Jane's May 2008 Letter

Dear Ones,

We are in an awesome place—as individuals and as the ministry of Aglow!! Let me explain.

Each of us has a story. In the seasons of our lives -- moving through our pain, our insecurity, the joys and trials in our journey -- God has deposited more into us than we know. Together, as we celebrated our 40^th year last year, something shifted that is so prophetic, so profound—we are still growing in our understanding and revelation of it.

In 2007 we determined to push the financial ceiling off the ministry by breaking through the normal $3 to $3.5 million budget we have lived within for more than 10 years. We have grown by over 36 nations in those 10 years. We added 7 nations in 2007 alone.

Finish the Old and Secure the New

There is an overlapping aspect to the former and future seasons. We must finish off the old and secure our place in the new. Chuck Pierce, one of our 2007 conference speakers, prophesied that we are coming out of 7 years of war as we move into our new season and we must not let the enemy silence our voice. Six months after conference, the warring to finish off the old continues as it becomes more and more apparent that we are in a new season. God is revealing Himself to us in many new, thrilling, and mind-boggling ways.

In 2004 at our U.S. National Conference in Phoenix AZ, Graham Cooke prophetically commanded us to stop praying like a widow and start praying like a bride so we can live as present-future people instead of past-present people. That word took shape during our 2007 Worldwide Conference when we experienced the wooing worship of the bride calling out for her bridegroom.

I have a notation in my Bible beside 2 Kings 8:6 on December 19, 2004. The Lord impressed upon me that what was being said to the Shunammite widow by the king was being said to me by The King: “Restore all that was hers and all the proceeds of the field from the day she left the land until now.” The Lord told me it was time to stop eating leftovers and prepare to be a bride entering into her inheritance, as all that the enemy had stolen from me, plus interest, was going to be restored.

Almost 3 years to the day, December 15, 2007, after being a widow for 7 years, I became the bride of Tony Hoyt. I am seeing prophecy fulfilled and restoration taking place in my personal life. I believe I will also see restoration in Aglow as God is moving us toward the fulfillment of everything He has said about this ministry.

Receive God’s “Upgrades” Personally

At the office, many of us have read and been blessed by The Shack, by William P. Young. I have also been blessed by Qualities of a Spiritual Warrior, by Graham Cooke. These books are awakening us anew to the majesty and profoundly liberating quality of God’s love for us. For me, living as a bride and understanding myself as the bride of Christ are melding into a new experience of intimacy and friendship with God and humble trust in Him that is growing daily.

We recently had the honor of having Graham Cooke at the office with us for two days. We explored with him how God reveals Himself to us, what He is saying to us, and how we can experience His “upgrades” (as Graham calls them) of new revelation of who we are in Christ that profoundly change how we live our lives.

Receive God’s “Upgrades” for Aglow

We have committed to allow God to upgrade us individually and also as a ministry. We know there are aspects of Aglow that must be upgraded if we are to successfully handle the growth that our Generations Project (Evangeline Weiner), Transformations ministry (Janet Mangum), Aglow Institute of Ministry-A.I.M. (Diane Fink), Diwaniya and Islamic outreach (Diane Moder), national and international groups and leadership (U.S. with Linda Jones and Kathy Sanders; International with Jervae Brooks), Watchmen on the Wall-WOW (Sandy Wezowicz) are all capable of achieving. I am also being urged by many in the body of Christ to expand Aglow’s involvement with Israel, to move forward in allowing Aglow to become an international voice advocating equal and humane treatment for women, and to strengthen our teaching and facilitation of male/female reconciliation in the body of Christ.

At the present time, our biggest hindrance to advancing in many of these areas is funding. As we have sought to lift the financial ceiling of Aglow, the enemy has fought to ratchet it down even tighter in order to discourage, delay, and even destroy us. Here is where we are today:

• For months, we have been unable to provide the promised amount of working funds to our U.S. and national leaders, a concern we pray about daily. In response, they are asking God to show them new ways to fund the work in their regions and nations.
• We are looking hard at everything we do at headquarters to see if God wants us to cease a particular ministry activity, or if He wants us to upgrade the process if we are to continue doing it successfully.
• We have just been awarded a 2-year grant to fund 4 interns, 2 per year, young women or men aged 18-24, beginning this summer. The foundation that has given the funds wants to expand the pool of young leaders entering full time ministry. However, a study of young people who are considering careers in the nonprofit sector called, Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out ^[1]has found that young people are concerned about long hours, low pay, fund raising pressures, and lack of life-work balance that they see in existing nonprofits, even while they desire to live lives of positive impact on society. We are “upgrading” Aglow’s life-work balance because we desire to set a good example for young leaders.

Beauty for Ashes

In our lives, we are tempted to look at our circumstances and feel stuck. We begin to think nothing will ever change. Changing that conviction in our hearts is what this shift in the new season is all about. God is shaking us out of where we have been into where He wants us to be.

Graham Cooke said it well when he told us,

Most people don’t need to be talked out of something, but talked into something. When God presents something beautiful, we let go of whatever we must in order to grab the beautiful. Your job in Aglow is to give beauty for ashes. People will climb out of the ash pit to acquire beauty in their lives.

Many women are gripped by a poverty spirit, which means they live with meager possibilities. That is so NOT who you are! You must learn to think as God thinks and live a resurrected, ascended life style. The measure of God is about abundance and fullness. What do we have to un-learn in order to live brilliantly and with passion?

Receive God’s “Upgrades” for You

I urge you to join with us at headquarters as we give God permission to upgrade our understanding of who He is and who we are in Him. Read The Shack and Qualities of a Spiritual Warrior. Tell God you’re ready for an upgrade. Together we can finish the old season and completely enter into the new. We have fields to reclaim, an inheritance to receive, and a bridegroom eagerly awaiting the completion of our preparation. Together we can un-learn what has been standing in the way of living brilliant, passionate lives.

Graham caused us to think when he defined a step of faith with this sentence:

If you do before you get it, what you would do if you had it, you’ll be sure to get it!

Give generously to Aglow. Our step of faith is a part of our upgrade. We are women eager to trade our ashes for beauty. We are moving toward the fulfillment of everything God has said about us. Click here to give your gift on-line. The new season is now!   

Love and blessings,

Jane