Dear Prayer Partner,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all of our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we have received from God (2Cor 1:3-4).  Psalm 116:5 declares, "...our God is full of compassion".  God's divine nature has many splendors, yet I feel the one splendor that touches the poor in Baja the most is compassion.  As our teams serve in God's compassion, I believe the atmosphere for heart miracles is ignited!  Before I share the prayer requests to cover our BCM teams serving this weekend, as well as some BCM updates, I want to share with you an inspiring video slide show produced by David Angulo that is synced to our friend Hannah Ford's beautiful song, "Eyes of Compassion".   Enjoy:

This weekend we have two teams building with us:

Rock Harbor Church of Costa Mesa, CA, led by Paul Deese and Robb Hammond, came in today to build two homes and reach out in Christ's love.

Also a team of friends and employees from 3M company of San Diego, led by Kevin Shannon & Cheryl Walker, came in today to build one home for a needy family in the community of San Bernardo.  

Please pray God's blessing and protection upon these teams and their possessions. Pray that God fill them with His joy and peace as they serve Him. Also pray that many get touched by God's Spirit and that many are saved, encouraged, filled with hope and started on the path of discipleship. 

The following are other loving and compassionate teams that have served with us over the last month up to this weekend:  

Oct 2-4 Jon, Joann, Chad, Jeremy Youngquist and Home for Home Program, Ellensburg, WA 1 home

Oct 9-10 David and Pat Nelson, Horizon Christian Fellowship, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 2 homes

Oct 9-11 Scott & Cindy Vestal, Ian Stevenson, The Crossing, Costa Mesa, CA 1 home

Oct 10-11 Dave& Laura Boyd, Irvine Presbyterian Church, Irvine, CA 1 Church, 1 home

Oct 22-25 Roy Matson & The Youngquist family Hope Four Square Church, Snohomish, WA  2 homes

Oct 24-25 Pam Dauplaise, David Bower, Cerritos Baptist Church, Cerritos, CA 1 home + latrine

Nov 6-8  Kevin Shannon & Cheryl Walker 3M Company, San Diego, CA 1 home + latrine

Nov 6-8 Paul Deese & Robb Hammond, Rock Harbor Church, Costa Mesa CA 2 homes

Of these teams, on the weekend of Oct 10-11th, one church building was built by Irvine Presbyterian Church and three other homes were built, two by Horizon Christian Fellowship of San Diego and one by the Crossing Church of Costa Mesa. One of the team members of the Crossing Church, Lisa Cisneros, with a friend, produced a Youtube video of their trip I wanted to share with you:  

Also I want to share the story of another one of these teams: The Youngquist family who own PIllar Development of Washington have established  a Home for Home Program. They have made a commitment that for every home that they sell and build here in the states they will also build one for a poor family in Baja!  God is really blessing this! In the last two months they have been to Tijuana with us building quite a few homes and are back again on Thanksgiving weekend to fund and build two more: Read more of this wonderful story at this site and blog:  http://www.home-for-home.org

Thanks for your powerful and effective prayers. We wouldn't really want to do this work without them. I would like to ask you to continue to please pray for our entire BCM team and our families: That our great God would continually fill us with the fullness of joy in His presence (Psa 16:11), guard our hearts and minds with His peace that passes all understanding (Phil 4:7), bless our hearts with His love that surpasses knowledge (Eph 3:19) continue to give us drinks from His rivers of delight (Psalm 36:8), enlighten our inner eyes with His Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to gain needed wisdom and understanding (Eph 1:17-19) and that He would continually strengthen and protect us from the evil one (2Thes 3:3), give us times of refreshing from the Lord (Acts 3:19) and continue to supply all of our personal needs and ministry needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus! (Phil 4:19) Thank you so very much for your precious prayers!

Thank you also for your encouragement, giving, and hands on service!

May God bless you abundantly (Eph 3:20)!

Harvesting Baja together for our King!

Bob Sanders

BAJA CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES BIBLE/PURPLE BOOK DISCIPLESHIP--Part 1

Bible/Purple Book Revolution Spreading Rapidly in Baja! 

BCM's Quest is to build houses, churches, and lives for Jesus Christ in Baja, Mexico. In our quest to build lives we have developed a BCM Bible/Purple Book (PB) discipleship program that we desire for you to become familiar with. This report is the first of a series of three to do that very thing. This report includes our current PB statistics,a short Purple Book Presentation Video, a Purple Book Blog in English and Spanish, and concludes with an endorsement from a great friend and Christian leader!

