40 Eventful Years

By Jervae Brooks (former International Field Director)

Since its small beginnings at a women’s tea in a downtown Seattle hotel in 1967, the ministry of Aglow International has touched literally millions of women and men around the globe. I am one of those women.

I first attended an Aglow meeting in the early 1970’s while living in my home state of Minnesota. We lived too far away for me to be really involved, but I loved attending the meetings. The worship, the prayer, and encouraging speakers – I loved it all. At the time, I was not aware of the headquarters offices near Seattle, nor the international scope of the ministry. And I certainly had no idea of the important part Aglow would become in my life.

After we moved to Washington, where my husband’s family lived, a friend at church mentioned “the Aglow office” that was in nearby Edmonds. What!? My heart leapt with eager anticipation. I was searching for a job… and knew in my heart that God was leading me to pursue a place in Aglow. It was 1981.

That very week I visited the Aglow headquarters office, applied for whatever position might be open to me, and soon began as a temporary employee hired to help complete a large job of filing IBM address cards to prepare for the next mailing of the famed Aglow Magazine. (This is a story too long to tell here but, in a shameless plug, I invite you to read my book “Sustained for the Journey” for the full tale. Available on Amazon.)

That temporary job led eventually to my becoming part of the staff in the International Fellowships Department at Aglow headquarters. In 1982, I became assistant to the next two directors of the department, first Gloria Bistline and then Elaine Keith. I served in this position for nearly 17 years. Then in 1998, after Elaine retired, I became the director of the International Fellowships Department, where I served Aglow until my retirement in December 2021 after 40 eventful years.

It was an amazing experience during those next 23 years to work closely with Aglow leaders around the world. I am forever grateful to God for allowing me the privilege. In that work, I traveled to 61 nations, several of them many times, and had the joy of forming close friendships with women around the world as we worked together to expand the ministry in their nation or region of the world. Every other year at the Aglow global conferences we met and together celebrated what God was doing in the nations. I had the task of organizing the flag parade at those global conferences where the nations were recognized with flags and full national costumes. What a glorious spectacle of worship!

It was a time of tremendous growth in Aglow. When I first became part of the International Fellowships department, Aglow fellowships were established in 26 nations. When I retired, we had an affiliated Aglow presence in 170 nations of the world. Growth in the number of nations had slowed in the later years because the unreached nations were those where it was difficult or even against the law to be a Christian. We often say we believe the Aglow ministry is actually reaching people in every nation of the world and is “underground” where necessary. The same evangelical spirit God placed in those four women who held the first meeting of (what was to become) Aglow International, lives on in the hearts of women – and now also men in Aglow’s Men of Issachar – with great fervor.

The current Director of International Fellowships, Janae Lovern, is carrying on in this position with wisdom, anointing, and joy! It was a blessing in my heart to work closely with Janae as she began in this position, and to now witness how she is taking the vision further, higher, and reaching all the generations for Jesus through the Aglow ministry.

Be blessed and encouraged as you read this series of articles on the histories of Aglow in the nations. Stories of courageous pioneers in the Holy Spirit, using the platform of Aglow to reach their nation for Christ.