Restoring Hope for a Better Tomorrow

When the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan they placed twelve stones of remembrance in the Jordan to be a sign for the next generation of God’s miraculous intervention. Too often we forget the miracles of yesterday that remind us that our God is the same yesterday today and forever. We love to be busy and going but so often are missing the blessing of being still and knowing God. The miracles of yesterday are also meant to encourage the next generation to believe in God and His faithfulness. Interesting that we will sometimes go to the Bible and speak of this miracle of crossing over or the miracle of Daniel in the Lions den but not the miracles of today that God is doing. I have found that unless I write them down and tell them to the next generation they will soon be forgotten.

When each of my children accepted Christ as Lord I engraved that date on stones to help me remember the miracle of their salvation. Recently while praying the Lord led me to find those stones and hold them in my hand and feel the etched dates of God’s miracle of salvation for each of my children. Daniel was saved years ago on June 27 so I took him to lunch and asked him if he remembered what today was? I told him it was the most important day of his life, the day he accepted Jesus. He smiled as only Daniel can and we celebrated by buying him a golf shirt from a store I normally can’t afford. Today in 1994 is when Michael, who is posting this blog for his technology challenged father, accepted Christ. He too will get a gift of celebration of this great miracle.

It is our responsibility to mark down the miracles so that the next generation will never forget the wonder and glory of our miracle working God. One new date we just added was last Thursday June 23 when Jonathan surrendered his life to ministry. Remembering our salvation reminds us of what we committed to God and that our lives are not our own. We are all saved to go and tell the world about Jesus! Mark down then miracles in a journal for your benefit and for the sake of the generations to come. When you are gone they can read from your hand the faithfulness of God!

This past weekend I had the joy of visiting our ministry in West Virginia and was reminded of the blessing of dependence on God. The ministry has prayed for years for the transformation of an inner city community named Monticello. Two and a half years ago they were given a torn down drug house. Their heart was to rebuild it quickly and begin to serve the community with bible studies, job training, and after school tutoring. The process took much longer than planned.

However, Christ’s timing is perfect. Ray shared that six people accepted Christ in the two year building process. The community saw these volunteers come to their neighborhood for years and began to see their love for God and them. Several workers confessed that they were guilty of the sin of racism that was exposed by them getting to know the community over the building process. None of this would’ve happened if not for the extra time it took for the house to be completed.

The budget was $0 and God paid all the bills of the $120,000 cost. The neighbors picked up tools that were mistakenly left by workers and kept them safe. This miracle began with God putting on the heart of an elderly woman who has lived in Monticello for decades to give her house to God to be a light for Him. Think how long she has prayed and patiently waited for this miracle of God yet she persevered by faith.

May we all remember that God’s delays are opportunities for souls to be saved and our lives to become more like Jesus. Typically in my life I am not prepared for the blessings of God and He has to slow me down to prepare me for the next assignment.

We celebrate today the prayers, patience, and persevering faith of our ministry team in West Virginia. We praise God for Ray and Tressa Shaw, Gwen, and the amazing Monticello residents who daily teach us that the poor are rich in faith. The Lighthouse is built and the Lord is moving greatly. What a joy to wait on God. Remember that God’s delays allow a maturing in us so that He can work through us in a greater way. Please enjoy the video from HIS BridgeBuilders West Virginia!

We recently received several prayer requests from our team in Romania. It reminded me of the true needs of God’s people around the world. So often when we insulate ourselves from the needs of others we can become consumed with our light and momentary trials. The enemy loves to isolate us and cause us to focus on everything in our lives that is wrong instead of rejoicing in whatever state we find ourselves.

We must constantly keep our eyes and hearts open so that we can truly see just how blessed we are. In light of these prayer requests I want us to recognize just how blessed we are. My own journey with cancer has caused me to see the gift of a single day, a breath, a kind word, and a hug as precious. When you read these prayer requests thank God for His many miracles and blessings. Remember God has blessed us to be a blessing.

How tragic it is to spend our lives focused on such a small subject like ourselves. I continue to be convicted by the amount of need globally and excess locally. He commands us to make disciples of all nations knowing we would daily need His perspective so that we would invest our lives in others and His Kingdom.

It really is more blessed to give than receive. Please pray for the needs of our church family in one of the poorest communities in all of Europe who are rich in faith. God answers the fervent prayers of the righteous. Be careful because He may move you to be a part of the solution to one of these requests when you realize just how blessed we are.

Prayer Requests from Romania;

Nuci and Donna (both 20) already have 3 kids under 3, and they are the first baptisms in the church! We praise God for that! They are living all in one room with Nuci’s mother! This is typical of “housing” there. Unfortunately, Nuci’s mom, Irena, has left to be with a man who is beating her. Pray for her to come home and get away from him, and for Donna to have her back to help with the babies.

Nicoletta is Pastor Bogdan’s 29 year old sister with a 5 year old son. She has experienced medical problems the last several months and recently had surgery in this hospital. Nicoletta had to share her BED with another patient. She is now home but will have a second surgery soon! Paula was uncertain what they did or what they will do in the next one. “Something is in there that shouldn’t be,” according to Paula. Please pray for her healing! On our last trip to Romania, Nicoletta prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior!! Bogdan now says she calls him everyday asking questions about the Bible! Praise God for that!

