April ePrayer Alert

As Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries (BFA) enters into the spring season of 2013, we are very grateful that it was 11 years ago our Founder, Julie Shematz, began doing strip club outREACHes, at which time there were less than 5 faith based organizations doing this unique type of outREACH world wide.  As of April 2013, there are over 165 faith based organizations world wide doing strip club outreaches!  We truly believe this is due to the prayers that undergird this ministry and now so many others.  Thank you for your continued support.  Your prayers are making a huge impact!  Please join us in prayer during the month of April for the following:

CLIENTS:  Pray that clients will commit to the healing journey, embracing God's grace and power as they work to become overcomers.  Agree with us that they have a hunger and thirst for God's word and revelation of His love for them.  Pray they desire to change and are willing to do what it takes to achieve transformation in their lives. 

PROGRAMS & SERVICES:  Pray for the development of our Equine and Art Programs as we   seek to specialize our therapeutic interventions and expand our client base to anyone in need of healing.  Pray for our new Equine Escape for Ministry Workers and Art and Horse Camp.  Agree with us for wisdom as we evaluate all of our developed programs and services and make critical decisions regarding which ones to maintain and which to possibly eliminate. 

CURRENT NEEDS: Pray for our monthly budget needs to be met, in addition to the monetary needs of the organization. For a complete list of needs, CLICK HERE.

EQUINE & ART FACILITY:  Please pray for wisdom in all things related to the equine facility, and that it continues to be a way that wounded individuals see the beauty of the Lord's creation while also providing experiential therapeutic treatments to the emotional, mental, and physical challenges so many individuals face.    Find out more about our Equine and Art Programs.

HORSES:  Please pray for the health of our four therapy horses.  Agree with us for their protection and well being.

TRAINING:  Pray for our best practices, faith based operations model in prevention, intervention, restoration, and advocacy of victims of s*xual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking, as we continue to provide national training and consulting.  Pray for wisdom in expanding the trainings to more than twice a year.

EVENTS:  Pray for Julie Shematz, as God opens the doors to unique venues to BFA like the Ocala Prison for her to speak.  Agree with us for speaking engagements that are of God's perfect will and nothing less.  Pray that hearts be prepared to receive the life saving message of the Gospel while learning about human trafficking and Julie's personal testimony of how she was able to break from all forms of bondage. Find our more about ourpresentations and trainings.

MEDIA:  Pray for the recent media interviews Mrs. Shematz has had with radio stations and magazines, secular and non-secular.  Agree with us that every word written and spoken would be of God's perfect will and glorifying to Him.

VOLUNTEERS:  Praise God for raising up competent volunteers who can assist us in the day to day operations!  Pray that they and their families would be blessed and protected.  May God continue to send mature workers with hearts to serve.

STAFF:  Pray that Mrs. Shematz would sustain balance as she finishes her final year of graduate school as a clinical mental health counselor at Florida Gulf Coast University.  Pray for her as she leads the organization and fulfills her responsibilities as a wife.  Please pray for our new Event Coordinator, Rachel Swope, as she trains and assumes the roles and responsibilities of event coordination for BFA.

DIRECTORS & ADVISORS:  Thank God for active directors and advisors that help guide and shape the ministries of Beauty From Ashes™!  Agree with us that their health, family, and resources be protected. May they work in unity and one accord with our Father's vision for BFA.

FUNDING:  Praise God for the matching grant of $10,000 we have!  Pray partners will take advantage of their giving being doubled this month and that all our financial needs will be met according to His riches in glory.   Agree with us that the generous matching grant donor will be abundantly blessed!

PARTNERSHIPS:  Please pray for our current and new partnerships; that we serve each other with integrity and honor.  Please pray for wisdom when we seek out new partnerships and discernment to know which partnerships to pursue.

BODY OF CHRIST:  Agree with us for churches to respond to the need to support national faith based, agencies reaching, rescuing, and restoring domestic victims of s*x trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.  Stir in the hearts of pastors a boldness to address the slavery occurring in our backyards and a conviction to actively lead congregations in abolishing slavery in the United States. 

OTHER LIKE MINISTRIES/AGENCIES:  Please pray for the over 165, faith based, organizations throughout the world taking the Lord's love and hope to the lost and broken, specifically those affected by s*xual abuse, exploitation and/or trafficking.  Pray that the ministry they provide will be professional, ethical, and that they engage in community collaboration in order to provide seamless, comprehensive, services to individuals transitioning out of the sex for sale business.  

WEEKLY GLOBAL PRAYER:  Please join us each Friday from 8-9am EST to intercede for victims of sexual exploitation, sex slavery, & sex trafficking, as well as the agencies servicing them.  CLICK HERE for Prayer Guide.  Locally, we meet in North Fort Myers at the Equine Facility.  Contact us for directions.

