God’s Grace

The people of the valley where we minister in Romania are called Gypsies. They are considered outcasts in Romanian society. The Gypsies live in unbelievable poverty and receive very little in the form of social or government support. This valley is a forgotten place for a forgotten people. It is here, in this forsaken community, that God led us to plant the H.I.S BridgeBuilders ministry model.

While in Romania several years ago, I was introduced to a redeemed criminal named Bogdon. After surrendering his life to Christ, Bogdon walked away from his business of drugs and prostitution in order to pursue Christ’s Kingdom. Once a lost Romanian Gypsy and now a child of the King and my brother through Christ.

It is this same grace that saved me from a lifestyle of selfish, materialistic, manipulation and led me into the family of God. We often forget where we were in life when the Lord found us. We forget about the grip that sin can hold on our lives, the hopelessness that lurks around seeking to take shape in our mind. Even when we have been walking with Jesus for several years, we can get swallowed up by the evil pursuit of sin. Reflection on these life struggles only brings more light to God’s Grace.

Walking along side people in need and sharing God’s abundant Grace is a joy and a privilege. People served through BridgeBuilders often remind me of myself before I surrendered my life to Christ. I am fearful that for most of us we begin to look at our righteous acts and worship attendance and believe somehow that we are better than others. If you have done one sin you have done them all. I am Grateful that we are all saved by Grace through Faith unto good works! Maybe it’s time for you to join us in the city or in Romania to be reminded of God’s grace that saved a sinner like you and me.

We are celebrating the organization’s first baptisms in the valley of Romania. Clearly God’s Grace is sufficient!

Attached is a video of our new brother and sister being baptized by Bogdon who is now a pastor to the people following Jesus! It really is amazing grace!

In Him,
Mike Fechner
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you”

The way of the cross is in direct contradiction to the way of the world. The world is all about comfort and self, the cross is all about dying to self and fulfilling the Will of God. This Easter season brings back memories of my surgery from only two months ago, where I willingly laid down on a table and let them strap my arms to the extensions that formed a cross, which allowed the doctors to pierce my side and rid my body of cancer. We all long for this kind of death to disease or heartache or despair, yet God calls us to put ourselves to death by taking up our cross and following Him. The cross we bear should be heavy enough to force us to focus on our great need for God and His strength to press on.

So often we minimize the cross to wall art or jewelry, but not the instrument of self death that it is intended to be. One commentator said to be careful of laying down your cross because you may get a heavier one next time. Rejoice that in Christ Jesus the flesh has been crucified and that we, through His blood sacrifice, have been set free from the bondage of sin. How many times do we continue in sin that God has given us the victory over because we do not claim the miracle of God’s grace that is greater than any sin? This is critically important to us being used by God to fulfill His will for our lives! We must believe that we are redeemed children of the King and joint heirs with Jesus through His death, burial, and resurrection. This new life in Christ is to be about His Kingdom and His Glory so that one day we may lay our crowns at His feet. The royal way is the way of the cross that daily crucifies the flesh and serves the King so that one day we can lay our crowns at his feet.

As you watch the video where we nailed to the cross a key sin that continues to plague us, ask yourself what sin do you need to crucify in order to be freed by God to serve your King! This video was shot at our monthly community fellowship in Bonton South Dallas. Please pray about joining us on a monthly basis. We pray God’s richest blessing for each of you this Easter season as we take up our cross and follow Jesus! He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Today marked a new era for HIS BridgeBuilders Dallas as we moved into our new building in west Dallas. This building will house our ministry offices, job training, the dental clinic and lab, our counseling center, and many social micro businesses. It is 62,000 square feet and filled with opportunities to change lives for the glory of God! We started BridgeBuilders nearly 20 years ago and have never had a facility to call our own. We have used government facilities for our clinics and our community outreaches as well as houses in BonTon for our weekly Bible studies. We have intentionally started with people development before real estate development. This has been a great blessing as we have been forced to serve our partners and submit to their authority to continue our ministry. Most of all it has reminded me that this place is not our home and everything belongs to God.

When you start saying ours or own or home there is a real temptation to become more focused on the temporal than the eternal. It is easy to manage a building but very difficult to make disciples. We long for efficiency, excellence and exponential returns from our efforts. That certainly describes the disciples as they walked with Jesus! They were always getting it wrong, arguing over who was the greatest, and clearly great examples of just how stupid sheep really are. I ask for your prayers as we begin this season in our economic development center or the EDC as we call it. Pray that it will really be a place for Evangelism, Discipleship, and Community, God’s priority for His EDC! Amazing that Jesus never had a building but focused His ministry on 12 men that would be used to change the world. No technology, modern transportation or magnificent buildings simply teaching the Word of God, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer! May we never leave our priority of these things as we prayerfully continue to build His Kingdom and not our own! Thank you for your prayers.

I look forward to sharing testimonies of the men and women being trained up occupationally and spiritually in the days to come. Over the next several weeks I will be posting video testimonies of the men and women God is allow us to build up in this new facility.