(pic credit: Yep! ©2025 by crisbaj. Used with permission)

The Seven Spheres of Influence and Influencers

THE MAIN POINT:

‘The Seven Spheres of Influence and Influencers’ is a construct/framework for effective Praying, Interceeding, Evangelizing, Engagement, and Missional work is presented and discussed.

At its’ best, the Spheres are a roadmap the Lord can use towards effective means to make ‘on Earth as it is in Heaven’ a lived reality.

Built on a previous sociologic teaching called ‘The Seven Mountains’, this ‘way of seeing ‘People, Life and Culture’ can greatly clarify and focus the work of the Church in areas of prayer, intercession, evangelism and engagement with the people inside ‘structures’ that exist within every Village, Town, City, Region, State and Nation.

PREFACE/HISTORY

Back in the early 1980’s there was a teaching circulating around churches called ‘The Seven Mountains’, which outlined the seven basic structures that existed in society that demanded our attention, prayer and involvement.

Critics pushed back on ‘Seven Mountains’ at the time, saying it was aberrant theologically. Proposing that it was laced with something called ‘Dominion theology’. Still, the ‘Seven Mountains’ teaching wove its’ way around the Church, now into the 2020’s, and being mentioned by some Bible teachers

Many criticized this strategy because the Bible doesn’t explicitly ‘name seven mountains’.

I’ll address that later.

I encountered this teaching in the early 1980’s. Running it through the multi-lens of the study of Scripture, historic Christianity, missiology, revival culture, charismatic theology, sociology, cross-cultural expertise and a deep love of strong coffee, I took all this to the Lord in prayer over a number of months.

I feel strongly that He revealed to me something of a framework within all this for our current day.

To me, the ‘7 Mountains’ teaching seemed to ‘target’ person-less institutions. For me the Kingdom of God is always about people and relationships [Rom 14:17]

What follow here, dear Reader, are the insights and construct/framework that emerged, and that I have given this a better name, ‘The Seven Spheres of Influence and Influencers’.

May I say, this teaching has been enormously helpful and useful in my work and ministry, both on a person-to-person level, as well as a meta-narrative view of the influencers Scripture calls we pray for.

What emerged to me is that these Spheres applies to every group of people… Villages and Towns, as well as the larger configuration of humans in Cities, Regions, States, and Nations, around the world.

ALL ABOUT PEOPLE, NOT…

Clearly stated, these Spheres are all about PEOPLE. The Spheres themselves are not living things. It’s PEOPLE who inhabit these Structures, work and ‘do life’ within them.

It’s people that Jesus paid for on the Cross.

ALL ABOUT ‘ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN’

Matthew 6:10, in the ‘Pray this way…’ the Lord taught His disciples, we find that the overall MISSION that Jesus made possible through His sacrifice would be that ‘Father, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.’

The Spheres give us ‘people to pray for’, all the movers-and-shakers, the influencers in our human community.

SIN STRUCTURES

As I prayerfully built this, something emerged I wasn’t expecting. Each Sphere has it’s associated ‘sin structures’, unique areas the armies of hell have used as entry-points into the lives of people, and the wider culture.

If you know the enemy’s strategy, you can cut them off at the path.

THE ORIGINAL ‘SEVEN’

The original list was:

   ^ RELIGIOUS

   ^ GOVERNMENT

   ^ BUSINESS

   ^ EDUCATION

   ^ ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS

   ^ FAMILY

   ^ MEDIA

Note: these elements are not ‘ordinal’, namely they co-exist as Influence and Influencers on the same plane. Numbers should not be assigned to them.

THE NEW ‘SEVEN SPHERES OF INFLUENCE AND INFLUENCERS’

   ^ RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL

       *TO INCLUDE: religious organizations, systems, structures, common-held beliefs, tribal-cultural practices, religious holidays

       *SIN STRUCTURES: kingdom of darkness practices, demonic strongholds, curses/curse-casting, charms and channeling items, witchcraft, animism, Santaria, Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, idols/idol-image worship, LGBTQIA+

       *INFLUENCERS INCLUDE: clergy, pastors, ministers, denominational leaders, priests/priestess, shamans, spiritists, new-age practitioners, witches, spirtist promoters, people taken with a particular false religion or idolatry… 

 ^ GOVERNMENT/INFRASTRUCTURE

       *TO INCLUDE: police, military, infrastructure departments, legal and legislative branch, elections, judges and courts, executive branches, electric grid, fire dept, EMTs, rescue, health sector, health facilities and centers (govt. and private), roads and bridges, housing and regulation, construction of housing, water systems, waste removal and treatment