Baja Christian Ministries Purple Book Discipleship Program has been very effective to relate the gospel clearly, accurately, and has the built in ability to help establish solid biblical foundations in lives in Baja CA, Mexico.  Our 20 year goal is to reach 1 million people in the Baja Peninsula. From May of 2007 through Sept 28, 2009 these our results thus far:

BAJA CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES
DISCIPLESHIP REPORT  10-13-2009

Purple Book Blog in Spanish

http://plandediscipuladomorado.blogspot.com/

  

In conclusion. I am including a very encouraging endorsement from a great Christian leader and friend, Peter Furler:

 

  

“I am honored to call ''Baja'' Bob Sanders my friend, Summer and I are proud to be a part of his team. I believe that in the future, Baja Christian Ministries will be known for playing a part in one of the great spiritual movements of our time. I encourage you to join with us and be a part of it too!'' Peter Furler

  

  

Thanks for standing with in this pursuit!

  

Bob Sanders

  

  

BCM Discipleship Ministry--Part 2

  

Laying Biblical Foundations for Living Stones in Tijuana and Beyond

  

  

Hello BCM Partner,

 

I've enclosed a new BCM Purple Book video, "Run With Fire" one in English and one with Spanish subtitles. 

 

The momentum is building and thousands of people are being saved, discipled, helped and blessed! The excitement for the gospel is spreading like fire! The potential is great and multiplying! The torch is being passed from leader to leader, person to person, and from living stone to living stone igniting new flames of heart revival and devotion to our Lord and King! 

 

38, 300 people have received a Bible and Purple Book in greater Tijuana and Baja CA, Mexico through our network of BCM staff, pastor and leader studies and BCM evangelism open air meetings.  17, 142 of those precious Bible and Purple Book recipients have finished this life impacting, 12 chapter, 54 lesson, 500 plus question Bible Study Course.

 

James 2:5 "speaks of the poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith".  Roman 10:17 tells us faith comes from hearing and digesting the Word of God.  1Peter  2:5 says, "you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." A large segment of these people are being saved for the first time while others are being discipled though this excellent combination of Bible and Purple Book. Many of these people have never had a Bible but now do. Scripture calls people saved and discipled these living stones. BCM also builds church buildings in Mexico which are vital yet we all know it's the "living stones" that make up the church of God!  I believe these precious living stones are worth investing in, and a high priority focus! 

 

I believe that a high percentage of American Christians have at least a half dozen books and more than one version of the Bible on their book shelves at home. Yet for many of our recipients in Baja,  the Bible and purple book might be the only books they have?  Yet, I believe they are the best two books to have to make an eternal difference in their lives!

 

We started this BCM Bible/Purple Book ministry program officially in May of 2007. A precious couple in Southern California believed in what we were doing and have continued to give BCM  90% of the money needed to fund this entire program year by year for 3 years thus far: salaries, and expenses of 5 full time staff who live in Baja and the Bibles and Purple Books for three years now. It's been miraculous, heavenly generosity! And, thanks to the grace of God the hunger and demand is growing for the Word of God through this avenue! 

 

Our BCM goal was to distribute 10,000 Bibles and purple books the first year. We reached that goal! The second year goal was to distribute 20,000 more Bibles and purple books. We surpassed that goal and distributed 22,000 last year. Now our third year goal is to distribute 30,000 more and we are right on target, yet we hit a temporary road block, for we don't have the funding in the budget to buy 5,000 more Bibles at this time to move forward!   $10,000 is needed!  Shipping is free with this size order of 5,000 or more Bibles. Please pray with us that God would supply this need and also an even greater abundance of financial wealth to grow this BCM program, so we can add 10,000 new recipients (living stones) each year on top of what we did the year before. By adding 10,000 more people each year (above what we did the year before) this will allow us to reach the goal of discipling 1,000,000 lives with a Bibilcal foundation in 17 more years. Of course if we recieve the vital prayer covering (2Cor 1:10-11) and the abundance of financial wealth needed, we believe, we can reach that very obtainable goal much sooner.

 

We are developing a BCM administration opportunity for you be involved prayerfully and financially in this effective evangelism/discipleship ministry and our  20 year goal of reaching one millions lives in Baj! This will be launched soon!     

 

The Word of God is being honored and spreading rapidly (2Thes 3:1) like fire in Baja! Enclosed is a video produced by David Angulo you can view in either English or Spanish.   

  

Purple Book, "Run With Fire" video English version:

 Purple Book Run With Fire video "Corriendo  Con Antorcha" with Spanish Subtitles:

Thanks for investing in the ripe harvest fields in Baja through prayers, giving, and service! Thanks for building houses, churches and lives for Jesus through this ministry! Please continue to pray for the success and victories in Christ for BCM! Thanks very much! May God bless you abundantly!

