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María Luisa Piraquive
Born	(1949-02-10) February 10, 1949 (age 75) Chipata, Santander, Colombia
Other names	Sister Maria Luisa
Education	Bachelor of Education with specialization in Linguistics and Literature (1993) Diploma in Community Management and Social Management (1998) Educational Management Graduate (1999)
Alma mater	University of La Sabana Free University of Colombia
Occupation(s)	Neo-pentecostal leader and benefactor
Years active	1971–present
Organization(s)	MARIA LUISA de MORENO International Foundation
Title	Leader/Ministry of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International
Term	1996-present
Predecessor	Luis Eduardo Moreno
Spouse(s)	Luis Eduardo Moreno ​ ​(m. 1966⁠–⁠1996)​ Humberto Romero Medina ​ ​(m. 2006)​
Children	César Eduardo, Alexandra, Perla, Iván Darío and Carlos Eduardo
Parent(s)	María Corredor and Obdulio Piraquive
Awards	Frida award
Website	www.mlmif.org marialuisapiraquive.me

María Luisa Piraquive is a Colombian singer, educator, benefactor, writer and neo-Pentecostal leader. She was born in Chipata, Santander, Colombia, on February 10, 1949. She is co-founder and current leader of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International (CGMJCI), which has more than 700 prayer rooms in over 40 countries worldwide.

Commonly known by the members of the church as Sister María Luisa, she produces several Bible studies that are projected weekly in all prayer rooms of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. The Bible studies are currently dubbed in English, French, German and Portuguese.

Compiler of a hymnal and choruses, with hundreds of thousands of copies distributed, producer and singer of 15 compact discs, her musical productions have been translated into several languages included English and Japanese. Likewise, she wrote her autobiography which goes by the second edition, and three books on matters of Christianity.

She is also founder and director of the Ministries and Gifts Bible Institute, where the preachers of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International are educated. Besides she is co-founder and president of the Maria Luisa de Moreno International foundation, a social aid NGO that operates in over 12 countries.

Maria Luisa is the mother of the Colombian Senator Alexandra Moreno Piraquive.

Essence of her preaching

Roughly, María Luisa preaches the restoration of Christianity in modern times, and therefore her teachings are based on the Bible, focusing on the message of Jesus of Nazareth under the Neo Pentecostalism with its consequent emphasis on the actions of the Holy Spirit.

The Church goes beyond the spiritual benefits that Pentecostal churches would be comfortable with, adding additional spiritual benefits, which include the ability to counteract witchcraft, curses, demons and other trouble sources.

Maria Luisa teaches to the members of the church that they should not participate in any pagan holy days such as Valentine's Day, Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving.

Biography

Childhood

Maria Luisa Piraquive, born in the late 40s in Chipatá, Province of Vélez, Santander Department, Colombia, on February 10. Being the third of 10 children (6 women, 4 men) made up of the marriage between Obdulio Piraquive and Maria Corredor. When Maria Luisa was four years old her family moved to Sáchica, Ricaurte Province of the Boyacá Department, Colombia where she lived for a period of 10 years, and where she finished her primary education. She participated in school plays, dances and recitals. Since her father was a lieutenant in the police, her family was constantly moving its residence place. Maria Luisa was mainly raised by an aunt, in the midst of the financial constraints which are characteristic of a large family. During her childhood she used to sing folk songs for the workers of the countryside.

When she was 7 years old she had a dream, in which Jesus of Nazareth asked her to help Him choose the souls for the Kingdom of God. She interpreted this dream as a calling from God to preach the Gospel and serve Him.

At the age of 13 years old she moved to Bogota to continue her academic education. During this time she also worked in garment factories.

Her family and the surrounding environment during her childhood was mostly Catholic, typical of Colombia at the time.

Youth

When she was 16 years old, through her sister Beatriz Piraquive she met an evangelical preacher, Luis Eduardo Moreno Moreno, who two years later, in September 1966, married her. Besides her interest in studying the Bible, she enjoyed music and therefore she began practicing the accordion and took playing lessons with a private teacher from the conservatory of music.

Adulthood

By 1968, when wandering around several churches in the company of her husband, the couple received messages from God through two women who had received the spiritual gift of prophecy. Through these prophecies, God announced them their future responsibility of a religious ministry. Finally around 1970, the Moreno Piraquive family was disillusioned by the bad behaviour of the evangelical leaders they had met, and thus they decided not to attend churches anymore but to pray at their home. One day, while praying at the courtyard of the house, Maria Luisa prophesied a lengthy message from God to her husband. This event would mark the beginning of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International.

By that time Maria Luisa had received the gift of prophecy and she ministered it to the people who gathered at her house. Although, many people accused her of being crazy, since the prophecies became true, some of her contradicters became members of the church.

In 1973, Luis Eduardo named the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the Moreno Piraquive established a micro-enterprise but it reached bankruptcy in 1976, which made them lose all their possessions. Maria Luisa found work in a children's clothing firm, which allowed her to work from home and taking caring of her children at the same time.

In 1977, with help from Dario Falcon, a Panamian evangelical preacher, and his wife Beatriz Piraquive, a sister of Maria Luisa, they opened the first overseas branch of the church. In 1978 they opened the third branch in Cuitiva, Sogamoso Province, and the fourth branch in another municipality of the Boyacá Department, Colombia.

