“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 I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

We have seen transformational change in the South Bronx. The violent crime rate, once the highest in NYC, has dramatically decreased.  Illiteracy has decreased. Unemployment has decreased. Children play on the streets and in playgrounds once controlled by drug dealers. Most of the young drug dealers ten years ago are now working jobs, marrying their girlfriends, and learning to be respectable fathers. A community that once considered the church to be irrelevant now opens its arms to the gospel.

While these miraculous advances are not the direct result of UHM programs, we believe they are a direct result God’s people praying! The remnant of God’s people at Harvest prayed over every door in our community. It took us three-and-a-half years to pray over 80,000 people! We anointed every door and prayed for those who lived there, asking God to bring change. In so doing, God raised up an audacious faith in the intercessors – a faith that believed God heard them when they prayed and He would answer! This persistent intercession door-to-door on the streets of our community invited the favor of God. It was precisely the favor of God that brought change!

And as the people prayed, God brought a change of vision: Where they once hated their community and wanted out as quickly as possible (as is common in every inner city community), they came to understand their Isaiah 61 role and they are eager to fulfill it to bring change to their own community:

Isaiah 61:3-4 says “He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed. They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations.”

The reality of this transformation is like what is written about in Revelation 21:3-4 (The Message)  —

“I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! … The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new.”

This is what God has begun in the neighborhood of the South Bronx. He is doing it in Detroit. This is what God wants to do in your neighborhood!