As the dust from Baja Blast 1000 is settling I am finally getting back to you with a small  cross-section of stories, testimonies, perspectives, photos, and update.  Foremost, with a grateful heart to our God and King,  I come to thank you for your loving support in prayer and  participation in this shared victory and amazing event in Baja California,  Mexico!  This expedition was clearly orchestrated and guided our King's Loving Hand!  I believe it beautifully reflected Jesus' glory, love, honor and compassion!  It was a life changing experience for us all! 

Manda, a team member from First Baptist Church of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, had this to say, "There are no words to describe the experience that we had in Mexico. I for one, did not previously believe that a person's entire life could be changed in just one week. However,  God has once again proven just how little I understand of His power. From this point on my life belongs to the Lord... my desire and longing is to make His name famous in ALL the earth. There is no question about what I will be doing for the rest of my life. My life is His now, and there is no turning back. Mexico changed my life."

Peter Furler's brother, Mark Furler, a writer and journalist from Australia, writes: "THEY are the heroes with hammer and nail who are taking the gospel to the poor in the most practical way possible - by building homes for them and their children. An army of more than 1000 people descended on Baja,  Mexico, last week to build homes for some of the poorest people on the planet - and they are right on our doorstep. Teams of youth have been joined by Newsboys in the desert to create some of the most heart-warming scenes you will ever see..."

Mark nailed it... this team was heroic and they definitely were an army. An army of light!  More than a thousand Christian soldiers labored in these dusty hills of Baja to bring houses to 26 families, coupled with hope, encouragement, blessing, healing, precious seeds planted and  watered, salvations, and other tangible expressions of God's love to multitudes as the light of a thousand vessels (Matt 5:16) radiated praises for our Father like a beacon light to this entire region.  The Holy Spirit united and moved our hearts!  We rode the Holy Spirit wave of your prayers!  The prayers of many (2Cor 1:10-11) broke through the enemies resistance like the breaking forth of waters (1Chron 14:11).  We were hit by enemy ambushes, in the beginning especially, and also some enemy backlash in the end, “But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ… (1Cor 15:57-58)."  We all saw a great victory!

In the New Living Translation of Psalm 16:2-3 it states, “I said of the Lord,  “You are my Master! All the good things I have are from You.” The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!”  We all shared in good things from our Lord and I felt greatly honored to serve among these godly people!

My daughter, Rebekah, related to me that this outreach event attracted some of the greatest people she had ever communed with in her life. This was so true... the entire combined group was so respectful, honoring, loving, easily entreated, flexible, ready to go with the flow and go that extra mile. With great attitudes they did what was needed to be done.  In “one mind in Jesus” they served as you prayer warriors had prayed for. 

As I drove up a dirt road in my van through a down-stream of hundreds of Global Expedition soldiers, in unison,  side winding their way down  towards the bottom to reach their buses, in their orange Global Expedition tee shirts, with faces reflecting the King's joy and victory,  two mental pictures later came to mind:  One was of a civil war movie scene, like the Red  Badge of Courage, as soldiers were walking home from victory, and the other was that of an  orange river of blessing weaving it's way down that arid wasteland bringing life to the      desert it was touching,  like described in Ezekiel 47: 1-12, and in many other places in Isaiah that refer to streams in the desert turning wastelands into fruitful fields. 

Evangelism and Discipleship Teams:  Along with these heroes with hammer and nail were also the courageous battalions that rotated in and out of the house building shifts, 28 groups of 20, with the Word of God-- the Sword of the Spirit, and their spiritual weapons (2Cor 10:3-6) to do the work of an evangelist (2Tim 4:5), to spread good news to the poor (Lk 4:18), to liberate from demonic strongholds, to bring encouragement, hope, healing, and salvation to many. These  battalions teamed up with a special groups of bi-lingual translators to canvas strategically hundreds of houses, going shanty to shanty (Acts 20:20), touching thousands of lives spreading over at least four communities. They planted, watered, prayed, and led many to the Lord.

For many of these members I'm sure, it was the first time to do something of this nature.  I'm convinced some had to work through fears, hesitations, and shyness to fulfill this form of ministry.  God blessed their willingness and availability in amazing ways as they worked with Bibles, gospel tracts, and Biblical Fundamental books (purple books) in Spanish. After a number of folks were led to the Lord, one group invited these new converts and some of their neighbors to a small packed out church two days later to start working through that purple discipleship book.

