Chiapas Mexico Trip Update

EThree months ago, at our (The College of Prayer International) annual leadership gathering here in Atlanta called iGNITE, God called me to Mexico. It was while we were praying for the nations. Right after hearing this, I went and told my friend, who is now our Director for Latin America, Luis Calderon. I said, "I'm going with you to Mexico". He got excited. The Lord provided the exact funds I needed and I began praying for this experience.

On my plane flight South last weekend, I was reading Scripture and praying, and I heard the Lord tell me very clearly, “Fred, you have been on trips before, but this will be far more significant and far reaching than any other. Prepare yourself.” So, I began praying the Lord’s kingdom come upon me and our team and over the Mexican state of Chiapas, where I was headed to serve. In my Scripture reading, the Lord gave me a verse that became my heart cry over the weekend. It is Acts 10:35, “God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” This spoke to me as I prayed that God would give me His heart for the people of Mexico. I saw this play out throughout the weekend as the Lord broke my heart for these beautiful people.

I served with a team of six. Luis Calderon, our Director for Latin America, led our team. In addition, we had a pastor from El Paso Texas, a pastor from Mexico City and two Christian and Missionary Alliance Missionaries from Guadalajara, Mexico.

On Friday morning, we visited the Voice of the Martyrs headquarters for the area. There is a couple who lead this ministry as they reach out to those who have been persecuted for Christ. Recent statistics prove that Mexico is on the rise in persecution and are now in the top 40 places for persecution worldwide. It was humbling for me to sit with people, who have been persecuted, and listen to their stories of what they have been through because of their faith in Jesus. One new friend (pictured above with grey plaid shirt), shared that when he gave his life to Jesus, he was not able to buy any goods in stores, he was pushed out of his homeland and forced to move out. Someone stole his 20 acres of crops and burnt down his house. Another friend (pictured in blue shirt), was going to be killed and God intervened and saved him. His enemies had poured gasoline on his feet, and while they were trying to burn him, they were unable to light a match. He was rescued! The persecution that is endured in this area is mostly at the hands of religious groups. This area is heavily Catholic and if anyone becomes born again, they will force you out of the community. I can’t express how moved I was to be with these people and hear their stories. We had 30 people from the persecuted church attend our training.

The primary reason we went to Chiapas was to complete our Year One training in the College of Prayer. We started Friday night and went over 4 hours. There were around 300 people in attendance. We experienced high worship, led by a youth praise team. Luis taught both lessons and facilitated response times. After both lessons, there were many who came to the altar to receive from the Lord. There were people crying out to God, weeping. These people are so genuine. I have never seen such hunger for God before.

On Saturday, we started at 9am and went until 6pm. We continued to see God move in the hearts of people, going deep with God during every session. The Lord was with me as I taught two lessons from our curriculum. I was the only one in the whole room who did not speak Spanish. The Lord gave grace and I had an amazing interpreter. The Lord moved in powerful ways. I taught on the Father love of God and many came to see Jesus break off the orphan spirit and to have their love receptors healed. Then after the lesson on prayerlessness, we had many come to repent of prayerlessness and receive the Holy Spirit to fill and ignite their prayer lives. It was overwhelming to see the Lord work in the lives of people as they poured their hearts out to Him. We finished the day with what we call a “tunnel of blessing”. All 25 pastors in attendance lined the middle aisle on either side and everyone else walked through slowly as we prayed blessings over these dear people. This went on for over 2 hours. It was incredible. The people loved it!

Sunday morning, we were invited to preach in a church. I preached on the parable of the persistent widow from Luke 18. Again, we saw the Holy Spirit poured out on our gathering as we experienced the presence of Christ. Many responded and came to the altar inviting the Holy Spirit to activate their prayer lives. In addition, many came to intercede for deep needs. As I stood on the platform and looked out upon these dear people, it felt as if Jesus was walking through the room. The presence of the Lord was thick. All glory to Christ!

This trip was deeply impacting on my life. To hear stories from persecuted Christians, to see the Lord use our curriculum and training, to see the Lord work in so many ways, it was incredible! I fell in love with Mexico and I want to go back. I fell in love with the people. I fell in love with what Jesus is doing in the nations. I am so thankful that He does not show favoritism. I now know why God wanted me to go on this trip. May God continue to pour out His Spirit in the last days.

The Anointed Quarter

I recently returned from ten days in Nassau, Bahamas with twenty-two teenagers and four adults. One of the benefits of a missions trip is that you are focused on watching God work. After all, isn't that one of the main reasons you would go to another country in the first place? You want to be the hands and feet of Jesus and be used by Him and to see Him work up close.

My heart was ready for this trip. This was the best missions trip that I have ever led and even better than that, this was the best missions trip I have ever been a part of. This was mostly due in part because I spent countless hours allowing Jesus to prepare my heart for service. I also led a group, our missions team, who had done the same. These teens and adults were ready. We stepped off the plane in Nassau, primed and ready to see the hand of God. God did not disappoint.

While in Nassau, I personally recorded eight direct answers to prayer. We witnessed healings, salvations and miracles. I don't have time to share details about each experience, but I want to share one with you in this post. It has become known as the anointed quarter.

The day we arrived in Nassau, I went grocery shopping with two of our youth coaches while the rest of our group settled into our church accommodations. We shopped for over an hour and filled four shopping carts with food. It took probably twenty minutes for the cashier to scan everything into her computer. Our total came to $950. I didn’t think anything of the payment because I had already gone down to our bank in town to let them know I would need to use the card on our missions trip to Nassau. Well, she scanned my card and it didn’t go through. I said, try it again. Nothing. Then I gave her my two personal credit cards, still nothing. Denied. I thought, oh great, how are we going to pay for this?

While my youth coaches waited with our four shopping carts inside the store, I went to find my friend, the youth pastor of the church where we were serving. I found him outside another store with a couple buddies. I explained the situation to him. He allowed me to borrow his phone to call my credit card company back in the United States. I couldn’t make the call from my phone because it would have cost me a small fortune in roaming charges. When the phone call connected I was put on hold for five minutes before a representative got on the phone. Well, as soon as I start giving her my information, my friend's phone battery died. Oh great! 

In light of this, we were reminded of God's sovereignty, so, we stopped and prayed and asked God to take over. Then my friend gives me a quarter to use the pay-phone outside the grocery store. I was able to get through and find out that the wait was now seven minutes to get through to an agent. Well, the problem was that for every quarter you put in, you only get about thirty seconds of phone time to the United States. My friend had three quarters in his pocket and then sent his friends to find more. Two minutes into the phone call, my friend put a quarter in that added time and then popped out of the bottom of the phone, as if to return the quarter to us. He used the same quarter ten times, each time accumulating time. We had an anointed quarter. 

I can only describe this as an act of God. My friend told me he has never seen a quarter do that in a pay-phone ever before. Praise the Lord! I ended up getting through to my credit card company, and we only had to add a few more quarters to enable me to finish my phone call. The friendly agent on the other end freed up my credit card for purchases in Nassau and my credit card was accepted for the groceries.

Through this experience, God reminded me that He is in complete control no matter what the circumstance. When my credit card didn't go through, I was already thinking ahead to the possibilities of not making that purchase to feed our team for the week or considering other ways to make the purchase. The right thing to do was what we ended up doing and that was to stop and pray. All I needed to do was to trust God. When we prayed, we invited the God of the universe into our situation. He had complete control all along. He delivered a timely miracle that I will never forget.

Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you."