Fearless

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1) 

After coming back to Mazatlan from Mexico City, we immediately plunged into helping prepare for our Carnaval outreach.  Marking the onset of Lent, a major religious event, Carnaval is Mazatlan's annual celebration of Mardi Gras. Said to be the third largest in the world, Carnaval is Mazatlan's most attended citywide event. Each year over 400,000 people bombard the city ready to party with the masses. With a mandate to 'transform Mazatlan one party at a time', we at YWAM Mazatlan, together with teams from around the world, Mexico, and the local church, plunged head first into the 6 day festival.

Our outreach included such things as a free coffee shop, hair salon, kids ministry, skateboarding competitions, evangelism and intercession.  I was on the prayer team and it was super intense.  We had 24/7 prayer going on throughout the whole things so my schedule would look something like this:

Pray 6-8am

Breakfast at 10am

Sleep from 11am to 2pm

Meet in our prayer team or as an entire outreach 2-4pm

Dinner at 4pm

Pray for the evening worship service at 6pm

Worship from 7-9pm

Carnaval outreach from 9pm to 2am

Sleep 2am to 6am

Repeat.

God did a lot of things in Carnaval.  The most obvious was that we saw over 2200 salvations during the week of Carnaval.  WOW!  It just amazed me the amount of people that were open to accepting Christ and were reaching out for Him.  He also did a lot of things in us as a base and us as an outreach team.  We had people and teams from all over.  During the Carnaval outreach we had 14 different nations represented.  I think God really showed all of us the importance of intimacy as the priority in reaching other people.  We had worship every night for a couple hours and sometimes in the day and with the constant 24/7 prayer God kept our focus on intimacy which is exactly where it needs to be.  Sometimes ministries get so caught up in doing stuff for God they forget about the actual relationship part of knowing God and spending time with Him.  If you don’t do this part not only is it not much of a relationship but you’re also going to burn out in the ministry part.  It’s just like the story of Mary and Martha:

Luke 10:38-42  Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.  (39)  And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.  (40)  But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."  (41)  But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,  (42)  but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

Martha wasn’t doing anything wrong, she was serving the LORD.  But what Mary chose was better.

Also when we walk in the oil of intimacy God opens up opportunities for us instead of us striving for them.

John 12:32  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

This means that when we worship and focus on Jesus, he’ll draw people to himself instead of us trying to sell him to others.  This happened many times throughout Carnaval and after but I will save those stories for my next blog post.

Another thing God showed all of us was how to live without fear.  The city of Mazatlan during Carnaval was gripped with fear.  The level of violence and murder in the city was at an all time high and there was actually a smaller turnout at Carnaval because of it.  However God was calling us to go out and to be a witness to people amidst the danger and the violence and the drinking and lead people to Him.

This is something I think we can all hold on to throughout the day.  That we don’t have to live in fear of anything except fear of the LORD.  We don’t have to be afraid of what other people can do to us or what they think about us, we don’t have to be afraid of a recession or lack of finances, and we don’t have to be afraid of death.

Romans 8:31  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Psalm 27:1  The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

1 John 4:18  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Let’s live without fear people, that others might see that we are in a perfect love without fear and that they may see Jesus through our confidence in Him.

Overcoming the Giants

Mexico City is the largest city in the world (constantly switching with Tokyo) coming in at about 27 million people.  So what do you do for 5 weeks in a city so huge?  There is so much to do, so many that are lost, where do you start?

Many of you may not know this but 2010 is a huge year for the people of Mexico City as well as Mexico.  It is the 100 year anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.  However it is a big year for God’s plans as well.  This year a ministry of YWAM called Mega Cities has been focusing on Mexico City.

Find more videos like this on YWAM Mazatlan

  Mega Cities goal is to focus on a city for a year and help the church to reach and reach its own city.  We ended up getting to be the first official Mega Cities team.  This was a perfect fit for us because before we left for outreach we had many things that we felt God wanted us to do.  We really wanted to focus on churches, especially the youth and help them find God’s heart for their city and help them reach out in their city which is exactly what Mega Cities has a heart for.

For 2010, Mega Cities has divided D.F. (Mexico City) into 32 different regions.  We were mainly focused on 1 of these 32 regions.  We worked with a couple churches in this region.  We worked a lot with their youth, at one church called Familia Nueva Vida we taught them evangelism and then did it with them.  At the church we stayed at called Centro de Fe, Esperanza, y Amor we worked with their school called 24-7, helped with their youth group called PuntoNet and did evangelism through their ministry UrbanoMX.

We did a lot of urban evangelism.  We evangelized at Prepas (high schools), we preached on buses, we prayed for people at hospitals, we talked to vendors at the taco stands, we did dramas in Zocolo (the big square downtown). We fed the homeless and gave flowers to prostitutes.  We also got to work with a church that was for homeless people, drug addicts, and alcoholics.

