In any great revival there is first the unity of believers that ushers in a very special moving of the Holy Spirit. I remember years ago having dinner with Jim Cymbala, Pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle Church and Jack Graham. Pastor Cymbala made a very powerful statement that the Spirit of God moved when the believers were all together in one place and were devoting themselves to prayer. Their unity ushered in the moving of the Holy Spirit. He, the Holy Spirit is freed to work when we, by faith, join together. The book of Acts shares this ongoing working of God when it describes the many miracles that were taking place as they gathered together daily in each other’s homes with the apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayers.

There is a powerful ministry of blessing and favor from God when we look past our differences and take part, working and praying together to bring glory to God and to be His witnesses in our city. Each Saturday we gather house to house like the early church of Acts to study the Word, fellowship, break bread (normally Velma’s cooking), and pray. It is a beautiful sight to see these men, women, teenagers, and children join together in the city and worship God. There are many times that I have seen my children pour the word of God into their friends in the inner city. I have seen them give their own money so that the ministry could continue. Why? Because they love them as their own family.

I am humbled by the Adams, a family from Prestonwood who help lead the children’s ministry every Saturday with Regina. David Adams comes down every Saturday and clears lots and debris so that drug dealers can’t hide out and deal drugs, while his wife and children help with the kids activities. This family has blessed me beyond words as I see them love others with the love of Christ. About a year ago the Lord led them to purchase a home in Bonton for our men to meet every Saturday. This is now a beacon of hope for the men on the streets. One of our City Ministers, Rick, lives in the home and works with Rodrick and Von to reach the men of our city.

This past Saturday 21 men from across the city gathered in this house. One young man, Brian, used to live in Houston and would drive up every Saturday to be with his brothers from the hood. These men are discovering authentic community by breaking through all the lies of the enemy and building relationships with brothers in Christ. It is a step of faith for men of diverse cultures to trust each other and model the love of Christ. The Word is clear that they will know we are Christians by our love. Miracles are happening in these Bible studies, souls are being saved and lives are being transformed. The Community is seeing a true picture of the Christian life and God is being glorified by these Jesus relationships. We need each other and we are sharpening each other. Pray about joining us on Saturday at 11:00 am for our Bible studies. Come and see what God is doing in our city. You can contact Von Minor for information about our Community ministry opportunities. His contact information is located on our website at http://www.hisbridgebuilders.org.

Thank you for your love and prayers. We go to Baylor this Thursday to get a biopsy and will get the results in several weeks. God is able to heal! Join us in being a part of the greater works He has prepared for us. Eph. 2:10

As we heard the word tumor last week, the enemy quickly began to attack our hearts with a sense of hopelessness, that nothing had changed.  Immediately, the Lord sent so many of you to your knees to pray for us and we sensed an overwhelming peace in the storm.  We gathered as a family and again prayed to God that what we are going through would bring Him greater glory.  This past Sunday, our Pastor was preaching about Zerubbabel and the mountain becoming a plain and that it was the equivalent of saying “zappo” or “whammo” and the mountain was removed. This was a strong word from the Lord to my spirit as we began to set up the new tests and doctors appointments. I have always been blessed with godly men who walk with me in this journey to pray, listen, and give godly counsel.  I am thankful that I count my wife and children as some of the godliest counsel I could ever receive. My heart has been filled with thanksgiving for these men who walk with me and it prompted a question.  What would happen in our cities if every man and woman in the inner city had Christians like these walking with them, loving them, and praying for them?  The issue of the urban poor for many is like being born with terminal cancer, no hope and no way out.  The value of a brother laying down his life for a brother is life changing.  I continue to be humbled by the love and prayers that I have received, but am broken in my spirit for the dear people of our cities who exponentially need your love and prayers.  I am asking God that He would awaken His beautiful body to be about the ministry to the least the way Jesus modeled.  Jesus did not come on a mission trip and then return to heaven one week later.  He came to hopeless, bankrupt sinners and lived among them.  He met their needs with physical bread and with the Bread of Life.  He proclaimed in his first message, “I have come to preach the gospel to the poor.”  He proclaimed that as “you do it to the least of these, you do it unto Me.” 