The Poor to be Rich in Faith: James 2:5 in the New Revised Standard Version states, “Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the Kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him?"  Of course the answer is a resounding yes!   Like providing nourishing food and houses, BCM is very much committed to aiding in the physical and material needs of the poor, but also very much to the spiritual needs of poor as well.  That’s why evangelism, discipleship, and church planting are also so important to this ministry. That's why Spanish Bibles and great discipleship books like the purple book, “Fundamentos Biblicos”, are desperately needed as well!  We had about 4000 purple books and 2000 Bibles available for us for this outreach. 

I’m convinced that growing faith in the hearts of the poor not only establishes them in relationship with the Father through Jesus to receive the awesome inheritance of eternal life but also establishes them in relationship to pray to their Father in heaven by faith for receiving earthly blessings like material provisions and jobs, etc..  therefore helping the poor to become rich in faith and relationship with Jesus Christ is foundational to really helping the poor, as their growing faith filled prayer will begin to turn their desert circumstances of poverty into new fruitful opportunities of spiritual and material blessing. 

Teams United and Gelled to Bring Blessing:  Global Expedition leadership and  missionaries joyfully interfaced with BCM contractors and builders, bi-lingual translators, and Barnabas Encouragement team members from all over the United  States, Mexico,  Canada, and New Zealand, along with the Newsboys, their management team and crew, to bring precious cups of cold water to many thirsty lives on both sides of the border. 

A Testimony from an 11^th Grade Heroine:  Marissa Morton writes, "About 10 months ago, I was surfing Global Expeditions website and I saw that there was a trip with the Newsboys. I was so excited to see that the Newsboys were going to Baja that I had to ask my parents if that could be my birthday present?  They said yes, but I would have to earn half of the money... I did some work and earned the money.  Four months before the trip, God started telling me something... You think that you’re going to Baja because of the Newsboys but you are going because I want to show you something. So I was praying that God would mold my heart for the trip.

One day while we were ministering close to our house I was blessed to witness a healing. I will never forget what the lady said afterwards; "God showed you this for a reason". While I was on the trip God was revealing to me that He wanted for me to be a missionary to Mexico... so I prayed about it for a few nights and God reassured me that is what He wants me to do. Baja was the most amazing experience that I have ever had in my entire life. While I was there I met so many wonderful people and heard so many wonderful stories.

On Saturday night when we arrived we were all challenged to say a dangerous prayer; that God would push our flesh down and work threw us, removing any obstacles  in the way. And I can honestly say that that is the week that I died and became a new creature. God worked in so many ways that week that we won’t even know the impact we made for Christ’s kingdom until we get to Heaven. We planted so many seeds and we touched so many lives just by being there. While I was there, I was blessed have a great group of people to work with.  We became one big family. I never knew that you could grow so close to complete strangers in 7 days. We laughed together, we cried together and we grew together. And I can’t wait to see them all again in Heaven!"  Marissa's Baja Blast 1000 photos:  http://photobucket.com/albums/a332/marissa_89/ 

Team of 30  From Pennsylvania to Baja:  Youth Pastor, Adam Sheaffer from First Baptist Church of Doylestown and  founder of Rooftop Revolution youth ministry wrote a glowing report about Baja Blast 1000!  "...I am flooded with memories of people and places.  Martin, the young man who waited by our site each day to help us build a home for his neighbor.  Maria, the mother of 3 who didn’t even own the shack that she was living in.  Blanca, the woman who tearfully,  though joyfully accepted the forgiveness that Christ offers.  The trip was nothing short of life changing for our team.  I thought I was just bringing my group to another Newsboys concert in Hershey, PA,  back on November 19^th but ... Peter Furler starts telling everybody about this mission project that he and the boys are doing in the summer of ’05 and he invites us all to join him.  So one of the two parents, Bill Lyle, makes eye contact with me and mouths  “We’re going right?” ... before I know what’s happening, we have a team of 30 people who have committed to go to Mexico.  

The project was life changing in several ways... One thing we all had in common was the fact that none of us are the same as of today.  We had students who committed their lives to full time mission work and parents who committed to rethink their spending, but most importantly we have a team of 30 people who all understand that the very purpose of the church is to worship God and to bring the unsaved world into worship of this great God.  Regardless of our various roles, we understand in a practical way what it means to love God and love others. Thank you for involving the Newsboys – without them we wouldn’t have even considered this life-changing week.  Please be encouraged by the fact that your efforts are worth it, to God’s glory.  Lives were changed, in the mission field and in the church. Please let the Newsboys know how grateful we are for their invitation – it worked!  God’s name was lifted up in an enormous way through this project, and we were honored to be involved."  Links that represent the impact of the trip:  About 100 photos from the week, including concert:  http://www.rooftoprevolution.com/MEXICO2005/index.htm  Updates sent home by phone  http://www.rooftoprevolution.com/rooftopnews.htm   a forum from  http://www.rooftoprevolution.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56  their message board  with  their students thoughts on the Baja trip.  Incredible! 

