Megacities Transformation Plan for Mexico City in 2010
It's official----Megacities is coming to Mexico City for one year to believe God for transforming this city. The plan starts March 1, 2010 and ends February 28, 2011. During this year I believe we will have thousands who will come to serve in Mexico City from around the world. Click here for the Megacities video to learn more.
Ground Zero for Swine Flu in Mexico City
It feels like being on the set of a movie. There few people on the streets. Those who venture out wear surgical masks. Every church in Mexico City was ordered to cancel their services yesterday----public gatherings are canceled until further notice. Soccer games are being played to empty stadiums. Every school and university in Mexico City has been closed until May 6th. The www.InvisibleChildren.com event in the Zocolo that our some of our staff and partner organizations spent months working on was canceled on Saturday along with all other public events.
Our staff are staying in their homes/apartments. All universities in the city are closed until May 6th. Tomorrow is the Campus Crusade for Christ World Wide Day of Prayer when staff gather together to pray for the day. However our organizational Risk Management in Mexico is not allowing staff to venture to each others' apartments at this time. Some are changing their flights to return home this week.
I have a flight back to Kamp Ed on Friday. My scheduled time for being based out of Mexico City runs from September to May 1st. I am hopeful the airlines will be flying between Mexico City and the USA. I am hopeful of being able to come home this weekend to prepare for leading the Juneau Summer Projects in Alaska.
Surgical masks are impossible to find. Every store is sold out----and when a supply arrives people quickly buy the entire supply. My neighbors loaned me a mask to wear and I have friends sending masks down from the USA.
CEO Group Started on the Top Floor of the Largest Building in Latin America
Today we started a group for CEO, Presidents, and Vice-Presidents of corporations in Mexico City.
Craig Williams is my good friend who has been a missionary here in Mexico City for the past 14 years. Craig had a vision for starting a group to impact the lives of some of the top business leaders in this city. Today we saw it happen.
For our first meeting we met on top floor of the Torre Mayor----the most prestigious and tallest building in Latin America. The CEO and Presidents of corporations at this meeting accounted for 1/4 of the rent paid on this building. We met on the 51st floor in a private club overlooking the city. The mission was agreed on and plans were made for monthly meetings.
It blows my categories to have the opportunity to be involved with influencing leaders at this level in Mexico City.
Sao Paulo - Mexico City Partnership Meeting
Ethan Wiekamp the State Director for Nebraska and Alberto from Saop Paulo Brazil came together this week in Mexico City to spend the week dreaming and planning together.
What an amazing opportunity to spend time with Ethan in the context of developing a plan and vision for launching movements that reach students in Sao Paulo.
We had a blast---and talked at length about what taking the next steps in Mexico City.
It was so great having Ethan here---before flying home he watched Obama touch down and exit Airforce One.
Kool Cids Klub visits Puerto Escondio
Chris and Scott are from are from California and are a part of the Cali-6 team in Mexico City. These guys are amazing. They started a church with street kids in Mexico City and on most days you can find them sharing their faith on UNAM, the largest campus in the world.
I'm not sure how I bonded with these guys, but I really like them and we've spent weekends this year on adventures outside of Mexico City.
For our last Kool Cids adventure, over Easter break we drove to the 2nd greatest surfing beach in the world---Puerto Escondito. The drive was brutal-----11 hours from Mexico City. But this beach has no comparison to anything in the world. The food is amazing and the waves are mind-blowing. We had a blast, and and decided to return to Mexico City a day early to avoid the millions of Mexico City residents returning on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately----thousands of others had the same idea. Traffic came to crawl when we arrived within 60 miles of the city-----and 4 hours later we arrived back at home.
Don't Joke Around About Angels on April Fools Day
I was living in Costa Rica when I received an email on the morning of April 1st from Eric Swanson. “You might want to extend your stay in Costa Rica a little longer,” the email said. “As it turns out Dr. Bright fell for your angel prank and was about to go to print with your story before being told it was a joke. He is not amused.”
It’s a joke. It has to be a joke, I repeated this to myself over and over. My Regional Director Eric Swanson loved to play jokes. I tried to convince myself it could not be true that Dr. Bill Bright, the founder and President of Campus Crusade for Christ had nearly shared with the world that I had seen an angel before being told it was a joke.