One other cool thing that we got to do was the week following the Earthquake in Haiti.  For 5 days we went down to the Haiti Embassy in Mexico City from about 11am to 11pm and we helped out.  We hauled and loaded water, food, medicine, and clothes from people’s cars into packages and onto trucks.  It was a lot of hard work but it was definitely worth it.  It was also awesome to be able to do something to help a huge need.  We also got to encourage a lot of people from the Haiti Embassy or other people helping out.  We saw a few salvations and we got to bless a lot of people by talking to them or praying for them.

At the end of our outreach we got to lead PuntoNet.  We did some dramas, my friend Adrianna spoke, and I got to show a video I made about Human Trafficking

Overall it was an awesome experience to see how God moved in Mexico City.  The churches we worked in, especially the two main churches we saw a ton of growth in the youth.  The youth in these two churches are also now working together in a lot of things where before they didn’t even really know about each other.  The last time we were at youth group for Familia Nueva Vida they all thanked us and one guy said he couldn’t wait until we saw in the newspaper that Mexico was a Christian nation and that we got to be a part of making that happen.  That was really a blessing to hear someone say that.  Also the last Sunday service we went to at Centro de Fe was CRAZY.  The youth really led out in worship and pretty much the entire congregation (probably 500ish people) including the really young and the really old were jumping and dancing for the LORD. 

The LORD really highlighted a couple things for me during outreach in Mexico City.  It is amazing what God can do in such a little amount of time.  Now it’s hard to really know everything that happened while we were in Mexico City but I know that God did a lot.  Not only did we get to do all the stuff mentioned above but I felt we really laid a foundation for the rest of the Mega Cities teams to come in after us.  This was done in our attitude, our love, and our prayers.

The second thing is the importance of being like Joshua and Caleb.  Looking at D.F. and its massively huge state of being it would’ve been really easy for our team to be like the spies that complained about the giants being to big.  (Numbers 13-14) However I felt we went in with the confidence that the LORD was going to give us victory and he did.  When we do the possible and we expect Him to do the impossible He does.  I would really like to encourage all of you to look at your problems and to keep your attitudes like that of Caleb in Numbers 13:30,

“But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it."

Sniffing Evangelism

One of the awesome things about God is that He can use just about anything you do for His glory and to advance His kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 5:13 it says, "If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you." God can use crazy stuff that we do to reach other people. About a week or so into our outreach in Mexico City God used something I would have never expected to reach people with His love.

In the area where we were staying there was a market and at night this street always had taco stands and other stores set up in the street. We would go there to evangalize but to do it in a less direct way. Our goal was to build relationships with people to get to know them and not even neccesarily talk about Christ unless of course it came up. It was getting later in the night and we were meeting back up and eating tacos and such when somehow a few people in our group decided they were going to sniff the salsa from one of the taco stands.

Now this salsa had a reputation as being some of the hottest in Mexico City and having tried it myself I can testify it was REALLY hot. Anyway 4 guys in our group decided to sniff this salsa up there nose, one full sniff by using a straw. As they were getting ready to do this we drew a little bit of a crowd specifically at this clothes store right across from the taco stands. Anyway they did it and it was pretty hilarious lot of spitting/almost puking occured. Howvever what God did with this was even cooler. The family and people at the clothes store watched the whole thing and we started talking to them and were talking and hanging out with them for a good hour or so after the salsa event. At the end of the night we all had new friends and they invited us to their hosue for lunch. In the Mexican culture if someone invites you to their house like that its a big honor.

A couple days later we had lunch with them. The food was amazing. We also played this game they had for a good couple hours. The game was actually a family game and in the Mexican culture if the family invites you to play a game that they usually play as a family its like they are invited you to be part of their family in a sense. Anyway the game was this. You bent over and put your face in a pillow and a bunch of people would stand behind you. Then one of them would spank your butt and then you had to turn around and guess who it was. If you guessed wrong you put your head back in the pillow until you got it right.

We were also able to have a time of devotions and worship with them inside their house. This was really awesome because the father of the household is Catholic and his wife was protestant. However the father wouldn't allow the Bible to be read in his house because he believed it was only to be read in the church. At the end of the worship time we were able to pray for some of the family meembers and just really encourage them.

The last thing that came out of this is the younger daughter of the family (probably about 14 I think) ended up hanging out with us a bunch. She came to the pyramids with us as well as Six Flags. During these times she was just able to hang around a good spiritual atmostphere, build relationship with some of the leaders from the youth group of the church we were at, and just encourage in the Lord quite a bit.

So we sniffed some salsa, God moved, and a family was touched. God can use just about anything we do if we do it in the mindset of bringing Him glory and if when He opens up doors we step through them wtih boldness and courage taking advantage of the oppertunities He gives us. Something that God taught me a lot about during DTS was what our DTS first talks about. That we need to reach people by the lifestyle that we live. We need to stop trying to convince so many people and start inspiring people more. That through everything we do wheather it be sniffing salsa, playing hockey, or working a job, people should be able to see our love for God and people. 1 John 3:18, "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

This is us playing the game at the family's house

70.5 Hours

Here is the first of hopefully several stories/testimonies that I will be sharing about my outreach in Mexico City and back in Mazatlan.
The first 3 days we were in Mexico City we had decided as a team to read the Bible outloud over the city for 3 days straight, without stopping. So midnight of the first night we were there we all read Genesis 1 together. From there we split into 3 teams, each team taking 2 hour shifts until morning. Then during the day all 3 teams read at teh same time so my team would be in Joshua and another team in Leviticus another in Psalms etc... and we went about the city, on the metro, in Zocolo (this huge sqaure), in front of governemtn buildings on top of hotels in churches and we declared God's word over the city. A couple verses God had given us for this time was Proverbs 1:20-21, "Wisdom calls aloud in the street,she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech" and Isaiah 55:11, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." We knew that as we declared the Word of God over the city it would not return void.

As many of you know we were part of MegaCities and we were the first team on the ground for MegaCities 2010'. We felt that part of our role as the first team was to lay a foundation in prayer for the city and for the rest of the teams. Reeading the Bible was definately a huge part of this. Not only do I believe it shifted things in the spiritual atmostphere of the city but it prepared our team for the next 5 weeks. It brought us unity, a greater love and hunger for the word, and a greater understanding of it as well. It also just fed our spirits to be full of truth so that we might pour that truth out upon the city the next 5 weeks we were there. For my personally it was a truly amazinag experience reading the entire Bible front to back in 70 and a half hours. It definately gave me a greater understanding of things especially in the Old Testemant and grew my love for the Old Testement as well. I also know I was completely filled up. I had never felt the presence of God so much while reading the Bible.

Now why do I share this? It isn't that something amazing happened like tons of people came to Christ through us reading the Bible. But I think it was very important and its a good reminder to all of us to keep truth at the forfront of what we do. Everything we do must come from truth and the truth that is in the word of God. Our will, our emotions, everything must follow truth.
Brother Chris

The End Has Come...or has is?

Hey everyone!  Sorry I haven’t posted a blog post in a while.  I swear I wrote on while I was in Mexico City but I think the internet was down and I never posted it and now I can’t find it.  Anyway.  Thank you everyone so much for your prayers and your support!   I am so grateful! 

Well DTS graduation is tomorrow.  I can’t believe it is so soon.  It went by so fast.  God taught me and showed me so much.  I feel so much closer to His heart, deeper in intimacy with Him and stronger than ever in my faith.  God has also done so much in this base while I have been here that I have gotten to be a part of as well as in the cities of Mazatlan and Mexico City as well as South Africa.  I would love to just share so much about outreach but don’t have a lot of time right now.  On Saturday I go back to Minnesota for 3 weeks and during those 3 weeks (March 13^th – April 5^th) I plan to write a lot of blog posts that are just stories from outreach and things God has done so check back frequently if you wish to here a lot about that.

So the end of DTS has come.  It will be sad to say goodbye to many faces.  However, what God is calling me to do next is what is really exciting.  Starting April 5^th here at YWAM Mazatlan they have a school called the prophetic WISE school.  It specializes in teaching Worship, Intercession, Spiritual Warfare, and Evangelism and working in the prophetic in these 4 areas.  It is done through lecture and practice.  More info: http://www.ywammazatlan.com/page/school-of-worship-intercession

Since outreach God has been speaking to me about doing this school and has confirmed it through various scriptures throughout the Bible.  Therefore from April 5^th to June 25^th I will be coming back to YWAM Mazatlan to do the WISE school.  I feel like this is a time where God really wants to grow me in the prophetic and also specifically in the area of intercession as I know that is one of the callings God has on my life is prayer warrior.  Another awesome thing is that about half of my DTS is staying around or coming back to do this school.  I am super excited for this school and would appreciate your prayers and supports as I continue to seek the face of God and dig deeper into relationship with Him. 

One note of mention about YWAM Mazatlan, the base where I am doing these schools at is that the last payment on our building is due on Monday.  In the last 2 weeks God has brought in $100,000 and we still need about $150,000.  It has been awesome to see how God has been growing each of us individually and the base during this time of seeking Him for this payment.  He has brought about special times of repentance, generosity, unity, and faith in each of us and corporately.  Please keep us in your prayers however as we continue through this process of trusting God in the payment of this building.

That’s all I got right now, thanks again everyone for your support during DTS.  God bless and check in lots during the next 3 weeks hopefully I’ll get around 10 stories up from outreach.  As always feel free to email me at chrismbrands@gmail.com God bless!

Brother Chris

My DTS and the house we built last week in Colonia Sinaloa