by Os Hillman
For a city to be transformed, the marketplace must be transformed. The marketplace is where the battle for our cities should be fought, and there is an army already in place that needs to be commissioned and empowered: the so-called laity. Whether they run corporations or work for them, they are better positioned (than the clergy) to transform the marketplace.
Christians in the marketplace already have an anointing to share the gospel with the lost; but, in most cases, the anointing has not been activated, as the laypersons have been relegated to the second-class status in the church.7
What Is Required for City Transformation?
There are four key ingredients required to see a city transformed. These include prayer, humility, unity and knowledge of God’s ways. Let’s discuss each of these in turn.
Prayer
In every city in which transformation has taken place, believers have come together to pray for their city. Prayer changes the spiritual climate of a city. Some of the main areas of influence that must be the focus of our prayers include churches and businesses; the legal, political, educational and medical fields; and the media/entertainment industry. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). Workplace leaders must be strategically aligned with intercessors to impact their city.
Humility
God uses men and women who recognize that they need each other and who do not seek glory for their work. “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way” (Ps. 25:9). The workplace leaders that God is using today care little about being in the limelight. They have a Kingdom perspective that avoids bringing attention to themselves or any one group in order to impact the city for Jesus Christ.
Unity
Jesus said, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23). God calls each of us individually and corporately to represent Christ to the world, but our independence, pride and egos often prevent us from becoming unified in the purposes of Christ. We are scattered in our church affiliations and in our city transformation efforts. Unity is built when we roll up our sleeves and determine to work together—pastors, priests and people from every walk of life. The marketplace and the Church must come together to bless the city with practical initiatives that benefit the city.
Knowledge of God’s Ways
Those of us in the workplace are often zealous for God, but we can move in presumption instead of in a faith that is rooted in knowledge of God’s ways. Such was the case of David, who wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem. He was zealous for God and celebrated as he brought the Ark into the city. However, the ark was being carried into the city on a cart instead of by priests on poles, as God required. When a man named Uzzah reached out to catch the Ark when the oxen stumbled, he was immediately struck dead by God. “When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God” (2 Sam. 6:6-7). David was devastated.
We must connect with our priests and pastors to jointly work on bringing the presence of God into our cities. Otherwise, we will fail like David and be guilty of presumption. “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge” (Romans 10:2).
City Transformation “Trinity”
I also believe there is a city transformation “trinity,” if you will allow me to use that word in this way. I believe three groups of people are vital to bringing change to the spiritual climate in a city: (1) intercessors, who are called to intercede for the city; (2) apostolic nuclear church leaders, who are church leaders with a vision for their cities; and (3) marketplace leaders, or more specifically, workplace apostles. These are men and women called to impact their cities through their spheres of influence in government, business and education.
In 2003, the Lord began to impress upon me that I was to start bringing the workplace leaders and ministries together in the city of Atlanta for a vision of transforming the city. We partnered with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in April 2004 to host a workplace conference for the city. However, nothing really sparked any ongoing initiatives from that meeting.
I continued to meet with the workplace ministries, but nothing seemed to be happening. I kept trying to find intercessors in the city, but I was unsuccessful. Finally, I got to know Alistair Petrie when I had him speak at our international conference in October 2004. Alistair is an authority and researcher on city transformation. When I shared my frustration with him, he said, “Oh, you need to meet Jacquie Tyre. She is your city intercessor.” I met with Jacquie, and things immediately began to happen. I began connecting with some of the city church leaders.
A short time later, in February 2005, Graham Power, founder of Transformation Africa and the Global Day of Prayer, came through town. I was asked to host a meeting for Graham to share the vision of the Global Day of Prayer. Up to this point, the city had not made any decisions about joining this initiative; but that day about 100 leaders in the city came to hear Graham and by the end of the meeting made a commitment to hold an Atlanta Global Day of Prayer. Things started moving fast. Within 30 days $125,000 was raised, a 20,000-seat venue was reserved and the city began coming together.
I believe the reason that all this happened is because these three groups of people came together in a unified effort to impact our city—intercessors, apostolic church leaders and workplace leaders.
God Is Birthing City Coalitions
City coalitions are forming in larger cities around the United States, as well as internationally. These coalitions usually include workplace leaders, pastors, non-profit workplace ministries and intercessors. When you combine these four groups of people, you have a very strong core of leadership that can impact a city. However, the challenge is bringing these leaders together in such a way that there is real unity.