20 Countdown Magazine Article and Photos Covering Baja Blast 1000:  Newsboy's good friend, Jon Rivers, joined the Newsboys on this Baja trip. Jon and his wife, Sherry, have a very unique ministry in the contemporary music field.  Along with enriching many lives with a positive alternative to cultural media, as disc jockeys, they play continuous Christian praise and worship songs, but go a step further by introducing you to these artists and leaders of contemporary bands through write-ups and personal interviews in order to get to know their hearts and at times the circumstances behind a particular song or band.  This great service to the Body of Christ is called, "The Morning Show with Jon and Sherry Rivers". It's on KLOVE radio, aired Monday-Friday, 5am-10am central time, and 3am-8am pacific time, and Sunday 8am-11am central, and 6am-9am Pacific time.  Their listening audience spans 35 states and 1.5 million people.  Besides being on radio stations in certain areas, it can be heard anywhere on-line at: http://www.klove.com/ .  They own a magazine called, "20 The Countdown Magazine".  In their recent edition are photos and an article written by Mark Furler, Peter Furler's brother, entitled: "Jon River's Mission Trip With Newsboys in Baja, Mexico".

Weaving Nets Together and Building in the Multiplier:  In those last few weeks before Baja Blast 1000, when we desperately needed more contractors, translators, and prayer  warriors, Jon and Sherry Rivers went to bat and announced those needs. There was great response from all over the country. One who joined us was Justin Lee from Texas, who led a house-building group. Now he is coming again this month to join one of our Orange County teams to build.  He is also putting together his own team from his church in Texas to join us at a later date to build.  Another who responded was Mark Whistler.  With a little more than a week's notice he was on an airplane from Colorado and joining us for that week.  By trade  Mark is a trader on the stock exchange but also is an author of books, and a journalist who writes for magazines.  Mark wrote a wonderful article entitled: "Building Homes for The Impoverished place in the magazine "Trader Daily" that you can read at:  http://www.traderdaily.com/column4/1131.html 

Mark Furler's Website: Mark has a website at: www.markfurler.com you might like to visit where you can read yet another rendition of this event with a different flavor and perspective  from his week long tour with the Newsboys before and after their time with us in Baja.  Mark brought something very interesting  to light in this article: Mark writes,  "For Peter, the plight of the poor is central to the gospel he sings about.  “Jesus started out with a hammer and nails and he ended up with hammer and nails didn’t He?  The gospel is in the hammer and nail. There is power in that - that someone would give up their life for others.'’  Mark included  photos of the Baja trip and their week of touring together along with other articles he wrote about the Tsunami in Sri Lanka and others.  More photos can be view can be viewed at:  http://www.newsboys.com/  click photos link and then Baja  Mission Trip 2000.

Global Expeditions  leadership team excellently and skillfully trained up 850 missionaries.  They ran a very well organized, disciplined, and honorable camp, a tent community about 5-10 miles from the communities they served.  Leadership was headed up by David and Jonathan Hasz, Kara Stevenson, and Nathanael Ferguson, who was the Baja coordinator for this trip.  Doug and Gale Rittenhouse headed up media and concert arrangements with Dave Wagner and Steve Campbell of the Newsboys and myself.  Ron Luce, founder, was also able to be with us for a time. Their ministry powerfully impacts millions of youth. Ron and his team have a passion to rescue as many youth in this perverse generation as possible.  If you have time please visit their website: Battle Cry For A Generation: http://battlecry.com/ . This  might well be an effort you or your church might want to partner with!