       *SIN STRUCTURES: gangs, pandillas, terrorist networks, mafia, kleptocracy, narcotrafficing, slavery systems, addictive drug networks, ‘underground’ criminal infrastructure

       *INFLUENCERS INCLUDE: police, national guard, military service members, soldiers, nationally elected presidents and lawmakers, locally elected presidents and lawmakers, infrastructure executives (govt-private), EMTs, firefighters, rescue workers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, CNAs, health-care-givers, road/bridge workers, housing construction and regulation, electrical system workers, water system workers, waste management workers, lawyers, judges, legal system workers…

   ^ BUSINESS/ECONOMIC

       *TO INCLUDE: stores, necessary services (grocery, produce, hardware, clothing), fabric/clothing industry, agriculture, produce packing and distribution, food banks, fuels and petroleum production/shipping/distribution, supply chain, shipping/trucking/rail, financial/$ sector, banking, economic and currency systems, financing and loans, real estate, factories and distribution systems

       *SIN STRUCTURES: bribery and corrupt practices, price-gouging, usury, extortion, drug/sex/slave trade, human trafficking,

       *INFLUENCERS INCLUDE: business owners, farm owners, supply-chain owners, providers of necessary services, grocery/produce/hardware workers, factory workers, factory managers, fuel industry workers, volunteers in food distribution, bankers, financial industry workers, realtors…

   ^ EDUCATION

       *TO INCLUDE: all schools from pre-K, K, elementary/primaria, secondary, high school/prepa, college, University, trade schools, specialty institutes… education for health, medicine, law, government, military… public/government-provided education, private education, teacher training, school districts, boards of education, curriculum developers and publishers

       *SIN STRUCTURES: gangs/pandillas, training for illicit trades, witchcraft, social-engineering curriculum LGBTQIA+/ pro-abortion

       *INFLUENCERS INCLUDE: teachers, teachers, teachers, school counselors, school administration both local and regional, state and national educational coordinators, professors and instructors, elected school boards and governmental…

   ^ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

       *TO INCLUDE: art in all media (music, art, performance, acting, theatre, TV, movies, concerts, dance, plastic arts), TV/movie studios, video/streaming executives and content owners, equipment and tekk for industry (sound reinforcement, staging, cameras, filming, production, graphics/CGI, distribution), gaming development and production, recording arts and sciences, live music industry, athletic programs, community programs, academic athletics, professional sports teams, sports venues public/private, team owners, media around sports broadcasting

       *SIN STRUCTURES: idolatry, idol proliferation, escapism, social media platforms, porn, gambling, substance use-addictions, social anxiety

       *INFLUENCERS INCLUDE: script/content writers, songwriters, musicians and vocalists, recording studio tekk and production, music distributors, live sound crews, live video crews, actors and actresses, plastic-art artists, music/art reviewers, television actors, television/streaming news, camera and filming crew, CGI artists, directors and producers, athletes in all sports, ‘soccer moms’ and support systems, team coaches, managers, coordinators, referees, reporters and reviewers…

   ^ FAMILY

       *TO INCLUDE: social/cultural aspects of family, family gatherings, ‘home’, safe social structures for growth and development, family roles and expectations, birth-to-death care, cultural gatherings

       *SIN STRUCTURES: gangs, pandillas, culture-religious bondage, unsafe people in the home, alcohol/substance use/addiction in home, family manipulation and bondage, sex/drug trade in home, addictions, violence, abuse, ancestral worship/idolatry, financial bondages, dowry

       *INFLUENCERS INCLUDE: fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, siblings, step-relatives, extended family members, adopted family members, close friends of family, church/village community around family,

   ^ MEDIA/TEKK

       *TO INCLUDE: all tele-communications, cellphones and cell systems, internet, social media/websites, technicians and infrastructure of telecom and media, TV, streaming, radio, podcasting, news agencies, news broadcasters, tekk support for all media, media outlets, newspapers, advertising infrastructure and financing, influence on infants to elderly

       *SIN STRUCTURES: cellphone addictions, media addictions, depression and suicide from social media pressures, porn, false-coping platforms, dis-connection from real relationships, ‘false narratives, lies and social engineering’ with media, leaven of Herod and Pharisees distributed

       *INFLUENCERS INCLUDE: telecom workers and technicians, internet system technicians, social media content producers, website design and content producers, on-screen news and station personalities, camera and technical staff for broadcasts, podcasters, news agency execs and financial backers, advertising content creators, advertising execs, media outlet execs and managers, reporters and feature writers

<> 

WHEW!

FINAL THOUGHTS AND TAKE-AWAYS [many… sorry…]

<>DISCLAIMER: I’m sure I missed something or someone… message me to correct the oversight!