Ministering to the poor is ministering to Jesus. There is at stake a missed opportunity to witness greatly to our lost culture through loving the least.  I am thrilled by the testimony of George Mueller who said that the purpose of his ministry to thousands of orphans in 19th century England was, “to bring glory to God and increase the faith of his fellow Christians.”  I am prayerful that God would open our eyes and reveal to us how blessed we are.  The Bible also says, “If we see a need and do nothing, where is the love of God in us?”  I have experienced the love of God through the body of Christ in exponential and unbelievable ways.  It is my heart for those who pray for me and walk with me, that there would be an awakening of the love of God for the POWS (the poor, the orphans, widows and sick).

This is exactly how Jesus loves us every day, with a love that “believes all things, endures all things and hopes all things.”  Please pray about God opening your eyes and your heart to just one man, one woman, or one child who needs one person to love them with the love of Christ, the way many of you love me.  We need mentors every day to build the bridge of Christ’s love one life at a time. We need many families to join us in this journey of faith.  Can you imagine the great glory it will be when these urban communities are transformed to God?  The whole city will know that this can only be the work of God Himself.

Medically, we are grateful that the tests revealed that there are no other new growths or tumors except the one in the upper lobe of my right lung.  The tumor in the lower right lobe of my lung is completely gone. The tumor in the upper right lobe is 1.6 cm and will be biopsied next week.  It is probably the original tumor that has returned, but it was a 13.6 rating for active growth one year ago and now is a 1.9.  We believe God for the miracle of our healing and will be continuing on Tarceva and the treatment from Germany.  It is our belief that we will be able to zap the tumor with radiation, just as Pastor preached, and watch God make the mountain a plain.  He is able!  Please pray fervently about helping to remove the mountain of hopelessness from the people of our city by contacting me through the blog. You are in my heart and prayers.

Often when living the life of faith there is the desire to bring great glory to God. We think of events like a Billy Graham crusade or large church ministry and we think of how these bring great glory to God, which they do!

However, today I wonder if we realize how our personal pain, struggles, and trials can bring great glory to God. I marvel in the scriptures at the suffering that was experienced by so many of the early believers. I am often drawn to Joseph in the Old Testament. The miracle of his story is he never gave up on God and he continued to press on in his faith and faithfulness to God.

First, there is the issue of the betrayal by his brothers, who sold him into slavery and lied to their father, telling him that Joseph was dead. Then, after years of faithful service to Potiphar as a slave things began to look as if they were turning around. It was then that he was accused, falsely, of rape by Potiphar’s wife and thrown in  jail. At this point you have to be thinking, what next, why me, will this ever end? However, Joseph continued to honor God. Throughout each test and trial the Word speaks of God’s favor and presence on Joseph in Genesis 39:21, “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” Ultimately, Joseph would be used by God to interpret the dreams of 2 members in Pharaoh’s court. The cupbearer, who was spared, was restored to his position and quickly forgot about Joseph, until 2 years later when Pharaoh had a dream and nobody could interpret it. It took years in prison, for an offense he didn’t commit, to be set free by God through Pharaoh.

He, like each of us, should remember that God was preparing him to be an instrument of redemption for the nation of Israel and Egypt as well. Joseph named his son Ephraim, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction”. He would later tell his brothers, who sold him into slavery, “God has sent me before you to preserve life.” What a tremendous praise as we grow closer to God and count on His mysterious plans to be revealed that we too would be fruitful in our affliction and be used by God to preserve life.

Last week we went back for a CT scan and the doctor here in Dallas said that there was a 1.7 cm neoplasm/tumor in my upper right lung. This is all that showed up on the scan and we are going back to do a PET scan this week to verify whether it is or is not cancer. Certainly this was not the news we were expecting. Yet my greatest desire was to get to witness to my doctor after our scan results. For most of the time we talked about medical options, but towards the end we were able to pray with the doctor and pray for God’s favor and blessing through this season. It feels as though we are back to where we began over a year ago, but that is a good place to be because it makes us wholly dependent upon God. We pray to be faithful to God like Joseph expecting that God is using this for our continued growth and be prepared for all that He has planned. We pray that we too will be fruitful in our time of affliction and that this will be used to bring greater glory to God. 

We are expectant of miracles to come and know that our God can make the dead alive, the lame walk, and the blind see. Later this week after the PET scan I will post further information about the results and potential options. Thank you for all your prayers as we seek to glorify God and make Him known in this season of trial and tribulation.