In 1979, by means of an electronic keyboard, Maria Luisa started to play and tape the hymns and choruses of church with a recorder. She produced a brochure with 150 choirs that she had memorized during her stay at the evangelical denominations in which she used to congregate. Later on she compiled 230 hymns in a hymnal. In the same year she finished her secondary education thanks to a distance education program, and she graduated in 1988. She did a Bachelor in Education with specialization in Linguistics and Literature from the University of La Sabana, and earned her degree in 1993.

To overcome the economical problems of her house, she was teacher at a school for 3 years, teaching Spanish literature, and sometimes social sciences.

In 1994, with help from a member of the church in Armenia (Quindío), who was a musician, she recorded the tracks of the choruses and himns with a higher sound quality. In 1999, Maria Luisa went to a recording studio to create a CD of choruses and hymns. Her record productions have been translated into several languages included English and Japanese. She also interpreted the English versions of the choruses played at the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International.

Maturity

On May 9, 1996, in Bogotá, Luis Eduardo Moreno died victim of a heart attack, and Maria Luisa assumes the leadership of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International (CGMJCI).

With the new spiritual and administrative policies assumed by Maria Luisa, the church begins a rapid growth, opening new prayer rooms in Colombia and around the world, with the first overseas branch of her administration opened in Miami.

In January 1997 the Bible studies that initially were broadcast in audio, start to be broadcast in video.

In 1998, she got a Diploma in Community Management and Social Management from the Pontifical Xavierian University and founded the Ministries and Gifts Bible Institute to train preachers of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International.

She studied in 1999 to specialize in Educational Management at the Libre University of Colombia of Bogota. By 2000 she co-founded the Maria Luisa de Moreno International foundation, an NGO specialized in giving social aid, which would be the first of several non-profit organizations that she promotes.

In 2001, she wrote her autobiography called Experiences. Since that year, she began to suffer from security problems in her native country, Colombia until 2006. Dissidents of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International made complaints to the media and local authorities, but she was found innocent of all charges by the authorities. As the problems of insecurity increased, Maria Luisa was obliged to leave Colombia and settled in the United States. Contrary to what might have been thought, after the strong attacks to the church, it has grown at an even greater speed than in the years previous to the incidents.

In persisting in the policy of zero propaganda through advertising, Maria Luisa disapproves banners, billboard, Email, street, fliers, mobile messaging, megaphone advertising advertising online, Poster, messages in radio, film, TV or print ads that involve the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. As from August 23, 2007, due to the growing number of people who want to be in her live Bible Studies from Colombia, she has decided to produce the Bible study in public coliseums.

News

Her hymnal and choruses CD and autobiography continue to be distributed at the prayer rooms of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International (CGMJCI). Her musical productions are heard daily in prayer rooms of the CGMJCI.

She remains headquartered in the United States, but is constantly traveling around the world, visiting prayer rooms of the church and conducting Bible Studies, where she tends to sing a cappella Christian music. These Bible Studies are designed to be showed at prayer rooms weekly and uploaded on the website of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International.

Maria Luisa continues as the main lecturer at the Ministries and Gifts Bible Institute. Currently, she manages the institute in a decentralized way in several countries, which makes it possible for her to prepare and graduate the future preachers of the CGMJCI worldwide.

See also

• Religion in Colombia

Notes

1. "Le religioni in Italia" (in Italian). CESNUR. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
2. "Vía NOSTRUM – Red de Desarrollo de Conocimiento". Programa FRIDA, International Development Research Centre, Internet Society y LACNIC. 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
3. Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. "choirs and hymns performed by Sister Mary Louise" (in Spanish). Retrieved April 26, 2009.
4. Luis Eduardo Moreno, ed. (2004). Hymns and Choirs - Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International: Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. p. 5. ISBN 958-33-4817-1.
5. Piraquive, Maria Luisa (2007). Experiences (2nd ed.). Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International: Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. pp. 124 and 128–133. ISBN 958-33-2658-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
6. Ministry of Interior and Justice. "Church Record" (in Spanish). Retrieved April 26, 2009.
7. Church of God, Ministry of Jesus Christ International. "Direcciones" (in Spanish). Retrieved July 23, 2010.
8. El Espectador (1 September 2008). "Si, yoquiero ser presidenta" (in Spanish). Retrieved April 26, 2009.

References

• Piraquive, María Luisa (2007). Experiences. Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. ISBN 978-958-44-2472-3.

External links

• Official site of María Luisa Piraquive (in Spanish)
• Official site of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International
• Maria Luisa de Moreno International Foundation

Preceded byLuis Eduardo Moreno

Ministry of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International 1996-

Succeeded byIncumbent

Template:Persondata

• 1949 births
• 21st-century religious leaders
• 21st-century writers
• Christian creationists
• Christian writers
• Colombian expatriates in the United States
• Colombian female singers
• Colombian musicians
• Colombian philanthropists
• Colombian religious leaders
• Evangelists
• Founders of religions
• Free University of Colombia alumni
• Living people
• Members of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International
• People from Santander Department