Journal
One of my most cherished gifts is getting away for some downtime on a boat and going deep into the ocean waters, skin diving. Sometimes, I have been caught in stormy waters, rocking and rolling – not the musical kind. I’m grateful for the captain’s knowledge and steady guiding hands, and for being secure in a good boat. The vessel’s core that holds it in the deep, turbulent water is its ballast. It lies deep in its core, not seen from the ship’s top and beneath the water line, allowing the boat to weather storms and reach their destinations.
Core values matter and are our personal ballasts.
Each New Year turns our thoughts toward how we will live differently and what we hope to accomplish in the coming year and our future. If our core values (our ballast) are not weighted correctly, the chances of reaching career and life destinations can be in question. Success depends on one’s core value choices. “The Lord expects you to be fair in every business deal, for He is the one who sets the standards of righteousness. Kings and leaders despise wrongdoing, for the true authority to rule and reign is built on a foundation of righteousness.” Proverbs 16:11-12 (Passion Bible).
What size boat are you building?
When building, we use a measuring tape to know how things will fit together. The Bible is our ultimate measuring stick for career and life goals. What we measure as essential core values affects our choices and sets the standards for our character and key decisions. We also use a level when building to keep things balanced. When considering future plans, a balanced perspective is necessary. That includes what people, messaging, and activities we allow to enter our lives and inform us. We determine our boat’s size by the waters in which we want to sail. Our ballast must have a measured and balanced core to float the size of the boat we’re building. We load it with weighted values based on our choices.
Core values define identity and bring acceleration.
Wandering off course happens when identity has not been weighted down in the foundations of Biblical truth. Key plans sink when core values are not firmly secured. However, when core values align with right decisions, explosive energy erupts, forming brilliant creativity and confident bold leaders. Everyone wants to be around and work with visionary, forward-thinking, and artistic people. Like magnets, we are drawn to them, feed off their endeavors, and want to go with them. They are our King Davids. When leaders are confident in their identity, it sets them apart as dynamic influencers in our culture. They are the people God is calling us to be in 2025.
This year, I want to strengthen my ballast. Want to join me? Here’s what I’ll be working on…
Gratefulness – Celebrating those tedious, mundane jobs and tasks – “Whistling while I work!”
Grace – Loving others like dogs love their owners.
Hope – Embracing life milestones without negativity but with childlike expectations.
Patience – Trusting with holy abandonment in God’s timing, and not mine.
Obedience – Taking unquestioning forward steps towards God’s desires and not my own selfish wants.
Personal Identity – Focusing my eyes on who God says I am and not cultural chatter.
Destiny – Learning more about heaven and traveling with Jesus to His destinations.
Intentionality – Turning up the volume of God’s voice within me so I can be tuned into others.
Longevity – Choosing healthy lifestyle decisions rather than what the world declares as beauty.
Mindfulness – Refocusing negative thoughts by worshipping the King of Kings.
Priorities – Spending more (and still more time) with Jesus in prayer and not on a screen.
Knowledge – Knowing God intimately because knowledge of Him informs me on all things.
Joy – Remembering that “the joy of the Lord” IS my strength.
What core value will you be working on?
Will you build a strong core to reach your destination in 2025?
Journal
By Kathleen Cooke, Influence Women Global Director
In the late 1800s, a young William Booth began what we know today as The Salvation Army. He knew he needed to communicate effectively with his followers and workers with a Christmas message of hope, encouragement, and resilience. The telegraph was the only way to communicate quickly. Each word cost him money, and he didn’t have much. So, he sent one word: “others.” It said it all.
Today, I send you that word to you – “others.”
You are the hope for our world as artists and creatives. You change what we see and hear on our screens and affect many lives with your artistic work. Through your endeavors and creativity, you have brought renewed inspiration through your projects, creative work, and productions. You are changing “others” (and the culture’s mindset), bringing joy and wisdom, and encouraging hearts toward God’s Kingdom purposes through media, entertainment, art, music, and outstanding leadership. The Influence Women team is cheering you on. Your love and support are inspirational and a testimony to the explosive power of God when we are unified in a community of believers.
Jesus came for “others” – you, me, and the world to know God’s grace and mercy. Mary didn’t hesitate when the angel announced that she would give birth to our Savior, Jesus Christ. She didn’t say, “Why me?” or “I’m not worthy or able.” Her heart was ready and obedient to do anything God asked of her. Her immediate response was, “How will this happen?” Or, in our language today, “I’m in.”
Keep saying “yes” by obeying God and focusing on others! “The joy of the Lord is your strength!”
As friends, members, and partners of Influence Women, we wanted to remind you that we have set up @InfluenceWomenGlobal this year as our social media “mothership” account!
Influence Women is exploding, and this umbrella platform will help you stay connected and updated on what’s happening across our national (and, expectedly soon, international) chapters!
When we grow as a community, our united voice matters. So follow us and comment.
Stay connected to your local chapter group as well!
