 |
||||
|
||||
 |
|
|||||
 |
My friend, At the beginning of the year we spend a considerable amount of time explaining what Coming Clean and Staying Clean was. We wrote about the Seven Steps for Coming Clean and the Seven Steps for Staying Clean. At the bottom of every E-Letter we urge you to join the Coming Clean Cartel, yet we have never fully explain what this means or what does this entail. Today I want to take this opportunity to explain what the Coming Clean Cartel is and what it means to join the cartel. When I left the Medellin Drug Cartel I made an intentional choice to forget about my past life. When I finished my Ph.D. it was my greatest desire not to be known for who I was, but for who I became. Yet, from the time when the Lord called me back to full time ministry all I have thought about is how three young punk kids, with Satan, in just three years were instrumental in creating a criminal empire. What made us different from other criminals? Why were we so successful? How did we become so powerful? The answer to all these questions lies in a term Andy Stanley labels "authentic community." Let me explain. As I look back through the cartel's beginning I remember how committed we all were. We loved each other, we were focused on the mission at stake, we used all our resources together, and most important we were willing to die for what we believed, that simple! I meditated day and night on my passion to be the most powerful organization on earth; it was our desire to create a network of "like minded" people; other young kids who were not concerned about self, but who would place the interest of the organization above themselves even to the point of dying if need be. No matter what we want to call it, it was an authentic community. It was real and it grew. God has given Coming Clean Ministries an immense vision to win the war on drugs, which is taking the lives of our children. As we endeavor to empower the young people God has blessed me with to believe that with Christ each and everyone of them can indeed change the world, we are also endeavoring to create Coming Clean Ministries affiliates in every city of America, and then in every country of the world. To accomplish this amazing task WE need to implement the same principles that were implemented to create the Medellin Cartel. We need to create Authentic Community. It is my prayer that we the body of Christ, which is the true church of Jesus Christ, to be focused. We need to be like-minded, learn to celebrate our differences as gifts from God, and not allow them to continue to separate us. We need to use our resources for the furtherance of the Kingdom and not to create earthly Kingdoms. Finally, we need to commit to die for Christ. For as someone has said, "Until you have found something to die for, you have not found anything to live for." When we do this for good as easily as others do it for evil, we will win the war for the soul of our children. In unity lies our strength. God bless you always, Jorge
Jorge Valdes, Ph.D.
|