PRAYER REQUESTS:  Send us your prayer requests by CLICKING HERE

MONTHLY ePRAYER SIGN UP:  CLICK HERE

BFA eNEWSLETTER:  CLICK HERE to view our latest eNews and sign up to receive them in the future.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound." Isaiah 61:1 AMP

Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries  

Where Victims Become Over-Comers

"Survivors must be leaders in the development of services, shelter, and response protocols to s*x trafficking.” 
- National Report on Domestic Minor S*x Trafficking

AWARENESS & PREVENTION • REACH & RESCUE • TEACH & DEMONSTRATE • TRAIN & SEND

(239) 939-9218 | TOLL FREE LINE (877) 423-2767 13300 South Cleveland Avenue, Suite 56-623 | Fort Myers | 33907 www.BeautyFromAshes.org

BFA's 1st Porn Show OutREACH Report

To summarize this enormous outREACH: God did exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what we dreamed, prayed or imagined!

Beauty From Ashes Ministries debuted our first booth at a porn expo, Real Orange, May 14-16, 2010, at Exxxotica Miami. The outREACH team (6) was made up of 4 former sex workers (1 that flew in from across the US, another from another country and 4 from Fort Myers, FL). They assisted 7 people in getting their names added to the Lamb's Book of Life, prayed for countless porn consumers & sex workers, distributed 5100 evangelistic DVD's of Ian McCormick's testimony & the Jesus Project's, Magdelena (we ran out because they went like hotcakes!), 130 Holy Bibles (not stories), 8000 cards and 130 gift bags for sex workers that included the BFA Child of God CD. We gave away 1000's of beauty supplies, raised awareness for domestic sex trafficking, had porn stars tell us they want out & need help, as well as, offer to help BFA, was brought into the locker room of the Exxxotica Hotties by the manger to minister to the workers (she also brought numerous girls to our booth!) and she requested that we go to the other two national Exxxotica porn expos in LA and New Jersey telling us how much she appreciated what we were doing that they need a booth representing what we are there! We literally had a woman come into the expo, go straight to the booth (in the center of the expo) & pray the sinner's prayer! She just cried, telling us how relieved she felt, saying she could not believe she came to porn expo, went to our booth first and got saved! We literally prayed that God's presence would be so great at our booth that people would be drawn to it not even knowing why. We blasted contemporary praise music confident that God inhabits the praise of His people & He truly showed up to touch and transform people's lives. The team received a lot of encouragement from everyone they met, gave out countless hugs, wiped away many tears and spoke life and destiny in many people's lives.

Local partnerships included:
Calvary Temple of Fort Lauderdale
Broward County Human Trafficking Coalition
Miami CSEC (Commercialized Sexual Exploitation Children) Working Group
Kristi House, Miami-Dade County

We want to thank Homewood Suites at the airport for upgrading our suite to a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, at no extra charge when they found out what we were doing, as well as, Calvary Temple of Fort Lauderdale for providing us with an unexpected 70 Holy Bibles and workers to assist in wrapping them, assembling gift bags and blessing the team with a beautiful basket of teas (not knowing I only drink water and tea now), fruits and healthy snacks.

I specially want to thank Annie Peterson, Event Coordinator, for doing an exceptional job pulling together the largest outreach we have ever done and my husband, President of BFA, Steve Shematz, for going the extra mile, covering us with prayer and fasting and watching Annie & our dogs faithfully while we were on the front lines. Thank you Vicky Whittington and Carrie Schmidt for investing the time and finances to travel so far to be part of our FREEdom OutREACH team, as well as, Crystal Vera and Damaris Libboy for your faithful & consistent service to BFA.

A HUGE thanks to everyone from multiple denominations that gave of their time, talent and resources to make this outREACH happen. We celebrate what God has done, through us, together! TOGETHER we have made a difference!

To see pictures of the outreach, see our : facebook fan page

theCALL2XXX: Please join with us every Friday 8-9am EST for global prayer for the porn industry, those entrapped in sexual slavery (80% of human trafficking) and the organizations reaching, rescuing & restoring them. For abolitionist prayer guide and more info: CLICK HERE

If you would like to give to offset some of the costs of this outreach and to assist with future ones, you can give securely online here or mail your tax deductible check, cash or money order to 5100 S. Cleveland Avenue, Suite 318-148, Fort Myers, FL 33907. Please notate: OutREACH

Thank you again. May the Lord richly bless you for partnering with us to take His light into dark places. Please agree with us in prayer, with an attitude of thanksgiving, that God is faithful to complete the work He began, that His Word will not return to heaven void & will accomplish all that it was set out to do and that there be absolutely no backlash for the team and their families; for their protection & that all demonic assignments be cancelled against them. May the glory of the Lord rise above them and all that were influenced by this outREACH.

Finally, the biopsy, I had done 2 weeks ago, was negative! I received the official good report yesterday. Thank you for your prayers of faith. No weapon formed against me will prosper! The BEST is yet to come!

In His passionate love & consuming fire,
Julie Shematz
Founder & CEO

Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries
Where Victims Become Over-Comers
239.939.9218
877.4BFA SOS (423.2767) Toll Free Help Line

AWARENESS & PREVENTION • REACH & RESCUE • TEACH & DEMONSTRATE • TRAIN & SEND