Hollywood, CA Chapter: @influencewomenhollywood
Orange County, CA Chapter: @influencewomenoc
Atlanta, GA Chapter: @influencewomenatlanta
Nashville, TN Chapter: @influencewomennashville
Houston, TX Chapter: @influencewomenhouston
Baton Rouge, LA Chapter: @influencewomenbatonrouge
Dallas, TX Chapter: @influencewomendallas
Don’t forget to Listen to The Influence Women Podcast!
But we need your help and have a couple of quick asks!
FOLLOW and SHARE. Please follow and share @InfluenceWomenGlobal on Instagram, Facebook, and X.
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Join a local chapter group!
Don’t forget that when you join Influence Women, you also need to become a member of a local chapter on the “community” page on the website. You can leave a note about your recent work, look for a job or place to live, ask an industry professional question, and communicate with members in that city. It’s our private social “netweaving” page!
Our heart is to empower creatives like you to shift culture. Help us expand our reach and voice. Help us communicate Hope to “others.”
We can’t thank you enough for your prayers, time, service, and friendship. As the rush of the Christmas season begins and you reflect on your end-of-year giving, we welcome you to consider a financial donation to The Influence Lab and Influence Women—influencelab.com or influencewomen.org so that we can continue to empower a community of creative artists who want to transform the media to reflect the mind and heart of God.
Now, to God, we give the glory for the great work He has done and will do in 2025!
Have a joyous and blessed Christmas!
Inner Views
BIO
Tania Joy is an actress, singer, speaker, and winner of multiple beauty competitions – Miss Teen Illinois 1993, Miss Teen America 1994, and Miss Illinois 1996. She started Beauty for Ashes and is the host of her show, The Tania Joy Show, which focuses on combating the many anti-Biblical ideals and cultural norms of today. She has dealt personally with anti-Christian attacks on her career and life and as a mom, has had her family and Christian beliefs and values targeted for sharing her viewpoints and faith. She has worked in corporate American finance, Bio-Pharma, Retail, and HR but currently travels the country speaking about what it means to be a modern-day Esther. She is passionate about preserving Christian values, political freedom, and the importance of preserving the traditional family unit.
INNER VIEW
Kathleen Cooke: As a TV host and speaker, you are passionate about preserving Biblically based values, but in today’s culture, it takes courage. What has God taught you about being bold in a Babylonian world?
Tania Joy: He is good and faithful through all of life’s storms and circumstances. When He calls you, He qualifies you. You might not feel qualified when He first calls you, but never doubt that you are not placed here, at this point in history, for such a time as this. He will use the foolish things of this world to confound the things of the wise and the weak to shame the strong. Just like Esther, she had to be willing to sacrifice even her own life to follow the call that God had placed within her. She was scared, yet she prayed, fasted, and then obeyed.
I have followed Jesus since I was 3 years old, but I was not fully prepared for what would be required these days to follow the narrow road laid out before us. The cost and sacrifice to follow His Word and teaching is often a difficult choice but one that God asks of us. Yet, when we fully surrender, we step into His fullness of joy, blessing, and fulfillment like nothing we could ever imagine. We are living in biblical days, the days of Noah, the days of Esther, the days of Gideon’s army, and truly in biblical proportions. We are seeing in America, for the first time, the cost of being a Christ follower, experiencing persecution like we have never seen. But let’s not forget that He has already overcome this world. We are only passing through. This is not our forever home. We were called to occupy until He returns, so let’s love Him above all other gods and love our neighbor as ourselves. I believe this is what we must encourage each other to do in these days.
Kathleen: How have you been able to find hope when things look so bleak in our world today?
Tania: The Word instructs us in Matthew 16:24 that we are to take up our cross and follow Him; in other words, count the cost. We are called to lay down our ways, our hopes, and our thoughts and seek Him for His dreams over our lives. Sometimes, what we face on this side of heaven will not ‘feel’ as good as we would hope. Jesus told us in John 15:18 that the world hated Him first and that, as a result, if we truly follow Him, the world will hate us in return. How many Christ-followers truly understand what it means to have the world ‘hate’ you, the culture, the common world around you, the community, and the social networks – ‘hate’ you? If we choose to follow Him against all odds, regardless of how unpopular it might make us, we will suffer in this world.
I have watched my world collapse around me multiple times; the suffering is deep, long, and hard. But the Word tells me 365 times not to fear. We will suffer. The world does not like what we stand for. The way to get through the suffering is to surrender all our callings, our fleshly desires, our hopes and dreams, and everything that we think about, knowing that He will sustain us. We are to be in this world but not of this world. It is often hard to understand the suffering we see in this world, but we must remember that we are living in a fallen world. When Jesus walked this earth, He reminded us, “Be of good courage because I have overcome the world” John 15:33.
Kathleen: The world is relentless. It pushes us to our limits with 24/7 non-stop demands. How have you found rest, particularly as a TV host and with the travel you do?