But it was true. Dr. Bright really did believe my angel sighting. Later I learned that our headquarters in Orlando had nearly shut down for a day as people went from cubicle to cubicle asking each other if they had heard that one of the Campus Crusade for Christ staff had seen an angel. Everyone believed it.
This all happened in a world before Facebook and instant communication. It was the late 90’s and we lived in a world where there was no instant way to check the facts on stories that came along.
I was a Campus Director and it seemed that at least once every semester someone got up front of our weekly meeting to share a testimony of an angel sighting. Angel sightings were common in those days. They were talked about in churches and at Christian meetings. It did not take long to see a theme. The angel sightings never took place with a person anyone knew. It was always the cousin, friend, or brother of a very credible person. But you could never actually talk to the person who saw the angel.
Among my circle of friends I started joking around about angels. I became the first person witness to the angel stories. My friends were amused.
To understand how my angel sighting story could reach Bill Bright I need to explain the technology of the late 90’s. Before the widespread use of email and cell phones we had Audix. Staff would dial a toll free number to be connected to Audix and receive messages left from other staff. It was so awesome to take a quick break between meetings and check your voice mail and hear messages from your friends. Many staff would check their Audix voicemail 15-20 a day.
On Audix not only could you send voice messages to each staff person in our region, you could also punch in a code on your phone to send your message to all of the staff in the region. You always knew when you were receiving a regional broadcast message because the person would start out their message by saying, “this is going out to all staff.”
Within my circle of staff friends I would occasionally fill their voice mail with jokes of how I had just seen an angel. And typically I would start out the message by saying “this is going out to all staff.”
It would take a “perfect storm” for one of my angel jokes to be credible. But that is what happened.
While living in Costa Rica I returned to the USA for a wedding. Before leaving the country after the wedding I checked my voice mail during a layover in Dallas. One of my friends left a message wishing me a good trip back to Costa Rica. We had been trading jokes back and forth on voice mail so In my reply I started out my voice message by saying “this is going out to all staff.” Then I left a message saying that on my flight from Omaha to Dallas I was in the aisle seat and was talking with a man seated in the window seat. Regardless of the topic of conversation, the man repeatedly turned the conversation to talk about end-times. When the flight attendant came with the beverage cart I asked for a Coke and reached over to take it. When I turned back to the man sitting in the window seat he had disappeared. On my voice mail I surmised in a matter-of-fact tone that I was convinced that I had just seen an angel. For some reason I did not sign off the voice mail by says "just kidding." We had been joking back and for constantly so it did not seem necessary.
As I read the email from Eric Swanson saying Dr. Bright had believed my angel story I wanted to yell, “I was only joking.” But by this time it was too late. As it turned out my friend in a momentary lapse of intellectual flexibility had believed my story. I said on the message that I was sending the message to all staff. But no other staff received the message. So it was summarized that I must have punched in the wrong codes. My message was forwarded to all of the staff in my Region. Included on the forwards to all staff were members of the National Team. Apparently one of them passed on to Dr. Bright the incredible news that one of our staff had been visited by an angel.
I was in my kitchen in Costa Rica on that Saturday morning far far away from my angel-believing organization when I received the email from Eric Swanson saying Dr. Bright had believed my story. Within a hour I was being counseled by Warren Caldwell----a veteran staff friend who was living in Costa Rica studying Spanish with his family. I poured out my heart to Warren and told him what happened. A a few minutes he interrupted my story to say “bro what is the date?” “April 1st”, I replied. “Think about it. Eric is playing an April Fools joke on you.” Warren went on to say, “If it’s true that Dr. Bright believed your angel story then I promise you that I will leave Staff.” At the time Warren’s words and counsel meant a lot to me and made me feel a lot better.
Every two years when I see Warren at our National Staff Conference in Ft. Collins I remind him of his promise to leave staff if the story was true. He's still on staff.
