A few weeks back, I (David) had the honor of attending a conference for businessmen at our local church here in Guatemala.  The conference was about bringing a supernatural lifestyle into your business.  At first, I hesitated to go as what would a non profit director have in common with all these business guys who are looking for the next great idea. However, it did not take long for me to realize that this was the exact place that God wanted me to be as He had a clear message that He wanted to drill into my heart.  

One of the main topics that the conference was based upon was the 7 Mountains of Influence (based on the 7 spheres of influence that YWAM's founder, Loren Cunningham, developed with Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ.)  Basically what it says is that there are 7 areas of society that have the ability to influence the future of an entire nation. These 7 mountains are Religion, Education, Family, Government, Media, Arts/Entertainment, and Economy. The idea of Loren and Bill was that if the church could get to the top of these mountains and become the primary influencer of these mountains, that revival would spread like wild fire across the nation..

During the conference, I had the honor of sharing with general director from  a relatively large business here in Guatemala about our work with street youth.  As I was sharing about how we worked and why we worked, a huge light clicked in my mind.  I was sharing with him that street youth are not just drug addicted, alcoholic, rebellious, no moral youth.  But in fact, that they were amazing people who have been destroyed by a system that never gave them a chance to succeed.  In other words, they were destroyed by the complete breakdown of the family, by impoverished conditions, by all kinds of abuse (sexual, emotional, physical, neglect, etc), and by the lack of interest that the Guatemalan government had in taking care of the children in these places.  As I was sharing with him about this a light turned on in my mind.  These problems are not just issues with street youth, but with the majority of young people growing up in this nation today!  They may not be living on the streets, but they are just as wounded and have their own addictions and issues that they are using to hide their own pain. 

It was at that moment, that I started to see a very profound vision for Guatemala. I saw waves of empowered young people moving over the 7 mountains, causing a revival fire to spark for this nation, and thus causing this nation to rise up out of the darkness that remains from the years of war and into a powerful place of influence in the Americas and around the world.  At that, I felt a strong word from the Lord that our assignment in Guatemala is not just to reach out to and love on street youth, but to raise up and train ALL youth in Guatemala (both those on the streets and in normal living situations), discipling them, empowering them, and the sending them out into the mountains that God is calling them to.

What does all this mean for us and how are we going to start moving towards making this happen?  Well, that is a big question and we are excited that we get to talk to God about! We want to invite you all to be praying for us as we continue in our journey here in Guatemala. God has great things in store for the youth of Guatemala and we cannot wait to see how it all works out!