Rick Boxx is a workplace leader in Kansas City who saw the need to begin such a coalition. “I felt the Lord leading me to develop a citywide model that would be effective in living out John 17,” he says. “The desire to see a unified effort between the different ministries and business leaders who have influence over the workplaces of Kansas City led me to contact several of them for our first meeting. We determined to begin meeting on a regular basis to see what God might do with this group.” Their first cooperative dinner meeting had more than 600 in attendance. They are now seeking God’s vision for transformation in their city. Similar coalitions are now under way in many cities, including Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; Spartanburg, South Carolina; San Marco, California; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in the San Francisco Bay area in California, just to name a few.
The Bible says that we are called to disciple the nations. You cannot disciple a nation until you disciple a city and the people in that city. I believe that God has begun to move upon His people in the cities, for the sake of the nations.
How About You?
1. Do you think a city can be transformed for Jesus Christ? Why or why not?
2. What would your workplace or city look like if it were to be transformed by Jesus Christ? List three things that would be different.
CHAPTER 14
FROM THE WORKPLACE TO THE NATIONS
Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.
PROVERBS 22 : 29
The International Christian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) conference was about to begin. There were about 400 business people from 75 different nations in the room. After a time of worship, a man stood up and exhorted (actually, it was more like a rebuke) Christians in the United States
to pray for their president. It was a difficult time in our nation, and Bill Clinton was not the most esteemed person in the opinion of many Americans.
The man who challenged us to pray was pastor Romain Zannou from the small African nation of Benin. Romain had earned the right to exhort us. Many years ago, God had given him a burden to pray for his Marxist dictator president, Mathieu Kerekou. For 10 years, he prayed for two hours a day for Kerekou’s salvation and for God to give Kerekou wisdom to lead the nation. One day while he was praying, Romain felt that the Lord had a message for the president. Within 24 hours, he was standing in a room with Kerekou to deliver the word of the Lord.
After the dismantling of the U.S.S.R., Kerekou decided to hold free elections, and he was defeated. Though he and Romain had agreed to meet after the elections for a time of Bible study, the former president refused to meet with Romain after only a few meetings. Almost every day after that, Romain went to Kerekou’s home, only to be told that Kerekou did not wish to see him. Each day he said, “I will wait,” and stood outside the wall for hours, in hopes that Kerekou would let him in.
After a year and a half of these unsuccessful visits, the former president finally received him and greeted him with the words, “Pastor Zannou, you are a very persistent man.” They began an in-depth study of the Bible, sometimes studying for six hours at a time. Through this study of the word of God, the former president received Christ.
In 1997, during the Global Conference on World Evangelism in South Africa, re-elected President Kerekou addressed 600 business people from all over the world who were meeting with one goal in mind—to fulfill the Great Commission through their influence in the workplace. He shared his vision for Benin to become a Christian nation and asked for their help. Several people have since helped develop many initiatives on behalf of the nation of Benin.
Romain Zannou is one of many unknown leaders who have a passion for Jesus and who are being used to impact nations through their own workplace calling. They are an unlikely group of people—pastors, flower shop owners, builders, industrialists and even a former golf pro (me). This chapter profiles various case studies of God’s transforming power among the nations and the people He is using to do it. My hope and prayer is that it will encourage you to dream big!
Thinking Big
It was 4:00 A.M. in Cape Town, South Africa, in July 2000 when businessman Graham Power was awakened by a vision from God that came in three distinct parts. In the first part of the vision, God instructed Graham to rent the 45,000-seat Newlands rugby stadium in Cape Town for a day of repentance and prayer for that city. In the second part of the vision, he saw the prayer movement spreading to the rest of South Africa for a national day of prayer. In the final part of the vision, he saw the prayer effort spread to cover the rest of the continent.
Graham was obedient to the vision, and on March 21, 2001, a capacity crowd gathered in the Newlands rugby stadium for prayer and repentance. Soon after, a notorious gangster in the city was saved. News of the first gathering spread quickly, and in 2002, eight cities in South Africa hosted a day of prayer. Leading up to the event, young people from all over the country took part in a “walk of hope” from Bloemfontein to the eight stadiums where the prayer meetings were to be held. The events were broadcast on television.
Then in May 2004, 20 to 30 million Africans from all 53 countries in Africa and five islands gathered for united prayer in hundreds of stadiums throughout the continent. This was followed by a worldwide day of prayer involving all seven continents. Hundreds of transformation stories throughout the continent of Africa have resulted from this major effort, which all started with the obedience of one businessman.
An Invitation from Israel
In 2002, the ICCC cohosted a business congress with the nation of Israel. Three Israeli departments of trade and commerce came together with 450 other business leaders from over 40 nations for one reason: to bless the nation of Israel at a time when the Israelis most needed it— the eighth year of the intifada (the armed uprising of Palestinians against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip). The Israeli leaders were so impressed with the Christians that they invited ICCC to establish their headquarters in Jerusalem. The relationship is continuing to develop in conjunction with a number of other joint projects.