There actually positive results from the angel story including the story of a revival that broke out in a small town in Missouri. I'm not sure this story is true, but what is true is that one of our staff in Missouri heard my voice message and immediately called pastors around the state to share the news of the angel sighting. No doubt everyone was excited to finally have an angel sighting with a credible name attached to it. The story spread like wildfire. That weekend my angel sighting was preached in pulpits across the state of Missouri.
I no longer joke around about angels.
Chris Filiciello Meets the President
Chris is on our staff here in Mexico City. It took me a few months, but I finally discovered how amazing he is. Chris worked in Washington before coming to Mexico City. He has been connecting me with his friends who are consulting with me in crafting a plan transforming this city and expanding into the next 400 univeristy campuses.
Shortly before coming to Mexico City Chris met with President Bush and tonight sent me the pictures. How great is that.
Montana State Launches Campus in Mexico City
The news media in the USA had a feeding frenzy leading up to Spring Break in telling parents not to let their kids go to Mexico for Spring Break due to the drug cartel murders a thousand miles from Mexico City near the boarder with the USA. Many students dropped out from coming to Mexico City for Spring Break as a result.
Nothing was going to stop the staff and students from Montana State from coming to Mexico City. They are from Montana and they are tough.
I gave the group from Montana the task of launching a group on a closed campus where no Christian organization has ever existed. A close friend of mine named Craig and his wife live near that campus and for over 10 years they have been praying for this campus. Several days before the Montana State group came my friend told me he and his family are returning to the USA on furlough and were disappointed that God has not answered their prayers in seeing a group started on this campus to reach other students. I told Craig about the Montana State group coming---and there was still time. Craig made some calls and through his connections the director of this private university of 10,000 students gave Craig and the Montana student permission to come to the campus for the week and share Christ with students. That was amazing.
The results are mind-blowing. The Montana students discovered a group of 6 women on this campus who have been praying every week for their campus and asking God to send show them how to reach other students. The Montana students saw students on their campus make decisions for Christ. After just four days on campus they surfaced 40 students who want to be involved.
Many of the future leaders of Mexico are on this campus, and a group of Montana students weathered the storm to come to believe that God would somehow use them in Mexico City. The results are blow my mind.
Ashley and Kathryn from the University of North Dakota
Ashley and Kathryn flew on separate flights from North Dakota to spend Spring Break week serving in Mexico City.
I liked these guys from the first time they emailed me asking if they could come to Mexico City for their Spring Break. My first impressions were dead on. These two women are amazing!
God worked in powerful ways in and through their lives this week and they returned with a vision for impacting their campus in North Dakota. I hope to see these guys again in Mexico City---and have no doubt I will.
The University of Oklahoma In Mexico City
I'm pretty sure I've never before had friends from the University of Oklahoma. I have great respect for this school, had nothing in common----until they came to Mexico City for Spring Break.
And these guys captured my heart.
They are amazing. They absolutely went full out in the mission during their week of Spring Break here and saw leaders raised up on 3 campuses where there absolutely are no Christian organizations on those campuses.
It tore at my heart to see them leave at the end of the week and I felt like I had just ended a Summer Project and was saying good-bye to the students and staff. The staff in Norman are doing an amazing job, and the students this movement is raising up will impact the world.
What God Is Doing In Mexico City
I've been a fan of Alan and Deb Hirsch since reading their books and having dinner with them a year ago.
Alan's recent Blog entry sheds light of why organizations are slow to change. The core beliefs of the organization need to change. Alan quotes church consultant Bill Easum in his blog, "...every organization is built upon on what he calls “an underlying systems story.” He points out that “…this is not a belief system. It is the continually repeated life story that determines how an organization thinks and thus acts. This systems story determines the way an organization behaves, no matter how the organizational chart is drawn. Restructure the organization and leave the systems story in place and nothing changes within the organization. It’s futile trying to revitalize the church, or a denomination, without first changing the system.” Drilling down into this systems story, the paradigm, or mode of church, is he suggests one of the keys to change and constant innovation."
We change the rituals and routines, organizational structures, power structures, and even the symbols that brand our organization but these changes bring incremental growth and not the home run we wanted. An outsider would say that nothing really changed. Most likely they are right.
When I see a staff person buy into a Systems Story/Paradigm (or vision)---and the conversations around this staff person start to revolve around that paradigm----then it's been my experience that change takes place. And when those conversations are multiplied and take root the organization changes.
