Association of Independent Ministries P.O. Box 670167 Houston, TX 77267 www.newlight.org Bishop I.V. Hilliard Dear Pastor, I could hardly wait to get this letter penned and into your hands. As you know, I have prayerfully committed to write you each month to share A.I.M. Family updates, spiritual insight, and pastoral wisdom. I trust that you can turn aside from what you are doing and find a quiet place to read this letter and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you. I had to earnestly seek the Lord for an answer to a problem that I kept running into both with members in my church and with pastors around the country. It s a problem you have no doubt encountered too! Both at the leadership level and at the regular membership level, I was constantly getting prayer requests to address their loss of passion for God and for the work of God. As I read through the thousands of prayer requests I get each month from television I saw this same question time and time again. WOW! It was difficult for me to understand this whole idea of loss of passion but after many encounters with this issue I could see that something was drastically wrong, something was infecting my church and the body of Christ. The magnitude of the spiritual drought was made more real to me when Pastors, both in our A.I.M. family and outside of our A.I.M. family, began calling me with the same spiritual apathy complaint. When Pastors begin to lose their passion for the things of God, the Body of Christ is in grave danger! I committed this to prayer knowing that this was a matter that I needed to hear from Heaven on. What God responded to me was a prophetic word that has been life changing as I have ministered it to others! I HEARD A Life Changing WORD FROM THE LORD! God said...tell them that I am sending a Fresh Fire Anointing! What a word from the Lord! One thing I know is how to hear from God! It was a word from the Lord similar to this that gave birth to New Light Church years ago. I began to passionately study the scriptures because I needed to know more about this Fresh Fire Anointing, what the Lord meant by it and its spiritual impact on the saints and the church! 1
The Fresh Fire Anointing is a word from the Lord for the people of God about an impartation of passion and power upon believers because of their return to an intentionally cultivated relationship with the Holy Spirit. This anointing transforms believers, you and I, and gives birth to a passion for the things of God and to witness to others. It is the empowered believer that is critical to explosive church growth and kingdom expansion! I know that this is a word from the Lord that we must deliver to the church world at large. This word is about putting aside the religious distractions of ministry so that the Holy Spirit can have free course in your life and ministry. It s about God s people returning to a focused relationship with the Holy Spirit that will boil over into a relentless passion for the things of God like the New Testament saints in scripture! I have been sharing this message of repentance and return to making our relationship with the Holy Spirit a priority with all I have come in contact with. It has never failed that this revelation bears witness with their spirit and most Pastors think this is the missing ingredient. I have set up a special E-link on the AIM website to give you the opportunity to view the first of four messages in this Fresh Fire Series absolutely free! The series is truly life changing! The October Conference this year will focus on the balance of effective methods, mobilizing ministry teams whose members are anchored in an intensive relationship with the Holy Spirit. When the Lord impressed upon me to open the Strategies Conference this year to both leaders and members, I thought it was about celebrating the milestones of 25 years as a church ministry, 15 years of the conference and 10 years of mentoring pastors. The Holy Spirit witnessed to me that this year s Strategies Conference is about much more than a celebration but it s about a Fresh Fire impartation! The Holy Spirit made it crystal clear that the Strategies Conference would emphasize manifesting and maximizing the ministry of the Holy Spirit as the central focus for explosive church growth! FRESH FIRE CAN TRANSFORM YOUR CHURCH! There were several other Pastors who were at the Fresh Fire Summit who received this revelation and went back to their church on fire with this renewed dependence on the Holy Spirit! The reports I have received from them have been incredible! Church Growth! Financial Increase! Spirit of Agreement! Healing Manifestations! I can hardly wait until the October Strategies Conference to share with you, your leaders and your membership what God has revealed to me about this present day intentional renewed cultivation of a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Yes, that s right! You can bring your members this year to The Church Development Strategies Conference 2009! I know that we are in for an explosive time at the conference as your members come along with your leaders to this massive gathering of believers focused on a renewed dependence on the Holy Spirit! I know the Fresh Fire will fall on all who attend this conference and we will not be the same! Year after year Pastors have asked if they could bring their members who were not a part of their leadership team. Their integrity would not allow them to lie and call their laymen leaders just to expose them to the meeting. Well, this year, everyone can attend this awesome Strategies Conference 2009 in Houston, Texas! We have outgrown the North Campus and this year we are taking the conference to the historic East Campus. The 8,200 seat auditorium and grounds will house this phenomenal meeting this year! The conference theme is Connecting for A Fresh Fire Anointing! In the past, many great Spirit-filled conferences have been held on these grounds, that the late John Osteen hosted, which introduced our city 2