This past week we were thrilled to be able to host Brian Fikkert, the author of When Helping Hurts. Last month we were grateful to be able to spend the day with David Platt, author of Radical and Radical Together. It is amazing to see how the Lord is speaking the same word through so many in this season to the church in America.

Prayerfully we will wake up to the word the Lord is speaking to us regarding the least here and around the world. Every day we are seeing men and women who were once hopeless receiving Hope In Salvation. Recently a young Pastor said, “I was always talking about the poor and never satisfied with what the church in America was doing.” That’s because there are only 2000 scriptures regarding the ministry to the poor and I believe there is no greater witness to the lost world than seeing our love for the least. The world will know we are Christians by our love and not just our words.

I am grateful for the authors and pastors and teachers who are a part of this great movement to bring balance back to the church in America. One pastor told me recently that “most churches just give the crumbs to helping the needy and the least, while they should be giving a greater portion of the loaf of bread to those who need it the most.” The missed opportunity will not only impact the declining church in America but the next generation who longs to see the church be the church of Jesus Christ and not the church of America consumed with ourselves and the American dream.

Just read the Bible and see where Jesus was, where he spent his time, what he did, and we will all know how far we have drifted into a faith of our own making that is really more about ourselves than Jesus and others. Prayerful that as you read these books you will go to the word and pray and hear from God his heart for the lost and the least here and around the world. What a joy it would be for all of us to be considered RADICAL for the Lord!

David Platt tours BridgeBuilders

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.

This past week was spring break and as always I was looking forward to time with my kids and wife. I had checked out multiple options of inexpensive places we could go and potential activities that would be fun for us to do. I even took the week off from the ministry so that I would have the time needed for this incredible week! Much to my surprise when I brought up the options of what we could do as a family my children all informed me that none of my options were really that great because they had decided they were all volunteering all day Monday-Thursday in our first spring break kids camp in BonTon. Amazing that my idea of a break was getting away from the ministry for a week and my Children’s idea was to go to the inner city every day and demonstrate the love of Christ to kids and families who have never had the option of traveling or even doing some of the activities I was planning.

This camp was amazing and was primarily put together by three amazing volunteers who weekly organize our Children’s ministry for HIS BridgeBuilders! How humbled I was that my children have once again shown me their value system of what they love is often times more like Christ’s than mine. There is in my heart a great expectation for what God has planned for my children’s generation that Is 58 describes as true religion!

I will never forget this spring break where 62 children from BonTon were made to feel very special and loved! Prayerfully we will all have more of this true religion instead of our continued comfort and entertainment! The world is in great need, from Japan to our country and our cities. Interesting that for most of us, including me, my first thought when given time off was what I want to do. I am grateful that my kids asked God what He wanted them to do with their spring breaks. Think of all the mininstry God had prepared for all of us that we missed because we never asked our creator for His plans for our lives! Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he may remind you of the way you are to go! Thank you kids for reminding me of God’s priorities and purpose for an incredible Spring Break!

You bless me and humble me by your love for God and the least of these! Enjoy the video from our Kids Camp as the children declare, “It’s in my hands, It’s in my feet, It’s all over me, it’s destiny…I’m Saved, I’m Saved, Gonna tell everybody I’m saved!”

These past few months have been some of the most miraculous of my life and ministry. I marvel at the way the Holy Spirit is calling, empowering, and sending people to be a part of this work of God. Acts 13:2-3 states, “while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”
The Holy Spirit calls us and sends us on mission. He is calling each of us to surrender our lives to His leading. Typically when the Holy Spirit is calling and leading, it will be very different from what we think we should do for the Lord. Paul was constrained by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem, knowing he would be beaten and imprisoned. Yet, he still went. Acts 20:22 “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there.”

While I was praying one morning last week about the PCA baseball team coming and serving in Bonton, we had given them the typical list of projects that suburban people like to do to serve the poor. It became very clear through the Holy Spirit’s leading that we should lock the kids in our gym each night and keep them in the inner city for 3 days. Amazingly the leadership of the team thought it was awesome but our own ministry team thought it would be logistically very difficult on such short notice. If the world’s logic is used to comprehend the leading of the Holy Spirit then we will miss the miracle every time. This group of young men have ignited our own city staff by going door to door evangelizing and praying with men and women. They prayed with a heroin addict who wept and said, “I am just so tired of living this way.” To their amazement some of the inner-city residents began praying for them and encouraging them to continue serving God and pursuing Christ. Some of the youth asked a homeless man how he was doing expecting an answer of despair and he simply smiled and said, “I’m blessed!” It stunned the young men who quickly realized that we can have everything, yet nothing when Jesus isn’t Lord of our lives.

The PCA students worshipped with an inner city basketball team in the video below. The coach came up afterwards and said, “my young men don’t have what you have, will you do a Bible study for my team each week after practice?” The Lord just launched our sports ministry! The PCA guys were shaken, as was our staff, and in one word we were all “awakened”. Many of the young men have committed to coming down next week for our Kid’s Day Camp and others are praying about serving this summer as summer missionaries to the city. One of the most interesting responses one of the young men said when asked what holds us back from following the leading of the Holy Spirit… “We have to break out of the plan that others have made for our life and just follow Him.”

The week ended with us washing the feet of these 30+ young men. We wept and prayed over these amazing guys. Eight of the students prayed for a greater surrender of their lives to God. We praise God that through His leading and our obeying we have all been “awakened” for the glory of God!