 

Harvesting Baja for our King together,

 

Bob Sanders

 

BCM Discipleship Report--Compel Them To Come In--part 3

 

 
Dear Prayer Partner,

In this battle to wins souls for Christ, and in this quest to build houses, churches, and lives for Jesus, our amazing God is opening wide doors of opportunity and we are seeing steady and continual victories and growth through our mighty King! As a result we are seeing thousands of precious lives swept into His Kingdom! For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net (Matt 13:47).

 

Allow me to share something I am very excited about...

Along with God's kingdom advancing in Baja via evangelism and multiplying disciples through a unified working net of pastors and leaders passionately initiating and overseeing more than 1000 Bible/Purple Book cell groups (of 25 or more disciples), we are also seeing thousands of lives being won  to Jesus through spontaneous evangelistic street meetings (Acts 20:20). This strategy has been quite effective!  A portion of the house building team is going house to house, along with our BCM evangelism tag team, making spontaneous invitations asking people to meet with us in an easily found location (say under a tree or on a street corner) in their neighborhood in about 15 minutes from the invite. By God's grace they are coming in groves!  Then translated testimonies from house build members, the good news of salvation, and the promises of God are shared. An invitation is given to receive Christ, followed by prayer with the people gathered. These spontaneous street meetings most often take place in and around the neighborhoods where our BCM build teams are simultaneously building houses and church buildings. Bibles and Purple Books are then given to both new converts and to others in the meeting that would like to do the study. Then one of our BCM Purple Book Regional Directors or team member signs up those who received Bibles and Purple Books and appoints a group leader over them to provide accountability and motivation to finish the Bible study course. This strategy and plan has been working very effectively and God is blessing it abundantly and giving it increase (1Cor 3:7).

 

I encourage you to please take some more time to view the 3 short videos linked below to help gain a greater understanding of what I am so excited about! It will take about 16 minutes to see all four. If you do, I believe you will get a fairly good overview of how this effective harvesting process is working! The harvest is truly ripe in Baja! 
 

Compel them to come in: Music: The Anthem by Jake Hamilton:

 

 

Lives touched by Jesus: Presence (My Desire) : Music by Newsboys:

Gregg Tipton led a team of 60 people with us from his Ten Days Baja ministry to build a church building, a house, do a fiesta, sports clinic and engage in this spontaneous evangelism street meeting process I am speaking of. During that week, together we led more than 1,000 people to the Lord, gave them Bibles and Purple Books and executed what I shared above. One of his wonderful leaders from Texas, Peter Dusan shared this testimony:

In closing I wanted to share two sciptures and an observation and conviction: Jeremiah 2:13 states: "For My people have committed two evils: They have fosaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."  Isaiah 32:15-NKJV says, "Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fruitful field, And fruitful field is counted as a forest."

 

I believe Baja is like a dry spiritual desert thirsty for God's Living Water. I believe that studying the Bible with the Purple Book helps them to not only build a strong Biblical foundation in their lives but also helps them to hew out cisterns that don't leak in their hearts to be able to hold the reviving life- giving waters of God's love and life in their hearts. God reveals in Isaiah 41:17-20, "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I will answer them...I will turn the desert into pools...I will put in the desert the cedar...I will set pines in the wasteland, the firs and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israell has created it." Isaiah 61:3 states, "...They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His spendor." 

 

Our goal is to distribute 1,000,000 Bibles and Purples Books throughout the Baja pennisula like an irrigation system that brings the Living Water of His Word to the hi-ways and bi-ways, to the dry desert hearts, as preparation for God's Spirit to revive and refresh these thirsty ones and raise up oaks of righteousness that muliply into forests.

 

God states through Isaiah 57:15, "...I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite" In  Luke 12:49 Jesus states,   "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  Multitudes in these Baja communities are lowly and contrite in heart and spirit with hearts prepared like kindle to have the revival of God's love and salvation ignited in their hearts. Multitudes are ready to be ushered into the Kingdom of God and to be discipled. The harvest is truly ripe in Baja!  Let's join together and compel them to come in (Luke 14:23). 

 

Much prayer and finances are needed to realize this vision and work this plan!  Thanks for standing with us and harvesting together through your prayers, encouragement, financial support, and hands on service. May God bless you abundantly!     

 

Harvesting Baja together for our King!

 

With gratitude,

Bob Sanders

True Medicine Promised to Heal our Land!

By Bob Sanders--founder of BCM

I believe most godly and moral people in our beloved country are seeing and grieving our nation's rapid decay, both morally and economically!  I believe all of us long for a solution and are greatly concerned about it's decline, yet we suffer disappointment and heartache again and again every time the news breaks with another appalling, disappointing story reeking with evil, greed, falsehood, and corruption!  

