Citywide Prayer Gathering in Reynosa, Mexico

Citywide Prayer Movement in Reynosa, Mexico

Click here for photos from our first prayer rally.
Click here for more on praying for Mexico

Part of the vision God has given us for Reynosa, Mexico is to unify the church here in citywide prayer for revival. We've gathered a core group of pastors who are interested in the vision, and are willing to work together to bring about this prayer movement. The name we've given the movement is "Despierta Reynosa - Proyecto 2001" (Wake Up Reynosa - Project 2001).
Starting this prayer movement is quite a challenge, as there are great divisions within the church at large, and seemingly greater here in Reynosa. There are several pastors groups, as they can't even agree enough to have one pastor's alliance. However, strife is from the enemy, and God wants us to destroy this work of satan.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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

As we started to share this vision, we found a video called Transformaciones. This video, from the Sentinel Group, gives testimony of four cities that have been totally changed by the same type of prayer gatherings we have a vision for. We've used this powerful video to share the vision. When the pastors see this, they realize that the same thing is possible for this city. Pastors who've never taken intercessory prayer seriously are now suddenly gaining a desire to pray for Reynosa and see God change this city.
This is not our work, it's the Lord's. We have managed to gather a nucleus of pastors who are working with us to promote and organize these events. We passed the vision on to them, and they are the ones who are actually doing most of the work. Our place is to unify, guide, and support them in this.
This work of changing the city through prayer is definitely one of spiritual warfare. As we begin, we've already received attacks from the enemy, who's trying to abort the prayer before we can even bring birth to it. However, we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS, and will enforce our victory in this area.
There are several strongholds in this city that we need to come against. Please help us by interceeding for these areas in your church prayer group.

Religiosity - traditions and customs are very strong, negating the Word of God in many ways. The Catholic church is the biggest and politically strongest church in the country.

Contention - the spirit of strife and contention is very strong here, coming between families, marriages, churches...

Poverty - although this city isn't anywhere near as bad as many in Mexico, this stronghold is over pretty much all of Latin America. It causes people to enter into sin in areas they otherwise wouldn't.

Drugs - As with all the border towns, there is a large, active drug business. This is actually more the fault of the United States, because we're the ones buying these drugs!

Sexual Sin - There is a large problem with adultery within the city, within the church, even within the ministry. We recently heard on the secular news that this city is number two in the whole world for child prostitution. Again, the United States has greatly added to this, because it's the Americans crossing the border that want these prostitutes.

UPDATE!
We had our first citywide prayer gathering on 22 January 2001 in the central plaza from 7:00 - 10:00 pm. It is a small miracle that we were given permission to use the plaza, as this is the first time in the history of the city that a Christian group has been given permission to use the plaza for a gathering.
There were between 500 and 700 believers gathered together to intercede for the city. We saw strongholds of division broken down as 35 pastors joined together to pray for the church at large. However, there is much more to be done, as there are about 500 churches in the city.
Of course, there were some problems, but overall, the prayer meeting was a success. Unfortunately, some of the pastors don't fully have the vision, and are trying to use this project to further their own agendas. Please support us in prayer, especially for godly unity (not man's unity, but God's).
We have tentative plans to have the next prayer gathering in March, in the plaza of the biggest colonia (bigger than a housing development, and smaller than a suburb) in the city. In May, we've got another prayer meeting planned in the second biggest colonia. After that, we're looking at having 100 evangelistic campaigns in 100 churches at the same time. By the end of the year, we hope to use the baseball stadium to gather 10,000 believers together to intercede for the city.
Please pray for us, the pastors we're working with, and the city. We need the protection of the prayers of the saints from the attacks that satan is trying to bring against us. Pray also against those strongholds I've mentioned above. We can only accomplish this work of God if we are willing to make the sacrifice of time on our knees, and have the support of others who are willing to do the same.
UPDATE AGAIN!
After the first prayer gathering, we received several great reports! First of all, the three pastors groups, who normally won't even talk to each other, had a joint service with the pastors and their wives from the three groups. One of the things we were praying for is unity in the church. This was a major step in the right direction.
We also received reports from the Reynosa police that crime in Reynosa dropped drastically for several weeks following the first prayer gathering. Normally, the crime in Reynosa is higher than the surrounding cities, but for these weeks, it was lower. In addition to this, the American border patrol had several major victories agains the drug trade, making some very large "busts." We were praying against sin in the city, especially drug related sins.
The second prayer gathering , on April 23rd, went better than the first. We had about the same number of people, but many more pastors than we had for the first one. That means that we'll be spreading the intercessory prayer into more and more churches.
The spiritual atmosphere at this prayer gathering was better than the first one. There was much less struggle and much more freedom. Even though many people were late due to trafic problems (construction on one of the major roads) the scheduling of the event worked out perfect.
We are meeting with a group of pastors to pray in the central part of the city every Friday. Most of them are also having prayer in their churches every week with their congregations. One group of pastors, in one of the bigger colonias, has started having a gathering for their colonia every two weeks, gathering together to intercede.