The Egyptian Business Community in Cairo saw the success of this event and asked ICCC to do the same for them. The ICCC brought the International Community to Cairo in February 2005 for an international business expo and business matchmaking event to promote commerce, export, investment and the small and medium business sector in Egypt. It was an unprecedented event for a Christian-based group to partner with a primarily Muslim nation. You won’t hear much of this on the evening news.
China: Transforming the Educational System
“You Can Start a Business” is a video series that ICCC has developed and promoted in China since 1999. As China began moving toward a market-driven economy, the government started looking for someone to help train their young people in that area. IBM and Microsoft submitted proposals, but they were turned down. Instead, surprisingly, the government sought out the Christians of ICCC to provide the training. Why? “Capitalism does not work well without ethics,” the Chinese government said. “You can provide our people with ethics in addition to the market economy training.”
ICCC made sure the Chinese government understood that it is a Christian organization and that the course teaching would be based on the Bible. The government responded by saying, “You just can’t say ‘Jesus’, ‘God’ or ‘the Bible,’” but agreed it was acceptable to say, “It is written.” The project moved forward, with Scripture quoted throughout the program (“A wise old saying says… “or “It is written… ”).
The program has aired many times to a potential household audience of 250 million, and government leaders have documented more than 40,000 businesses that started as a result of the program. It is the only government-approved market economy course in the university system. Now, graduates of the course and owners of the businesses are asking, “Where do these wonderful sayings come from?”
Dale Neill, the international president of ICCC and coauthor and host on the series, can tell many extraordinary stories of how God is using this program to build a foundation within the nation of China that will surely have an enormous spiritual harvest in the years to come. The series has now been translated into a number of other languages and is being used worldwide.
Flowers in Swaziland
Nan Jarvis is another example of someone who has been obedient to God in her workplace calling. She moved to Swaziland, a nation of one million people in the southern tip of Africa that leads the world in the number of HIV/AIDS cases, with more than 50 percent of the population infected. God had this farm girl from South Africa move to Swaziland to become a catalyst for transformation in this tiny nation.
Nan was born into a family of nine children, and her father committed suicide when she and her twin sister were just three and a half (her mother was pregnant at the time). She was sexually abused by her uncles, raped and physically abused by her own husband, and orphaned at the age of 24. Nan came to know Christ personally during this time, but after three years of marriage and then divorce, she and her son, Richard, moved to Swaziland.
Swaziland is a monarchy led by a king, and it is still heavily steeped in tribal ways. Nan owned a flower shop, and she just so happened to pick up the account for the king to deliver flowers to his five queens’ households (later to be seven). As she was preparing the first flower arrangements, she felt that the Holy Spirit told her to make the deliveries herself. She wasn’t too crazy about the idea as she had a person on staff to do this, but because she had an obedient heart, she did it anyway.
This act of obedience opened doors for her to get into people’s homes, hospitals, clinics, schools, government offices, parliamentary houses and even into the king’s palaces, where she has had many opportunities to be a witness, share
the gospel, pray for people and see the hand of God touch and heal many lives. It is a difficult nation to work in because of deeply held tribal traditions, such as polygamy and sexual immorality, and erroneous foundations laid by their forefathers, such as ancestral worship and witchcraft.
Over time, Nan developed a relationship with many of the king’s wives. One of these wives in particular eventually gave her life to the Lord and received the power of the Holy Spirit. This queen’s life has radically changed over the years. She has implemented many things within her sphere of influence that have expressed her newfound faith. She earned a law degree and is now studying for her master’s degree—which are things never achieved by a queen before—and has been admitted into the law court of the nation. She is promoting gospel music in the nation and has her own choir called “Redemption.”
The king, queen mother and many of the other queens and leaders of the nation are professing Jesus Christ as Lord. Nan remains in a close relationship with the royal family, interceding by standing in the gap on their behalf as they bring about positive change to the nation. They are a nation under siege and undergoing a tremendous warfare for survival spiritually, socially and economically. The minister of Health and Social Welfare called for national prayer and time of repentance for the AIDS pandemic.
Nan’s relationship with the people of Swaziland has opened doors for her to be a catalyst to bring agricultural programs into the nation through the ICCC and other groups. Jesus told her, “Go feed my sheep and care for my lambs.” She has prayed and seen God send the rain that allowed people to eat once again. God has told her that Swaziland will become a “bread basket nation” and that it will feed itself and other nations. Nan is now in the medical profession, and sees God doing many mighty miracles in her daily marketplace. She is a wonderful example of how God can take a broken heart and heal it and use a person to impact a nation.