THE PRIVILEGE OF MINISTERING IN OUR REGION

Northern California is one of the most influential and spiritually strategic regions in the world. The San Francisco Bay Area has been a world wide cultural leader for more than a century and has been a center for such notable expressions as the civil rights and hippie movements,  the New Age and counter cultural political activism. More recently this region has been responsible for most of the development of the homosexual “rights” agenda.  This region has always been a strong center for education and business. In recent years, the high tech revolution was born in our borders and internet development was centered here as well. Our region hosts Sacramento and the leadership of our state which if it was an independent country would be in the top ten economies in the world. 

As we consider the various attributes of Northern California, it’s important to remember that these qualities exist because or the redemptive purpose of God. When God made this area, He embedded the hills with gold and covered them with trees. He created a fertile valley with a series of rivers which flow to the low point of what is now the San Francisco Bay. At the foot of Mount Shasta springs forth the headwaters of the great Sacramento River, This mighty river flows for hundreds of miles into the Pacific Ocean through the famous Golden Gate, creating one of the greatest natural harbors in the world. This geographic feature has made San Francisco a God-designed center for import and export to the rest of the world. The Bay is a key in understanding the redemptive purpose for our region.

Our region is a place of great resource, opportunity, wealth and beauty, therefore people are attracted to our region from all over the world. We are a place of safe harbor therefore those who are driven by storms and troubles come to our shores to find mercy, tolerance and acceptance. We are a place of creativity, intelligence and innovation, therefore we foster new art and music, lifestyles and ideologies. Our region is internationally strategic therefore what is developed here is noted, imitated and embraced by people all around the world.

The only problem is that the god of this world has commandeered the channels of influence that are embedded in the redemptive purpose of our region and has used these channels of influence to export a variety of harmful things to the world around us. This is why well-meaning but near-sighted believers around the world call our region “God Forsaken”. They say things such as, “If God doesn’t judge San Francisco, He would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Certainly, Northern California would qualify as the kind of place that Jesus called “the seat of Satan”, yet those of us who have pledged ourselves to ministering here are   less enamored with the enemy’s presence and purpose than we are with the possibility of God bringing revival.

 We are convinced that God desires to visit our region in a powerful way. We believe that God is going to bring a massive awakening and thousands of people will be born into the Kingdom of God.  We contend that God is empowering the churches and ministries of our region so that He can use us to reclaim the channels of influence that embody His redemptive purpose and use these channels to  export revival to the rest of the world. What a privilege

WITH GREAT PRIVILEGE COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY.