This week I had the joy of having my son Michael, his wife Caitlin, my son Daniel, and my parents with me. On Sunday at a mall in Dallas, Grace and her friends were approached by a woman who was so impressed by their godly behavior that she gave them $100 in cash. The girls decided to donate that gift to Chemo Church. Later, that day the girls saw the woman again and told her they had given the money to Chemo Church. She was so moved that she decided to give them an additional $200 towards the ministry.

After completing my radiation treatment on Monday, I was told that I didn’t need to take any more Chemotherapy and that I could go home after I met with my doctor. There was no way I was going home, after seeing firsthand the tremendous need of the patients in the Chemo Ward. When the Lord brings you through your storm, it is a joy to be a lighthouse for others and show them the way.

When we entered the main hospital we prayed in the lobby for divine appointments and for God to open the door for ministry. The first time I went through the ward no one looked at me, and the door to minister appeared to be closed. I knew our work was not done, so I went through the ward again and, immediately in front of me was a couple from Prestonwood Baptist Church, who are battling cancer. They mentioned how they were trying to find me, but just didn’t know how. We sat and experienced an amazing time of prayer, which changed the entire mood as they encouraged us in our Chemo Church ministry. They went to their car while we were ministering to other families, and brought us a very generous gift for Chemo Church.

Later that day I met a woman who was there with a relative and had recently surrendered her life to Christ. She was struggling with being abandoned by someone she loved, and I had the joy of telling her that our Lord Jesus Christ will never leave her or forsake her. She began to cry when I gave her a book of God’s Promises, that she pledged to read on this new journey with the Lord. We then went to the chemo ward and I walked in just like I was a patient. We brought snacks for the nurses and gave each of them a book for encouragement. One of the nurses told me, “this is fuel for our spirits, so that we can continue to serve our patients.” My last visit was with a lady who has been battling cancer for ten years. She saw us with all the nurses and wondered what the celebration was about. When I shared my story and asked if I could pray for her, she said absolutely. After praying, she looked at her husband and said, “he prayed that I would be restored.” She then shared that recently she had asked God for a word and when she opened her Bible, she placed her finger on a verse that read, “Job is Restored”. She began to cry when I told her the name of our church being planted in the inner city this fall is Restoration Community Church. The more I shared with her, the more the tears fell, as she believed the word that the Lord was telling her, that He is Able to restore her body for His Glory.

I wanted you to read a word from my son Michael as well as from my Mom.

Michael:

In the Chemo Ward this week I had the honor of speaking with a lady from Denver, Colorado, who is battling stage 4 cancer. She had just finished her treatments and was waiting on her daughter to pick her up from the hospital. I could tell she was discouraged as she sat there slumped in her chair, head facing the ground; I could see the look of desperation in her eyes.

As I sat down next to her and introduced myself she looked at me in shock. I’m sure she was wondering why I was sitting next to her. As the conversation progressed and I found out more about this lady, I was blown away at how empty and hopeless she felt. As a believer, it is easy to become accustomed to the peace and grace of God and forget that those without Christ are in such great need of His peace, love, and grace. What a great reminder and lesson this week has been that the world is hurting and in great need of a savior. Most importantly as a believer, it is my job to share the hope of the gospel with these people.

Sandra-Mike’s Mom:

I have always sympathized with Jacob as he sorrowed over his lost son, Joseph; however, I can now also rejoice with him in his son’s restoration. As Mike planned to go to MD Anderson, the LORD told me that He had a mission for Mike in Houston. MD Anderson was the “slavery/imprisonment” God was using to get Mike to the place of special mission. This week God was kind enough to give my faith sight. I saw amazing ministry to staff and patients at the hospital, but even more I was allowed to see the storehouses opened and the famine-stricken residents of the third ward given the God-gift food of hope as pastors, business men, ministry and resident leaders met to plan a new work in Houston. The LORD also gave me a view of His additional plans for Mike as a godly nurse at the Proton Therapy Center prayed over Mike a prophecy and an affirmation: ” Pastor Mike, you are in the right place; God is giving you many more years of additional service for Him.” Take courage the right place for you can be in a cancer treatment facility, it can be in an economic disaster, or even in the sorrow of a broken relationship. “What the enemy meant for evil God means for good.” Our God is an awesome God.

Mike-continues:

Thanks to the generous donations of so many to Chemo Church we were able to buy 30 all day passes to the Houston Aquarium for the children and their parents. The person I led to Christ at the hospital is going to continue to serve the children of Chemo Church when I go back to Dallas. We are praying fervently for the person or Church in Houston that will adopt this ministry as their own, to continue this work.

I cannot describe the joy it brought my heart to see my parents and my son go, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to so many in the cancer ward. There is a bond that cancer patients have that is much like a family. You are instantly placed in this band of brothers and sisters. This week as I walked with my biological family through MD Anderson and the Third Ward neighborhood, it was amazing to see these unique families all come together through the redemptive work of the Lord.

Our time in the third ward this week was beyond belief. The meeting has now grown from one to over 25 people gathering to pray, and ask God to completely restore this inner city community for His Glory. I had the joy to reconnect with a young man I mentored 18 years ago, Josh Allen, because his wife read this blog. He is now on staff of a great church in the Houston area. He actually interned for HISBB’s in Dallas and is very prayerful about how his church can be involved. The Lord opened the door for several amazing, kingdom minded business men to join us, as well as Pastor Cofield, the servant leaders of the community, and the guys from the streets whose lives have been transformed. I have watched as my parents, now in their 70′s, have taken in youth from the streets of San Antonio, and serve weekly in the inner city of San Antonio, and are in the process of taking back an entire block called HIS block for the Glory of God. It was a joy to see all of my children meet our new family here in the third ward. I stand in awe how God has already spoken to several of our friends in Dallas who are committed to the opportunity to serve in Houston and connect us to their friends here to help with this work. The community keeps saying “you being here is a direct answer to our prayers”!!

Cancer, Poverty, and Biological families are not something we choose to be born into, and yet in Christ when we choose to accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we are set free from the hopelessness of poverty and cancer and born into the incredible family of God. It has been my joy to meet these new extensions of my family here in Houston. When Velma came into my life twenty years ago, living on welfare in the housing developments of Dallas, I had no idea how this woman of great faith would change the course of my life. She taught me how to pray and fast and gave me an incredible picture of a living faith. When her only child was killed in a drive by shooting I saw the body of Christ love her and wipe away her tears and daily the Lord sustained her. Through this great tragedy the Lord broke my heart for the least who are daily murdered and abandoned in our cities. We must protect the unborn but also the born who are being killed every day in our streets. Velma is my family and therefore whatever she is going through is my burden or my blessing.

These past weeks the Lord has added many new family members to my life whether they are in the cancer wards or in the Third Ward of Houston. What a tremendous joy it would be if we truly saw our brothers and sisters in Christ as our families. It is where the Acts church began and where the church in America needs to return. We have become too isolated and have compartmentalized church to a few hours a week. What would happen if every believer “had church” every day in every place with everyone we met? These past 6 weeks of living in a new city, removed from the comfort of my routine, has reawakened my heart to the pattern of living daily with a Missional mindset. I challenge you to daily build new relationships and have Gospel discussions with the ordinary people encounter. There is no doubt that as long as the Lord gives me breath in my body that I will pray and fast for the lives of precious families battling cancer and poverty.

We continue to be amazed at the sovereignty of our great God. Thank You, Lord for opening this great door of opportunity that would have never happened apart from this battle with cancer. My twin, Mel who serves as our City servant with my parents in San Antonio said that while he was reading the word about how the early churches were scattered through persecution, that he felt led to call me and share that this is exactly what the Lord was doing through our battle with cancer. With that in mind I truly do count it all joy for how the Lord is expanding His Kingdom through this amazing season!

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” 1 Pet. 4:19

The Lord works in wondrous and mysterious ways. When we were praying about next steps for our treatment, it was very clear that we were to come to Houston for these seven weeks. There were many obstacles placed in our path, as we sought to be obedient to follow the Lord’s leading in this. I am humbled that the Lord continues to break my heart for the things that break His heart. The poor, orphans, widows, and the sick are clearly people whom the Lord loves, who are often forgotten or overlooked by the world. These weeks, among a sea of people battling cancer, have opened my heart to a whole new ministry called Chemo Church, which I pray will continue long past my time at M.D. Anderson is completed.

We had many amazing encounters this week with my team of brothers. It was my joy to have Mike Buster, the Executive Pastor at Prestonwood, along with Rodrick, Clifton, and Steve, all of whom work with me at H.I.S. BridgeBuilders. When we ministered in the Chemo ward this week, the most amazing thing happened. We had two patients we were ministering to, say they wanted to do Chemo Church in their hometowns. One lives in New Orleans and the other lives in the Rio Grande Valley. I was shocked as they shared their desire to go home and do for others what the Lord had done for them in their time of need. What a tremendous testimony they are to the proper response we all should have to the grace and mercy of God. I wanted you to see these testimonies in addition to a remarkable word from the daughter of a man battling cancer. He had received very bad news on the day we met. He was also under great pressure about his finances and when we gave him a book about the Lord and His promises along with some cash to help him with his needs, he began to weep and thank God for this sign of Hope on this very difficult day.

Please watch these videos about the miracles of God’s goodness to allow us to send out missionaries from Chemo Church to other cities.

Each Tuesday while I am here, I go to the inner city of Houston called the Third Ward. Jarrett Stephens and I simply prayed, and as we drove into the Third Ward we found the largest housing development and walked right into the President of the Resident Council’s office. We shared with her about H.I.S. BridgeBuilders and how we serve communities. She was thrilled, and started introducing us to her many friends and community leaders. On the way out the door, I met a young man named Claude, who is getting his GED and then wants to be trained for a job. Immediately, the Lord connected our hearts, as his story is exactly like that of Rodrick and Clifton, who are like sons to me. I placed my hand on his heart and began to tell him that nothing would change until he totally surrendered his heart to Jesus. There in the hall of the community center, he prayed a prayer, surrendering his heart to Jesus. I told him I would meet him the following Tuesday at 1:00 to talk, discuss life, and the Word of God. We have met every Tuesday for the last five weeks. Each week the Lord has added more young men to this group and this past Tuesday, some of the young men brought their Pastor to meet us. When I met Pastor Cofield, there was an immediate connection. We discovered, after just a few minutes, that he was mentored, and led to be in Houston, by my mentor in the city Dr. E.K. Bailey. Nineteen years ago E.K., who is now in heaven, was driving through this same neighborhood and felt convicted by the Holy Spirit to call Pastor Cofield to pray about being the Pastor of a church in the Third Ward. This church has grown from 150 members to almost three thousand, and is just minutes away from where we have been ministering. I want you to hear from this Pastor and these amazing men from the Third Ward, about what God is speaking to them regarding our potential to work with them. Mike Buster, who is on our Board, summed up the meeting well, by stating, “Only the Lord Himself could have orchestrated what I witnessed today.” The pieces to a Houston BridgeBuilders were miraculously revealed. The people there have been praying for many years for us to come.” Please join us in prayer for the people here and for God’s wisdom and guidance regarding this opportunity. I can only say in closing that we are humbled beyond words by how the Lord is moving in this time and that all the praise goes to our great God “who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” Ephesians 3:20

This week is our fifth week in treatment and the Lord continues to expand our ministry here. This week it is my joy to have my wife Laura and my two youngest children, Jonathan and Grace with me. I have, intentionally, not taken any of my children to any of my many doctors’ appointments or hospital stays over this 34 month journey with lung cancer. After praying, the Lord was clear that Jon & Grace were ready to go and minister with me at Chemo Church. Jon is 17 and Grace is 15. They come with me every Saturday to minister to the children in the inner city, and humble me daily by the choices they make, to serve God and others, instead of themselves. There are many similarities of this ministry to families and children battling cancer to families in the inner city. There is a sense of hopelessness that overcomes you when you hear the word Cancer or Terminal. It is the same for the poor when they are told their lives will never change and that there is no potential to better their lives for the Glory of God. In each of these battles we must first point people to the eternal hope of the Lord Jesus Christ and then to the Daily hope we receive from the Body of Christ, the Church. Can you imagine living in cities like Dallas & Houston, just miles away from such great wealth and blessings and live believing that this will never be available to you. In each of the cities we serve I tell our men and women of the community that we will walk with them as far as they want to walk. Several of our community men from the streets got to share their testimony with a former President just a few years ago. They have gone all over the world witnessing for Jesus because they have found Hope In Salvation. The reason I share this is Cancer and Poverty are twins from the same mother, called Hopelessness.

Many judge me wrongly regarding my lung cancer. They assume I smoked, although I never did. In the same way many judge the poor as having done something wrong, which caused them to deserve their current position in life. It is interesting that the Pharisees were the group that Jesus went after the most, never the sick or the poor. It is our joyous opportunity to be God’s light in the darkest places.

This week we were able to give a brand new study Bible to our first believer in Chemo Church. When she received her Bible she just beamed with joy. I had her name engraved on the front of it and told her that her name was written in the Lambs Book of Life for all eternity. She went to church Sunday and is starting to read The Gospels, and will be writing down questions as she reads. What a joy to see her desire to grow in her faith as she meditates on God’s Word daily. We then got on the bus to go to the main hospital and met a man who was very discouraged. He said that everything that could have gone wrong with his wife’s treatments had happened. As God would have it, a dear friend of ours from Prestonwood felt led of God to buy Red Sea Rules for people battling difficult times, which she had given to me. When I told my new friend this and gave him the book, I told him the Lord was with him and had placed this on a prayer warrior’s heart, to buy those books just for him and his wife. Then I watched as my 17 year old son reached across the aisle and prayed God’s blessing for him and healing for his wife. I don’t know who was crying more, him or me. He left the bus with a smile and confidence that the Lord was with him. When we entered the doctor’s office we had to wait for three hours. Every delay is allowed by God to order our day, to fulfill His mission and not our own. Quit stressing and start rejoicing. During this delay, another patient came to my door and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with him. He already believed but has been told there is nothing else medicine can do for him. We had the most amazing prayer, calling on our miracle working God together. We then went to Chemo Church with twenty books and a lot of treats from La Madeleine to give to the staff. They all know us by now and were even greeting my children in the hall and saying you must be a Fechner. We quickly got our chemo going so we could get to the halls and begin our ministry. This day there was a lady next door to us who was alone and is battling a rare form of Lymphoma. When I began to talk to her she shared how just two months ago she was in a hospital and near death, but the Lord sustained her. Her sisters are her care givers and are also going to be her stem cell donors. One of her sisters applied for a grant to enable her to come to MD Anderson. I was humbled that they are all giving so much to take care of their sister. We gathered to pray and I told her to open her hands and to clinch them, as if she were holding the garment of Jesus, like the woman in the Bible whose blood was made well. She said that her type of Lymphoma is very aggressive and I stopped her and said, “But with God all things are possible.” She quickly agreed and we practiced saying together, “we will listen to the word of God over the words of men.” When I gave her a book I was led to give her some of the money a dear friend gave us on Easter Morning to give to a person in need at Chemo Church. When I was getting ready to leave, the Lord was very clear to give her all of the money I had left to give. She and her sister were overwhelmed and began to cry. They had just been talking about how they couldn’t afford all the parking and many other expenses they had to pay and now God provided. What a joy to bring the Hope of Christ, our Healer and the hope of the church, helping to meet every need. Laura and Grace had the joy of ministering to a family from Macedonia. We were directed to many others by our friends and were able to pray and minister to many. We were stopped in the hallway by a group of people who asked for prayer and some of the people were shouting, “Hallelujah Praise God.” One lady said after the prayer that it would last her a month. We had the joy of creating baskets of blessings for all of the Children going through treatment, because of a generous gift form one of our dearest friends, to Chemo Church. The children range in age from 18 months to 15. Seeing their joy when they knew a basket of gifts was waiting for them this morning was just incredible. Grace and Laura did an amazing job putting them together. I asked my son, Jonathan to share a word about what the Lord spoke to Him this week as we ministered together.

Jonathan -
“During my short stay in Houston, God taught me something great. I went into Houston with selfish desires and thinking that this ministry of Chemo Church is my dad’s and not mine. That CHANGED. Monday, while sitting around waiting for a Doctor’s appointment, it was very clear that God told me to deny myself and take up my cross. Just as it was Easter the day before, celebrating the gift of the cross that Jesus took up for us, it was my time to take up mine. After the appointment we went to the chemo ward where the treatment takes place. We went to the room of a 21 year old man and my dad prayed and gave him a book. As I was leaving, the Lord told me to stay and talk. I started the conversation with small talk: if he went to school, if he liked sports, and if he had family. To my surprise, after I asked him about his family, he told me that he had a 3 year old daughter and a wife. He then opened up and told me he is worried about them and what they are going through seeing their father and husband in bed with cancer. I then proceeded to share with him about how every day I put my hope in Christ to heal and take care of my dad and how only God can be there for us during this time of hurt and pain. After I had shared, he looked at me and said, “I have Christ in my heart, but I need that hope.” So, right then I prayed for him again, that he and his family would have their hope in Christ and that he will believe that Christ will heal him, just as He is healing my dad. He opened his eyes, said “thank you” and I left. Though, I will probably never see my brother in Christ again, I know that he now has the hope of Christ living in him as he fights this battle daily. This was a small price to pay of denying myself in order to bring the hope for the Glory of God.”

Our ministry at Chemo Church is now global and going to the next generation. Our God is an awesome God who is worthy of all of the praise. Thank you for your prayers and generosity that enable us daily to tell all we see that there is Hope in Jesus!

This week is my fourth week of my treatment at MD Anderson and I am blessed to have Von Minor with me to help minister at Chemo Church. Von is the Director of Spiritual Development for H.I.S. BridgeBuilders and was formerly on staff of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship as their student Pastor. He is another incredible example of God’s goodness to me and our ministry. After 15 years of presence in the urban community of Bonton, we are prayerfully going to plant Restoration Community Church Dallas in the inner city together. Von is from the southern sector and I am from north Dallas. He is an amazing communicator who could preach anywhere, yet he is returning to his community to bring the miraculous message of the Gospel through Restoration Community Church Dallas. Too often we serve the poor through transactions of giving when the greatest gift is the transformation that takes place in a living relationship with Christ and each other.

This week at the radiation center, Von met a mother and her young son who is battling brain cancer. As we spoke with her, this woman kept thanking God for how well the surgery went and how great her son was doing. She had an amazing attitude of praise and a true concern for the other families with young children battling similar circumstances. She expressed a deep burden for one family that didn’t speak English and wondered how scary it must be to rely on a translator to interpret what the doctor is saying.

This past Sunday my family and I were eating at a restaurant in Dallas and another family sent their young son over to our table with some funds to give away during Chemo Church. I was blessed and had it in my pocket as I began the day to minister. The Lord was very clear that their gift was to be for the mother and son battling brain cancer. I asked the mother to tell her son that the Lord is proud of him and he wants this gift to be a reminder of His love. She was very moved. I then was led to give her more resources to have her son buy gifts for two other families, allowing them to be a conduit of God’s love to the children in Chemo Church. She now had a ministry with the very people she was among and was clearly blessed. This faithful mother is a perfect example of someone allowing God to open their heart through suffering to bless others. There truly is a fellowship of suffering that tears down the walls that divide and allows us to build bridges of Christ’s love.

When we went to the main hospital we were in the large area where you give blood and the mood is typically very heavy. Today we found a family whose father was battling lung cancer as well. We huddled up in the corner for prayer in this very quiet room and began to pray. At the end of our prayer, the daughter said, “I know I am a Baptist but I feel like lifting my hands and shouting!” When we pray we are worshipping God in His presence and everything changes.

We then went to the Chemo Ward where we have made many friends with many patients, their families and the amazing hospital staff. It is amazing how they say, “Pastor Mike is here.” A few days ago I gave one of our new friends a book about God’s help in difficult times. He came up to me today and handed me the phone saying, “please talk to my daughter. I gave her that book and she really needs to come back to God.” Already the Word of God is being sent to people I have never met through this wonderful ministry.

Today we prayed with the woman who was by herself, getting chemo treatment next to me. She seemed so confidant until I started talking about Jesus and His desire to meet her every need, she began to cry. She asked me “do you always make people cry?” I said no it’s normally me who is crying. She was blessed to unload her burdens on Jesus and let Him care for her. Later in the day while we were waiting for my Doctor, Von and I simply prayed in the waiting room for about 30 minutes and had the most amazing season of prayer for the staff and all the patients we were meeting. It is only the grace of God and the prayers of the saints that could account for this miracle of God’s goodness that allows me to do the ministry I have been sent to do among these amazing people.

As we were leaving the building another lady battling lung cancer saw me and I asked how she was doing. She asked me to pray for her last time we were together because she wanted to live but could not quit smoking. Today she shared that she was loosing hope because she simply cannot quit. I asked if there was any treatment that she could try to help her, I could see how desperately she wanted to quit. She mentioned a prescription that could possibly help, but with all of her other medical bills it was too expensive for her to purchase. I asked how much it was, and she told me. When I opened my wallet it was exactly the amount of money I had left to give for the week. Jesus gave His all for me to have eternal life how could I withhold the opportunity for her to have life? She is a petite lady about my age but she hugged me so hard my ribs hurt where I had lung surgery over a year ago. Later that day she called to say how she had almost lost Hope in God and humanity but this gift had restored her Hope in God.

The greatest blessing of the week came the next morning when I had the joy of follow up with someone we had given Jon Lineburgers book to. That very same day she received a copy of the New Testament from another patient. I asked people to pray that I would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with her on Tuesday morning. The Lord opened the door for me to share and while I was telling her that God loved her and had a plan for her life I shared that she simply needed to pray a simple prayer of complete surrender to Jesus and ask Him to forgive her sins and invite Him to reign in her heart. She then pulled out a Gospel track from her purse that another patient had given her and said, “you mean a prayer like this?” I said yes a prayer like the one written right there in her hand. I asked her if she wanted to invite Jesus in her heart and she said yes. We celebrated her new life in Christ and the greatest smile I think I have ever seen, beamed across her face!

These past weeks I have seen the power in developing a pattern of presence. Going to the same places everyday not just to work, eat, or shop, or in my case get cancer treatment, but to build relationships with the opportunity allowing me to minister and share the Gospel. Every Tuesday I am discipling a young man we led to Christ in the third ward and now have a ministry with him as well as several wait staff at the same restaurants I eat at every night. The Lord himself traveled in the same small region His entire life but was always ministering everywhere He went. Pray about getting the same waiter, the same cashier, the same sales person, the same nurse, until you have the opportunity to minister to them. This is no time to transact but the greatest time to watch Christ transform lives though each of us as we build bridges of Christ love one life at a time. I am thrilled that this resurrection Sunday my new sister in Christ will be worshipping Jesus Christ her Savior! He is Risen He is Risen Indeed!