of Directors and the U.S. National Leadership Team, as well.  It is time that we begin to walk more fully in this mandate.

On one of our monthly conference calls, the International Board of Directors made the decision to extend an invitation to two powerful men to join the IBOD.  Rick Allen and Graham Cooke have been invited to be a part of the Board.   Rick, Creative Services Director at the Global Headquarters, is a well-respected, much loved part of our Leadership Team at the office and has helped to create our new website, our on line E-store, the new look in our brochures, and gives creative input in discussion points needed as we move into the future.

Graham Cooke, speaker, author, and consultant has walked with Aglow since 2004 as a friend, consultant, advisor, Covenant Partner and a major donor.   Both men have a keen love for what God is doing in this ministry and with the genders in a way that brings much joy in walking together into our future.  They are both a delightful addition to this level of leadership.

During the U.S. National Leadership Team meeting in February it was decided that Rick and Graham would also join that team.

Both Graham and Rick joined us for our 2013 IBOD meeting and it was an easy and wonderful transition.  Out of this “new thing” it was decided that men would be allowed to serve on National Boards and Area Teams and you will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.   As we walk out our Male-Female Reconciliation mandate, we know that God will cause us to be a picture of what this should look like in the earth.

New Language Describing the Aglow Ministry

Another area of change in the ministry is in how we use the word “international.”  Recognizing that Aglow is truly international in scope, we realized that we often talked about international but meant only the nations outside of the U.S.  For instance, our Worldwide Field Office is broken into two departments – U.S. and International.  It was confusing in some ways.  Therefore, you will begin to see the word GLOBAL when we are referring to the whole world and in most instances the term international will mean outside the U.S.  Our Field Offices will now be referred to as the Global Field Office – International, and Global Field Office – U.S.  We will still remain Aglow International; watch for the change as we make the shift.

In closing, let me share with you something that was spoken at the IBOD meetings from Joshua 3.   “When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God and the priests bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it….you have not passed this way before. “  Truly, the dawning of a new day was upon the Israelites, even as it is upon Aglow.  The leaders took the Ark and went before the people.  The priests were commanded to stand in the Jordan until all the people had completely crossed over from the old place of manna to the new place, the land of promise. 

The “land of promise” spoke of the fulfillment of God’s intention for His people then, even as it does today.  We are His “today people!”  The words spoken over Aglow tell us how Heaven sees us and we are moving into the fullness of those words.  We have completed our apprenticeship.  We have moved beyond our beginnings.  We are arising globally with a fresh anointing… together as one. 

Today is a day when there can no longer be a disparity between what is seen at the corporate level of Aglow and in the field around the world.  To help the ministry come into unity of sound and vision, I urge everyone from National Boards to Lighthouse and Fellowship Teams to focus on the Leader Development materials in MyAglow.org.  Use them in your meetings rather than having a speaker.  Contact the Global Headquarters to ask for those who can speak in your nation with the sound that is going forth in Aglow today.  We have been unhooked from our past and rewired for the future and, with the ending of one legacy, we are in the process of living out an end-time legacy.   We were born for

We were born for this day! I look forward to seeing you in Orlando, Florida, September 26-29 at our Global Conference, where we will take another significant step forward into our identity and our future.

Love to all,

Jane Hansen Hoyt President/CEO Aglow International facebook.com/jane.hansen.hoyt