Are you ready to be blessed? Here it comes!
We just concluded five world-changing days of non-stop transformation ministry in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. I’m glad to report that the former murder capital of the world is emerging as an extraordinary transformation prototype.
Last Thursday, the Avanza Sin Tranza (Thrive without Bribes in English) program was launched and 500 community leaders signed up at a personal level, plus the heads of the nine Chambers of Commerce that represent hundreds of thousands of members.
Since then, due to the positive media coverage, corporations large and small are requesting the 12-hour program based on biblical values but expressed in non-religious language. Because the training will be done by Christians, this means that the city will undergo discipleship a la Matthew 28:29.
Celebrating the anniversary of the most interactive children’s museum in the world.
Last Friday, La Rodadora, the interactive children’s museum originally envisioned by Poncho Murguia as a city-wide children’s ministry, celebrated its first anniversary. Almost a quarter of a million people have visited the museum, including 43,000+ children from disadvantaged neighborhoods. It already has a partnership with NASA to expose children to aerospace science, and last Friday they announced that National Geographic has come on board as a partner to turn it into the most interactive museum in the world.
La Rodadora already has a partnership with NASA and now National Geographic has come on board as well.
A challenge to minister to 15,000 children orphaned by the city’s violence.
Anyone who is socially prominent was in attendance and Poncho gave a powerful Kingdom message that touched the hearts of this influential audience. He challenged them to keep putting a smile on the face of every child in Juarez, a city that has had to deal with 15,000 little ones orphaned by the violence, one third of which have witnessed the murder of a loved one.
Saturday and Sunday we ministered to about 1,300 leaders from all over Mexico. The head of this network is someone who has embraced our transformation principles and now tasked us with inspiring his followers to do the same. It was the most extraordinary time! They were touched, moved, inspired, and more than impacted; they received an imprint into which the Holy Spirit poured the transformation DNA. We now expect 200 of them to sign up for the Spanish School of Transformation (TSOT) and 20 leaders will come to our global conference in Hawaii next October 27-31.
Transformation in Uganda gives hope to leaders of Juarez!
Tax revenue went up 317% in ten years.
God used Allen Kagina, the head of the Tax Revenue of Uganda, in the most powerful way to challenge the city leaders to renounce corruption. She told the story of how the Uganda equivalent of the IRS was one of the most corrupt and inefficient government institutions in the country until she invited the Lord to come into the department, built a prayer altar in her office, was inspired and affirmed by my book Anointed for Business, and received a divine download to reinvent the Tax Authority. She eliminated redundant levels of bureaucracy, made honesty and competence the two pillars, saw one third of the workforce go, and rebuilt it along those lines while relying on intercessory prayer which has now become normative.
Did it work? Well, you be the judge: tax revenue went up 317% in ten years with minimal tax policy change. Those revenues used to contribute roughly 58% to the national budget but this year it will reach 82%, cutting back on the need for the government to borrow and/or depend on foreign aid with all its undesirable strings attached.
Inflation hovers around 4% and the economy has grown at a steady 7.2% annually over the last ten years. The top tax bracket for corporations and individuals is 30%. A newswoman was amazed at these figures and said on camera, “Can you come and take over our tax agency?”
The Uganda Tax Authority used to be a despised agency. Today, it is a pool of talent and many of Allen’s deputies – who she trained – have positions of power in other government agencies where they are uprooting corruption, and Allen has been used to put more than a kinder face on the IRS by changing its heart.
She learned of a hospital in a remote area that lacked beds causing men and women to share them and forcing pregnant women to give birth in plain view of other patients, including men. She prayed and then sent an email to her workforce soliciting donations and rapidly 100 beds and mattresses were pledged, bought and delivered. Such response energized the employees so much that humanitarian projects have now become commonplace.
A church where 100% of the offerings are invested in the community!
Today, we ministered at Poncho’s Ekklesiawhere he has removed the pews and replaced them with tables. Members commit to sit at the same table for two months to envision and implement community projects using the money from the offerings. This is absolutely extraordinary: 100% of the offerings are invested in the community.
Is this sustainable? Absolutely, since membership and offerings have grown and recently someone approached Poncho – whose congregation meets in a rented place – to build a brand new building for him next year! And this person is not a member of his church.
Why? The Scriptures are very clear: if we help the poor, God will bless us, and if we arise and shine to let our light shine farther than what we are involved in, kings (leaders) will come to the brightness of our light and will bring the wealth of the nations for us to manage it.
God’s extraordinary provision for those who help the poor!
La Rodadora’s total cost was $32,000,000 and it was fully paid by inauguration day. Now, Poncho is involved in El Punto. This is an iconic community center envisioned by the architects who designed the Bird’s Nest Stadium for the 2012 Olympic Games in China that because of its uniqueness and who these architects are, will define Ciudad Juarez the way the Sydney Opera House has branded the city of Sydney in Australia. It is expected to attract more than one million visitors each year and Poncho has been asked to move his congregation there to keep the presence of God in its midst.
Why that request? Because the architects, who are not believers (yet) see El Punto (the point in English) as the central place on campus for God to dwell since spirituality is vital to the life of society. They see such presence emanating from spokes shaped like a cross where local artisans and artists will exhibit the culture of Ciudad Juarez through music, sculpture, native art, technology, etc. This disposition will enable the Ekklesia to infuse Kingdom values and God’s presence into the city and eventually the nation!!!
This emblematic building will cost millions but it will be paid for by “God fearing Gentiles” who see in Poncho and his associates (Alex, Carlos, Pepe, Alma, to name a few) a modern day Joseph or Daniel. I believe that the principle at work here is the following:
We are instructed to seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness for all things to be added unto us (Matthew 6:33). I am afraid we have interpreted and applied the righteousness mentioned here in a very narrow, even selfish way: basically to ourselves and to our sphere of influence. This is fine as a starting point, but we must go beyond that because this passage speaks of righteousness in society since it speaks of God’s kingdom. And when we seek first the welfare, the righteousness of the city, God will add everything else to us.
My friend, what a day to be alive! To see God bring together Uganda and Ciudad Juarez, two places that have been, until recently (and to a degree still are), discredited as the worst of the worst and to turn them into beacons of light to remind people who dwell in darkness that God has a hope and a future for them is more than exciting.
Join us and embrace transformation wholeheartedly!
Be encouraged by this report but also be challenged and embrace transformation wholeheartedly. Join the movement. Go to our website –www.transformourworld.org – and sign up for the School of Transformation. Visit our resource center and acquire books and DVDs. Do the Mentoring sessions, especially the ones about Forgiving the Unforgivable, How to Destroy Strongholds and How to Have Intimacy with God. And consider doing whatever it takes to come to our Global Conference in Hawaii where you will meet these world changers who are eager to impart to you what they have received from the Lord. We declare this blessing over you:
“The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you, the Lord be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
We look forward to hearing from you!
Read the rest of the story!
The Juarez Miracle Part 1: Can Drug Traffickers and Sicarios Be Redeemed?
The Juarez Miracle Part 2: Thriving Without Bribes
The Juarez Miracle Part 4: Will Juarez Be Corruption Free?