La Tabla Data Journalism Platform August 13, 2026
The Christian Center for Public Life (CCPL) —a training center for young Christian leaders that invited Chacao’s Mayor, Gustavo Duque, to Washington— is managed by the Colombian Germán Chica. Chica previously served as the High Counselor for Political Affairs under President Juan Manuel Santos and is linked to one of the most notorious corruption scandals in Colombian politics.
In May 2014, drug lord Javier Antonio Calle Serna, known as ‘Comba,’ testified before the Prosecutor’s Office that he and three other drug traffickers delivered $12 million to Venezuelan advisor J.J. Rendón to facilitate a submission to justice. According to the testimony, Germán Chica allegedly made initial contacts between the drug traffickers’ emissaries and Rendón. Rendón claimed he did not receive the funds and suggested that the substantial amount might have ended up with Chica.
The General Prosecutor’s Office has opened a disciplinary investigation against Chica due to this scandal. While Chica has consistently denied the accusations, he acknowledged that the episode “ended his career in Colombia” and he ended up exiled in the United States, where he currently leads the CCPL from Washington.
The CCPL is not a neutral political training center. It operates under the doctrine of the “Seven Mountains Mandate,” a strategy from the evangelical movement aimed at having Christians “take dominion” over seven spheres that shape society: religion, family, education, government, media, business, and arts/entertainment. The premise is that, to transform a nation, believers must occupy positions of power in each of these “mountains.” In this light, training “young Christian leaders” for politics is not an end in itself, but rather a step towards Christianizing institutions from within.
The concept was proposed in 1975 by evangelists Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ) and Loren Cunningham (Youth with a Mission), and popularized by theologian Francis Schaeffer. However, the term “Seven Mountains Mandate” was coined by speaker Lance Wallnau, making it a core pillar of the movement. This doctrine is strongly connected to the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), whose theological architect, C. Peter Wagner, promoted the idea of Christian “dominion” over culture. Johnny Enlow, founder of Restore7 (the parent organization of CCPL), is another major advocate and contributor to this thought.