Penetrating Cities

Almolonga, Guatemala is a town of only 20,000 people. Twenty years ago, this city was one of the worst in the nation—the poverty, violence, and spirit worship resulted in a community that was spiritually and physically bankrupt. There were four jails in the city and alcohol and drug abuse were rampant. The community was in a farming area that depended upon produce sales as their primary source of income. During this period, the land was so arid that it yielded only four truckloads of produce a month.

A pastor in that city began to pray and fast with other intercessors three or four times a week. Over a period of time, people began to get saved and lives began to change. The intercessors prayed against the spirit worship that had so impacted this city. As more and more people became changed by the power of the gospel, the city began to plant seeds of new life. The negative influences began to be overcome.

Now, twenty years later, the community of Almolonga is a transformed, model city. Pastors and other Christian leaders pray together and fast three or four times a week, and 80 percent of the townspeople are practicing Christians. The jail has now closed due to the lack of crime in the city. There are now two dozen evangelical churches in the city and God is even touching the agricultural community in a very unusual and miraculous way—instead of four truckloads a month, they are delivering forty truckloads a week, a 1000 percent increase! However, that is not the most remarkable thing. The produce they are harvesting is many times larger than the size of normal produce. Beets are 4 pounds, lettuce is the size of basketballs, and carrots are the size of a man’s arm. What a witness to the benefits of a culture embracing Christianity!

This is not the only community that has experienced such a transformation by God. The Sentinel Group, a ministry in Lynnwood, Washington, has done a one-hour video documentary on four different communities, one of which is Almolonga. The good news is that there are more and more cities being transformed around the world.

http://www.marketplaceleaders.org

O God, this is what we want for our city!

Please have mercy on us.

Drugs are running rampant among our young people.

Gangs are coming to town and police are overwhelmed.

City council bickers about minor issues.

Bars are flourishing while churches are dwindling.

How You weep over our Jerusalem.

It's only You.

Only You Who can transform hearts, transform cities.

Lord, revive us, Your people, to do Your work, here in this place where You've planted us.

In Jesus' Name.