Tania: The Lord has been speaking to me a lot about rest. He told me about a year ago it would be crucial to know when and how to rest in Him. We are in a spiritual battle. There are many scriptures about the battle that we are in; my favorite is Ephesians 6:12: we “are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” The only way we can battle in this way is to know how to rest in Him at the same time. The Bible talks about rest; in fact, it mentions rest 57 times. Psalms 37:7 talks about finding rest in the Lord and to wait patiently for Him. During our busy daily lives, where we are surrounded by the push of the culture, social media, and 24/7 work, we have forgotten the importance of what rest can and will do to us.
Resting is vital for our health, increases our concentration and memory, healthier immune system, reduces stress, improves our mood, and gives us a better metabolism. What does that look like? Turn off the phone and let your thoughts be on Jesus! Put your mind on Him. (Col. 3:2) Then stay there. We have become a culture that thinks our ‘rest in the Lord’ is like a Tesla charging station: plug in for 30 min and then get back on the road of life. He wants our everything. This is how we renew our minds daily. He alone will refuel us. If we do not take the time to rest, we will have nothing to give out. “For out of the abundance of being in His presence, do we have what is necessary to flow out onto others. (John 7:38)
Kathleen: You have a big following and have become an influencer. What has God taught you about being the right kind of influencer?
Tania: The definition of influence has changed for me over the years. When I was young and dreamt of being an actress/singer, I thought of fame and fortune, of lights and cameras. That definition has drastically changed in me over the years, and I am thankful that the Lord was kind to keep me on the journey of transformation in preparation for today. Influence is a very powerful thing, it can sway culture, it can transform nations, it can change hearts and minds.
Being a woman of influence means that the words I say, the places I go, the things I support, the views I have, and the beliefs that I stand for – all have the potential to impact someone else. Both good and bad. My voice can bless or curse. Therefore, it is of high value that I surrender my life daily to Jesus, that I seek His face on a regular basis and listen for His words so that when I speak, I am not just sharing my thoughts, but I am sharing what I hear Him saying to His Bride in these days. Being a woman of influence is the power to touch others with the love, truth, and power of Jesus Himself in a broken and dying world. We have a great responsibility when we have an influence of any kind. I believe He has placed many of us on this earth, at this point in history, for a specific reason. Like Queen Esther, she was prepared for the time at which she lived and was in the kingdom. Had it been years earlier or later, her impact would have been different. Every woman on this earth right now needs to be prepared and has been called for such a time as this to set the nations free and save God’s children from being stolen by the enemy.
Journal
The grip of the eagle’s claws dug into my gloved hand, and it took every ounce of my strength to hold up his 20+ pound body on my outstretched arm. Within just a few minutes, the eagle’s trainer, who was standing by, came up behind me to help me hold up my arm as its claws dug in. I was in Mongolia shooting a project on how Christianity spread to the ends of the earth and the stories of the many missionaries who had made unthinkable sacrifices by giving their lives and sacrificing the lives of their spouses and children so that God’s story and light might be made known. Holding that bird became a teaching moment for me. One I’ll never forget.
In Luke 17, Jesus is trying to provide some understanding to those listening of what the end times on earth will look like. Many throughout history have speculated on when Jesus will return for the final time and what life will be like. Jesus shares a few examples and then tells us that it will be like the days of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah, when there was much debauchery. To those living there, it was normal and nothing new. They had accepted the culture into their lifestyle. (more…)
News
We’re growing! Influence Lab Women is expanding into the hub of film and television production in Atlanta. “Hollywood and New York are no longer the only epicenters of media production,” shares Kathleen Cooke. “Influence Lab Women is thrilled to introduce you to the new Atlanta Influence Lab coordinator, Anna Oakley.”
The kick-off of the Atlanta group will be an in-person watch party of the Influence Lab Women’s online event featuring guest Cindy Bond, producer of “Redeeming Love” and the box-office hit, “I Can Only Imagine.” If you live in the Atlanta area, sign up here to join us for this event. (Not in Atlanta? Sign up here for the free webinar.)
And now, meet Anna Oakley…
Hi! My name is Anna Elizabeth Oakley, and I’m an actor, puppeteer, and children’s coach living in what has come to be known as the “Hollywood of the South” – Atlanta, Georgia. In December 2021, I journeyed to LA to hear actress and producer Jessica Oyelowo speak at The Influence Lab Women’s Christmas Gathering. I didn’t know anything about The Influence Lab and little did I know what God truly had in store for me that night. After a long desert season of almost two years due to the pandemic, the gathering blew me away and filled my soul. It was not only an evening filled with new connections, friendships, and empowering prayer but of being strengthened and mentored in faith and career excellence. I was inspired to press on and into what and where God had purposed for my life.
My immediate question when I met Kathleen was, have you thought of bringing this to Atlanta?
It turns out she had! The Influence Lab team had been praying about expanding into Atlanta. They, too, knew that Atlanta had grown into a strong industry community and had become a major hub for TV and film production. The Influence Lab had felt an urgency to expand, encourage and empower professionals there. But how? It was a matter of God’s timing. That night I felt God tapping me on the shoulder and calling me into action. (more…)