Here in Mexico City if we change our rituals and routines, control systems, organizational and power structures, and even the symbols that brand us within Campus Crusade for Christ we experience limited success.
My heart here in Mexico City to unleash the story of what God is doing---then raise up leaders who will build the Kingdom. I believe millions will come to Christ in the years to come. I see leaders being raised up to lead groups on the 450 university campuses in Mexico City and I see a network of pastors/churches/volunteers around them. When this happens the gospel will truely be within arms-reach of over 1 million college students in this city.
Mexico City Spring Break 2009
The 35 Spring Breakers we've had here from the University of Oklahoma, Montana State, and U. of North Dakota left returned home yesterday. There have been other great weeks in Mexico City but none I have enjoyed more. These guys are amazing and I had a blast hosting them.
The results from the week are stunning. Leaders were raised up to lead groups on four university campuses where we've never before had students meeting. The students shared Christ with students non-stop, and believed God for using them in amazing ways.
I'm so proud of the our Enfoque Mexico staff who lead this week.
I had a blast stepping into the lives of the students and staff who were here this week---and miss these guys.
Before I came to Mexico City three years ago I envisioned groups of students coming to Mexico City on missions trips who would serve by stepping on campuses to surface, empower, and launch student lead groups who will impact their campuses. That is exactly what happened this week and I am full of joy.
Meeting a Mother Teresa of Mexico City
I'm hosting 35 students and staff Spring Breakers this week. Today was a holiday and there were no university classes in the city so we spent the day serving in a women's home for the mentally disabled.
I have a Masters in Counseling, and have friends who work in mental institutions. I've never seen anything like what I saw today. There are 80 women living in a home. All have in some way lost their mind and need to be in an institution. We went to the home to spent 4 hours repainting their the walls in the home-----but the second we walked in the door there was something different. These women we're full of the love of Christ. They were calm and not out of control and displayed an love for others that blew my mind.
I met the director and was shocked. This woman has no staff. She runs the home of 80 women entirely on donations. From day to day she trusts God to supply food for the women and to pay the electricity bill. Years ago she heard the gospel while in prison for stealing. When she came to Christ, God gave her a vision for giving her life to the poor in Mexico----the mentally disabled. She receives no financial support from the government. They bring the women to her doorstep and drop them off.
The director of the home teaches the word of God to these women. They prepare their own meals, wash their own clothes, and each person has a job to do.
Recently the director brought in a local pastor to baptize over 70 women in the home who had come to realize they need to repent and be baptized and have a new life in Christ.
I'm stunned and blown away. A doctor who stops by the home once a week to volunteer his time in caring for patients told me the director of the home is a living Mother Teresa here in Mexico City. I could not agree more.
Appalation State Spring Break in Mexico City
This morning the group of 30 Spring Break students from Appalation State along with 2 students from Texas, and 2 from the Colorado School of Mines ended their week in Mexico City. They had an amazing week----and I had a blast connecting with them. A highlight was connecting with Eric Heistand---the leader of the group. Eric has been a life-giver to me for the past 3 years during Spring Break trips---and this year Eric brought a buddy of his from Colorado who I enjoyed getting to know.
I am pumped by the fruit their group saw this week and the campus that was launched. And I'm so proud of Jen---our amazing staff woman who coordinated all the details for the week.
Against the Law in Brazil
I'm flying back to Mexico City today. Before leaving my hotel I took the pictures below from my room on the 11th floor. The sign beside the elevator I used each day informed me that it is against the law to get into the elevator if the doors open and the elevator is not there.
Sao Paulo - Mexico City Partnership
Today we forged a partnership between Soa Paulo and Mexico City. Our two mega cities of 18 and 28 million people will work together.
Brazil has it figured out on how to train the churches in evangelism, follow up, and development. The sales of their training materials fund their ministry. The national director will come to Mexico City to help us make a plan for marketing our materials and training churches.
The Campus Director for Sao Paulo is crazy---and I intensely like him. He is coming to Mexico City in April and I will help him move forward in developing student lead groups on his campuses. For this time I want to bring in the big guns by bringing down Ethan Wiekamp to help coach him on the greatest ideas out there on movement building.