But what if there was a solution? What if there was a true remedy that would help heal our land? What if that remedy wasn't logical, yet was promised from Someone Who was trustworthy and powerful enough to do what He promised?  Would we rush to that remedy and apply it to the oozing wounds of our Land? I believe we would, because I believe we all love this country and don't want to lose it, our prosperity, or our rights!

Allow me to share from a few scriptures, and a discourse that I've written, why I feel that lavishly serving the poor could very well be the heavenly key and the true medicine that will heal our land! I know th is may sound crazy to some, but please read it all the way through and decide.   

I believe most of us know this first scripture, a conditional promise from God in 2 Chronicle 7:14, "If My people who are called by My Name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Many have taken this great promise from God to heart, quoted it, and taught about it!  Allow me to elaborate on what "turn from their wicked ways" can mean and why it is a valuable condition for the fullfillment of this promise.  

All of us have our spin on things, our opinions, our two cents to share, but I believe if the key fits we should discover if it will start the engine.  Proverbs 29:7, says, "The righteous consider the cause of the poor, but the wicked does not understand such knowledge."  And then Psalms 9:17-18 states, "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten: The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever." In our American culture it is not considered wicked to neglect the poor, nor does it prick most consciences, but in God's Kingdom culture it is wicked to neglect the poor!  If you were to read all of Isaiah 58, especially verses 1-5, you'll see that God's people were praying, seeking His face and fasting, but God was displeased because they neglected the poor. If they understood and obeyed I believe heavenly blessing would have poured forth like an "unfailing spring"  (Isa 58:11).

My conviction is that a tangible, focused, concerted, lavish, long term effort by the US church to serve the poor of this world would bring God's hand of healing to our land. By lavish I mean generous proportions, not just used clothes, not just the crumbs off the rich man's table.

The next verses of promise from God tie together! "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses it's saltiness, how can it be made salty again. It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men (Matt 5:13)". I believe the time when God's people were the saltiest is recorded in Acts 2:42 and Acts 4:32-36 when the believers were committed to helping the poor and those who were in need.  The world or government is not looking to the church for solutions. They don't see it as being tangibly salty in this age. I believe serving the poor Isaiah 58 style will permeate us and make us salty again!  

"Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord Almighty" (Zech 4:6). We are, no doubt, in an age of anxiety!  People are scared!  We all ma ke choices... we can look to "power" or "might" (which could be political, educational, economical, government control or military force), to save, prosper and protect us, or we can look to the Spirit to bring wealth, protection, and prosperity.

We are seeing with our own eyes multiplying greed dominating our world and widespread corruption in our leaders and elsewhere. Might and power aren't cutting it!  They are necessary in this evil world system, but God's Spirit and kingdom is our only true remedy. In times as these which are quickly getting more evil and corrupt, and the sons of disobedience (Eph 2:1-2) are gaining widespread control, the next scripture needs to kick in, which I see as our only real solution!  It is a conditional promise based on our obedience.  2 Corinthians 10;6 states, "And we (God's people, through our spiritual, not carnal, weapons) will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your (mine and yours) obedience is complete." Acts of disobedience like pornographic outlets, abortion, child sex slavery, greed, and government and corporate corruption etc, etc., will be punished once our obedience becomes complete.  Do you see the connection here?  The connection is that our obedience to God's command to do faith-filled, good deeds along with faith building discipleship amongst the poor (James 2:5) empowers our prayers and draws God's hand=2 0to punish the evil acts of disobedience. God's Kingdom is an upside kingdom!  When we do good and serve the poor as He commands, then He takes care of evil and brings blessings to us. There is a whole world of poor and lost souls out there beyond the walls of our churches that need salty believers to serve them in both word and deed!  

In closing, I've included a link to a document I compiled called "Why is Serving the Poor So Important?" It furthers my case of why God wants us to serve the poor and also about the blessing and protection that serving the poor brings to us, our families and to our country:   

http://www.bajachristian.org/why-serve-the-poor/

If the USA Church made preaching good news to the poor (Luke 4:18), discipling and nurturing the faith of the poor (James 2:5) and helping the poor tangibly (1John 3:16-19) one of their highest priorities, would God heal our land? Might this proactive faith action through deeds (James 2:14-18) spark needed revival in our great land?

Let us pursure the same mindset of the Apostles, James, Peter, John, Paul and Barnabas from Galations 2:10 who stated, "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor" and then respond as the Apostle Paul did, "The very thing I was eager to do"   Blessings!  Bob Sanders