<>This article/blog is a very ‘bare-bones’ discussion of this construct/framework.

<>The follow-up to the Blog will be ‘HOW to PRAY for the Spheres of Influence and Influencers’.

That teaching is a crucial companion, since it focuses on BLESSING, not CURSING. Releasing Heavenly Solutions on real problems that plague our communities. The Mind of Christ, seated in Heavenly Places declared over our towns and villages.

Praying that the people in that Sphere encounter God, are filled with the Holy Spirit, act out of Heavenly Wisdom and Grace, that Godly Compassion and Mercy drive our decisions and policies…

For elected officials, rulers and kings, we can speak their names and BLESS THEM.

[So many Scriptures here… LIST in References]

Blessing, not cursing. I suspect we haven’t done so well in this area lately.

The Spheres are not a map for plotting an angry, confrontational screaming-match protest in the face of these people.

<>I’m tossing out this article/blog without all the details fully worked out. Yes, it’s raw and may need some shaping. There are a number of bits in this construct/framework that are still being worked out.

Patience, my friends. There may be later ‘edits’ that shift a few things around.

<>The name I chose, ‘Seven Spheres of Influence and Influencers’ seemed to me as the most succinct way to express this construct/framework.

Yeah, there may be a better title.

<>It’s clear that ‘Spheres’ is heavily sociologic, and not a moral framework. It is easy to see that this framework does ‘set up’ a great deal of moral and ethical arenas within their territories.

However, when we tease apart these Spheres, we see people… different people in different Spheres and capacities, and THEY are the ones who the armies of hell are targeting, and pouring in poisonous influence. [1 Cor 2:6, James 3:15]

It’s time the Church reverse that, and take back which is God’s.

It helps us ‘aim our prayers’ for the specific people. For instance, I was heavily influenced musically by the artist Cat Stevens in the Sphere of the Arts. I specifically pray for Cat to become a disciple of the God-Man Jesus…

<>The ‘Spheres’, like any construct, can be subject to arbitrary designations, and the various elements of the construct cross-interact. Some things found their way into one ‘Sphere’, but clearly have strong operations within adjacent Spheres.

I’m sure a different theorist or ‘construct-constructionist’ may elect to one element out of a Sphere in favor of a different bucket.

So be it.

<>Regarding the ‘Seven Spheres’, the biggest criticism and push-back I’ve received from my colleagues has been, “you know, there’s no clear Biblical teaching that says, ‘here are the seven mountains/spheres you should be considering.”

I agree.

This framework of the Spheres is to help us, His Church, to distinguish the areas of influence and dominion that people carry here on Earth. Much like the ‘Missional 10/40 Window’ that lays out a reality of ‘where on the Earth’ are most of the people who haven’t heard of Jesus, or where there are few to no Churches [between the 10th and 40th parallel, including a great deal of Africa, the Middle East, Eurasia and the Asian nations], these Seven People Spheres identify the seven predominant areas of life and influence in the world.

Constructs and frameworks are cognitive tools that help us organize, perceive, grasp and understand complex and large-scale realities so that we mere humans can plan, engage and move effectively in our lives and culture.

I imagine there will be some trained Sociologist who will take great issue with the work here.

Oh, well.

In a related perspective, these prayers for these people of authority and influence will directly mess with the plans and purposes of the armies of wicked one, since Scripture is pretty clear that those armies are deployed to influence those same influential and people of authority [Eph 6:10-20, Job 1, Daniel 10:13}

<>In a future AdoreTheLord blog, I hope to connect ‘The Spheres’ to the area of Worship… yes, they are connected in a number of ways.

<>In a future AdoreTheLord blog, I hope to lay out a crazy ‘outreach idea’ that I’ve done with a few crazies a few times… I call it ‘Intensive Intercession’ outreach, linking these ‘Spheres’ to a crazy Prayer/Intercession day… or afternoon… or, well how about a 24-hour road trip around a city… to declare BLESSING and Heaven’s solutions of a city…??

FINALLY

What do you think? Ideas? Improvements?

Let me know.

Now, to operationalize this…

written by crisbaj

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All Scripture references from New International Version unless otherwise indicated.

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Scripture List of ‘pray for’ Spheres of Influence and Influencers

1 Tim 2:1-4

Rom 13:1

Phil 4:6

Prov 21:1

Col 1:16-17

Ps 22:28

Prov 28:2

Eph 6:12

Prov 16:12

Jere 29:7

Prov 11:19

Phil 2:3

Heb 13:7

Ps 2 [chapter]

1 Pet 2:17

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