and our nation to mighty moves of the Holy Ghost. I know moving the conference to our East Campus is not coincidental but a providential meeting and I want you to be here. When I thought about what God is going to do at the conference this year, the real value of our relationship in A.I.M. increased manifold. Our relationship is centered on the divine connection that the Holy Spirit has orchestrated between us. A few weeks ago, a Pastor with a small church called to express his concerns about not being able to send much money for the support of the A.I.M. organization. He was concerned that I would expel him from A.I.M. if he would not support it with more money. Of course you know that is far from what I would ever do. I recently heard that it is noised about that if you cannot give $10,000 that joining A.I.M is not possible. It is so funny to hear a lie like that because you know this is so far from the truth of what A.I.M or I am about! To become a member of A.I.M., all that is needed is a desire, completion of the application along with the application fee of $50, compliance with our character standard and payment of the initial membership dues of only $100.00! We have even set up a payment plan for those Pastors who needed it. A.I.M. IS AN ASSIGNMENT FROM THE LORD TO WHICH I AM FAITHFUL! The reality is that I have an assignment from the Lord to share the wisdom He has deposited in my life and to build wholesome relationships with my sons, daughters and protégées in the faith. I would never expel you or any A.I.M. brother or sister because of their inability to send a certain amount of offering or even to pay annual dues. It s like my church, I am a Pastor because of a calling and I do not put people out of my church because they can t give a certain amount. Having available resources is vitally important but levying unbearable assessments is far from what I will ever be about! I respect that you have followed the witness of the Holy Spirit that directed you to connect with me for mentoring. Biblically, this relationship is a mutually beneficial relationship. We clearly see this in all mentoring relationships. Elisha was mentored by Elijah and received a great anointing and training, but he was known as a giver, because scripture notes that he was known as one who poured water on the prophet s hands! I believe that every Pastor in A.I.M. should value the sowing and reaping principles and accept some measure of responsibility for the success of our organization through financially supporting it. After all, this is what we, Pastors, require of all of the members of our church. The principle of giving is clear and it is in the Word of God, we preach it, we teach it, and we must practice it ourselves! Here in lies the key to the manifestation of wisdom and favor for the success of your ministry. I trust that you will pray about sowing each month as many A.I.M. Pastors are doing; so that our organization can have adequate financial resources for our administrative and ministry activities. I have enclosed the monthly envelop for your support at whatever level you choose. By all means do something! I am pleased to say that many of the A.I.M. Pastors are spiritually mature enough to support AIM each month. Please complete the support commitment area on the Pastor s Petition so that we can begin to project and budget accordingly. Lady Bridget and I do agree with you for God s best and a speedy return on your kingdom investments! Recently, I spoke with several A.I.M. Pastors about the upcoming Pastors In Training Church Planters Institute to be held August 10th -14th 2009. This HVBI Ministry Institute was initially designed for non-pastors, laypeople who sensed a call from the Lord to enter the pastoral ministry. The HVBI Pastor s Executive Administrative Skills Institute (PEASI) was designed for Senior Pastors. There are several A.I.M. Pastors who have expressed a desire to attend the PIT/CPI and after considering their request I have decided to open the PIT/CPI in August to Senior Pastors as well as non-pastors. 3
I would advise that you would secure your place as soon as possible for this powerful week in the foundational principles of church planting! This does in no way take the place of the HVBI PEASI Class because there is absolutely nothing that can compare with the over 80 hours of teaching, training and mentoring of it. Go to the HVBI website which you can access through www.newlight.org to register or call (281) 765-1908! Several months ago, Dr. Robert Wilks suggested that I would send monthly letters to our A.I.M. family to strengthen our membership in faith and to provide a reminder of our monthly commitment. I believe that this was the thing to do and it has given me the opportunity to get to know so many of our A.I.M. family and pray specifically for those items on the Pastor s Petitions. The helpful reminder and envelope has assisted Pastors in keeping their commitment. In closing, Lady Bridget and I thank you for all that you do for us personally. I am grateful to all of the A.I.M. Family who sent a Father s Day gift or simply called to express their love. Enclosed is an A.I.M. Pastor s Petition! Please use this when responding with your faithful monthly support! Always Focused On Your Kingdom Success, Bishop I. V. Hilliard P.S. I need your help to make the October Conference the kingdom success that I believe God wants it to be. The Word Network will be promoting the conference during a special live program on Bishop Gregg Davis Friday Night Show on September 18, 2009, at 35000 Adell Drive in Clinton Township, MI. Their plan is to have several days of entertaining Pastors and conclude with me as a special guest on the program that night. If you would like to be a part of the 100 Pastors in the audience, simply call Pastor Kelli Williams at (313) 720-0579 to reserve your place. Taping starts at 8:30 pm so please arrive by 7:30 pm. This is not an A.I.M event but a Word Network event. I am simply a guest on the final night! 4
A.I.M. Pastor s Petition Pastor s Name Church Name Address City State Zip Email Phone Bishop Hilliard please continue to agree with me for God s best in my ministry and most of all for the following requests: Signature A.I.M. MEMBERSHIP CANCELLATION Bishop Hilliard I no longer want to be a member of A.I.M. please remove my name from the A.I.M. membership and cease all membership communications with me! Thank You! FEATURED FAITH TEACHING SERIES Experiencing the Fresh Fire Annointing! DVFRF - 3 DVDs - Price $60.00 CDFRF - 5 CDs - Regular Price $38.00 Description: Where is your fire? Do you find that you ve become luke warm toward God? God wants you to renew your commitment. Take time to consecrate yourself; set yourself aside for God. Position yourself to be on fire for God. Bishop Hilliard brings us fresh revelation as God brings Fresh Fire! Your Special A.I.M. Monthly Support Enclosed is my Faithful Seed-Faith Offering. I want to express my appreciation for the covenant relationship that we have and my agreement with our corporate assignment! $50 DONATION OPTIONS (Make checks or money orders payable to: A.I.M.) Form of Payment: Cash Check Money Order Credit / Debit Card. $100.00 $250.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 $ Other Name of Card Holder: Card Type: Master Card Visa Discover American Express Credit Card Number: Amount of Charge: $ Expiration Date: / / CVV2 Code: Signature of Card Holder: OFFERING SUPPORT DISTRIBUTION Featured Product Order $ A.IM Support Offering $ Life Change Institute $ Bishop & Lady Bridget $ TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED $