Ladder of success

The time that I have been able to spend in Colombia has been really inspiring. The truth is that since I got married I have seen God’s hand working in every area. I encourage all the single people to pray for the ideal person chosen by God for you, so that you can see the fullness of blessing too.

One of the areas where I have experienced great growth has been in my ministry, because along with my husband, we have been able to form our 12’s and 144’s.

Pastors César and Claudia felt that July and August should be months for launching ourselves into holding big evangelistic meetings. All the pastors took up the challenge, each one having a goal to fill the auditorium, which holds 12 thousand people, with their respective ministries.
In our case, we joined with Pastors Fernando and Clara Ramos to hold a large meeting. For us it was a really huge challenge, given that on Sundays we were used to having an average of 320 people, and now our goal was to bring 2.000.
With our team we took hold of the word in Isaiah 65:17 which says: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” We took that Word, believed it and held a time of intercession where we cried out for revival in the church.

On the day of the meeting we rented 20 buses in faith and we saw something supernatural: all of the buses were full and our ministry managed to bring 600 new people. God surprised us with 1.600 people. Because of this miraculous catch meeting we were able to see that nothing is impossible for God and that He is pleased by our faith.

I encourage you to take on great challenges full of faith and with the assurance that God will bring all of your dreams to fulfillment.

This last month I have been in Colombia working with our team of 12, and I can honestly say that we are living what the Church in the Acts of the Apostles experienced.

Thousands of people were added to the Church every day. We challenged ourselves, along with our team, to hold 11 meetings specifically for winning new people in our convention centre: the result has been incredible.

So far we have had eight meetings and we have been able to win 15 thousand people. What was our strategy to win so many people? PRAYER! As a Church we spent 80 days in intercession, 24 hours, 7 days a week.

In 18 days the whole Church has won 40 thousand people.

The Word tells us that the apostles ordered their priorities so that they could have more time to be in prayer and in the Word. As a Church we have come back to this principle. Having lots going on can cause us to lose the quality in our time of communion with God.

Do you want to see a revival? Then return to prayer and seek God more through his Word. Join yourself with the people in your cell group, with your 12, and start to intercede! I am sure that you will see supernatural miracles.

Something that motivates people a lot is hearing testimonies of what you are doing to grow ministerially.

Share with others what you are doing, motivate them, and be an example!

When we speak of sending leaders, we need to see that this is the stage where all the effort and work put into the vision is finally seen. We can go out and win thousands of people, consolidate and disciple them in school of leaders, but unless we send them and lead them to reproduce themselves in others through cells, our efforts will be fruitless. Real growth comes when every person that God has given me and that I have been forming takes on the challenge of pastoring others in their cells. That's when a person’s ministry really starts and when we begin to conquer our cities. Every cell represents a victory for the place where it meets. Each cell should impact its surrounding area and establish the kingdom of God.

1. Change your attitude. A few days ago I was talking to one of my twelve about the development of her cells and, quite anxious, she told me how one of her leaders had told her that she loved the vision and thought the church was wonderful, but every time they talked about cells and cell reports it all changed. I was very worried and even more so when another leader working with a different pastor told me that cells were not a priority in her ministry. Afterwards I prayed and asked the Lord what was going on and God took me to the Book of Acts 9 and 10 and spoke to me through the following text: In Chapter 9 of the Book of Acts the church was experiencing one of its biggest revivals, with healing, dead people being raised and crowds running to the feet of Christ. The Apostle Peter was the most well-known man of God. He was doing an excellent work for the Lord. God is doing the same these days : the Holy Spirit is moving and many people are hungry for God.

But God wanted to do more. In Chapter 9, he used a man, Cornelius, who, even though he did not go to church, was a godly man who loved God and was upright. The Lord opened his heart to Jesus. A cell was started in Cornelius’ house, a cell that would mark the start of the ministry to the Gentiles. Meanwhile the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter in a vision and told him three times that he mustn’t call unclean what Christ had made holy. Peter had to change his attitude and recognize that God wanted to go beyond what he wanted and bring salvation to every city. If it had been up to Peter, salvation would not have come to Cornelius, his family or the Gentiles.
We have to change our attitude towards cell work. God wants to touch every city and he is touching the hearts of men and women to lead them to Christ. We cannot decide who does or doesn’t deserve salvation; Cornelius was a good and righteous man and the Lord wanted him in his ranks.

In our cities there are thousands of people, like Cornelius, who are good and upright people who need to find Jesus and the cells are a way of doing this. As pastors we must give our people the desire to go out from the church, from praise and worship meetings, and go ready to conquer and take our nation. Let’s not be like Peter who God had to speak to three times and through visions before he would act. God wants to lead us into victory.

2. Make cell work a priority

. Coming back to the example of my disciple, I understood that what was really bothering her wasn’t the cells themselves, but overseeing the cells, because she did not have the discipline to complete the weekly reports. Sadly I had to admit that this was my fault because I had allowed the reporting to become something sporadic and not a tool for growth. We cannot get distracted from our goal. The main reason for the ladder of success, for winning, discipling and consolidating is to extend the Gospel through the cells. Let’s not allow church activities to distract our people from the cell work. Each activity, each catch meeting, each call should be aimed at achieving growth in our church, growth that should translate into cell growth. Everything we do must be aimed at increasing the number of new people, people going to encounters, students in school of leaders and an explosion of numbers in the cells. As in the days of Peter, God wants to lead us to a new level of victory in our ministry and there are many Corneliuses waiting ready to open their houses to have a cell. Perhaps this is how our leaders will touch the most influential people in our nation.

3. Keep a high level of motivation. There are two ways to achieve growth in cells: one is by pressure and the other is by motivation. When we pressure our leaders to multiply and force them, we do a lot of damage and these cells will be weak. But if we keep a high level of motivation by imparting faith and a conquering spirit we will grow in the right way. First of all, we ourselves must be motivated and have that conviction that our cells will grow and multiply, that they will bring salvation and restoration to every family and home they reach out to. When we have this motivation ourselves, we will pass this same spirit onto our people and they will understand that His hand is upon their cells and that they are fulfilling the great commission. 

We are privileged to be part of a cell church. We are the result of God's dream that He put in the heart of our pastor, who not only dreamed of a church of multitudes but also of one that would extend through thousands of cells to touch the families of the earth. Over the last two years in Colombia, we have opened more than 180 branches of MCI ; these all started as cells and have now grown into churches.

This is precisely what God did through Cornelius’ cell : he won his family, his relatives and established a new place through which the church could minister to the Gentiles.