These days in Sao Paulo have been amazing. in addition to the partnership we have formed a highlight has been spending time with Layo, my Director of Affiars, Rolando the Director of Affiars for South American, and Ed, from the President's office. Ed is a cool guy, and so is his name.
Meetings in Brazil
Today we I met with the National Campus Crusade Director Brazil, the Sao Paulo Campus Director, Ed---the laison from the Presidents office in Orlando, and the Director of Affairs for Latin American and South America along with several of the staff in Sao Paulo. We connected and shared together what we are doing in our cities. These guys are amazing.
Sunday In Brazil
This country is amazing. The people, the culture, the language. We toured the city today, ate amazing food, and connected with awesome people. They serve their coffee in small cups---so powerful that I'm not sure it would be safe to drink more than one.
Arrival in Sao Paulo, Brazil
I arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil this afternoon and enjoyed spending the day connecting with our two Director Affairs from Lain America and South America.
On the way from the airport to our hotel we stopped at a Brazilian barbecue and consumed amazing quantities of meat. That was amazing.
What a place! This city of 18 million is clean, feels safe, and is green. All of the cars sold have the technology to run on both gasoline and pure alcohol. Alcohol is made from sugar cane and is about 1/2 the cost of gasoline at the filling stations (Around 75 cents a liter).
Partnership with YWAM in Mexico City
What an amazing amazing week this has been! Shirley Brownhill from Perth Australia has been here with her staff. Shirley is the Mega-cities Director for Youth With A Mission (YWAM). In a very short time I have a great friendship with the YWAM Staff from Australia and in this country. I really like these guys.
In the short 3-4 days here, Shirley met with many of the evangelical leaders in this city that I and others hooked her up to meet with. I saw groups of pastors she was meeting with weep together as the realized they were seeing the answer to their prayers. Flat out-----every major leader in this city endorsed the YWAM plan and came on board with it.
The plan is to bring thousands of people from around the world to Mexico City in 2010 to work together with the churches here to believe God for planting the seeds of citywide transformation.
The amazing thing aboutt YWAM is they have the organizational infrastructure and capacity to pull this off. They’ve done the Mega-cities in enough places to know what to do and what needs to happen next. One very impressive stat is that in Cairo the body saw around 800 people come to Christ during the year long campaign---and that was incredible. But since the mega-cities year ended they left behind the DNA and training---and the church in Cairo has seen over 1 million come to Christ since the year long campaign.In Jakarta this past year, they documented over 20,000 of teaching and training the groups didduring the year. Over 80 teams spent from 2 weeks to 3 months in Jakarta bring their area of giftedness to the Body.
The stories of how God is moving to prepare this city for 2010 and the confirmation of how God is leading individuals is amazing. On the last night in Mexico City we heard about a college student who had an impression through prayer that God was going to bring Australians from the western part of Australia to Mexico City in 2010 to sew the seeds of transformation in this city. She drew out what God had laid on her heart and showed it to her pastor. This pastor told her about the plans YWAM from Perth was making to come to Mexico City in 2010. Through a divine appointment we ran into this girl at a restaurant that evening---and she gave her drawing to Shirley. As it turns out---this girl is a student leader on one of our Enfoque Mexico campuses in Mexico City. (Pics below).
Sunday Afternoon in the Mountains Above Mexico City
Sunday afternoon my neighbors and their families drove to the mountains. High above the city we spent the day playing softball, volleyball, and soccer. What a blast to eat great food and spend the day away from the city in the clean air in the mountains.
Venus and the Moon over Mexico City
I live in a mega city where the glow of the city lights make it difficult to see stars in the night sky. But last night was amazing. The planet Venus and the moon were visible in the western sky. I took the picture below of the spectacular sight from my roof-top patio.
Meeting the First Lady
Last night I was at an citywide transformation event where the First Lady spoke. After she spoke a mutual friend brought her over and introduced us. My friend briefly explained what I'm doing in the city and the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. I said, "mucho gusto" and kissed her on the cheek----which is what you do in Mexico when you are introduced to someone.
I'm still walking on air.