BCM Builders and Contractors:  BCM was responsible for supplying the house build leaders to coach and lead these 28 teams of 20 youth to build 26 houses in that 4-5 day period.  The oversight of that team was led in excellence by Hector Rubio, Dave Bower, and Bob Allen, who also layed out the site and pre-cut the lumber.  They over saw the leaders, amounting to less than one very skilled leader per house.  Some builders fell out before the trip,  yet Randy Fain and his team led 4 houses, Mitch Wooters led 3, Dean Tscantre 2, Don Grabow 1, Justin Lee 1, Don Bower 1, Cheryl Walker 1, Leroy Turner 1, Jack Horak 1, Alex Turner 1, John Zublin 1, Jon Wickham 1, Anthony Brown 1,  and since  builders fell out last minute, Jeff Fain, Don Klein, Nick Parmsley, Deborah Dillinger, Howard Saccaliti, and Adam Winslow, who all had less experience, stepped up to lead houses, as did some of the Global leaders who had some experience.  They all did a great job!  Also Greg Walton came all the way from New Zealand with their team from the Rock Church to lead a Teenmania house-build.  Matt DeWitt came towards week's end to step in to help bring a dragging house to a finish.  All the houses came together very nicely to be presented as a wonderful blessing to each family.  God supplied wonderfully!  

The Newsboys Open Air Concert  was excellent and very exhilarating!  The stage faced off towards the two poor communities of Vista de Valle and El Nino, where hundreds of houses have been built over the years through this ministry.  A wasteland field of trash, used tires, an old mattress, and tumbleweeds were cleared by a tractor to make an open air concert arena. A professional stage and sound equipment were brought in and set up from Tijuana.  Clean porta potties arrived just in time.  The city sent the fire dept. and some police support through the aid of Jose Venegas.  Now, late afternoon, sun northwest, with a pleasant light breeze, the concert blared and was absolutely refreshing,  radiating a pleasurable sense of well being and victory.  A time of worship, praise, and celebration in the desert!  An invitation for salvation was given and numbers came to the Lord as hundreds of Global Expedition team members, bi-lingual translators, local pastors, and others, flocked to pray with them.

A Concert Testimony:  Along with other things, Lance Asbra, a member of the Barnabas team, wrote, "....The concert was awesome.  The Newsboys were a blessing.  I pray more bands will catch their vision and passion for the lost and hurting...  My entire family and I were blessed.  It stirred up Karen and me.  It even changed and touched our children.  They really participated and helped out...  We left for home right after the concert and after we ministered to different people.  Just before leaving God touched our heart with a neat young Mexican couple.  They were believers.  They approached  Karen and me and asked us how they could get hold of a Newsboys CD.  We had two: Adoration and Devotion.  We gave one earlier to a team member and had only one left.  The Holy Spirit reminded me that we had this one and should give it to this family...and we gave it to them.  They were so excited and beamed ear to ear.  It was as if they won the lotto.  He then said, in broken English, thank you  and he hopes someday we get to sit next to Jesus because we gave them this CD.  This blew Karen and me away.  I don' t know who got blessed more, them or us. This is a testimony to the impact the Newsboys had on them, as well as on other locals."

BCM Bi-lingual Translators:  A wonderful team of bi-lingual translators was led and organized  by youth pastors Alex and Sonia Gutierrez with assistance from Jeff and Kristy Fain and Nick Parmsley.  What a wonderful job they did!  From their church alone, the Amistad Church of San Diego, they mobilized about 50 translators. They worked so hard and did so much!  What a blessing they were!  We also had wonderful support ministries, listed below, who helped us recruit even more of these faithful ones. They had double the work translating for so many.  BCM pastors and team members, Alvin Morales, Salim Barrazza,  Daniel Nunez, senior and junior, Jorge Timothy, Chuy Gomez, senior and junior, along with Kelly Gerhart, Maria Burgos, Rita Baughman, her son Brett and his wife Allison, my daughter Rebekah, Marie Winslow, and others, further strengthened this team and offered leadership.

One young man from Amistad Church stood out to me as a mighty man of faith and encouragement.  Every time I saw him he was up and giving encouragement, with kind humor,  readily seasoned to lift the arms of others.  He continually lifted my spirit up and encouraged me!  His name is Fabian Palombo.  Years ago, he had been crushed by heavy weight falling upon him from a couple stories high, leaving him paralyzed.  His strong faith in Jesus gave him the strength to overcome... to walk fairly well, as an optimistic attitude and outlook also developed that helps others to walk stronger spiritually.  Fabian wrote, "It was a great pleasure working with you all that week.  God really did work miracles in all of us!  I hope your work does not stop yet because we are just getting started.  If there were more than 3,000 souls saved this week,  next year there will be more and more, and year after year we will have even more until we have gained all of Baja for Christ.  I hope to see you sometime because, like you said, I really don’t want to wait one year to talk to you or be in contact."  This young man was a hero...we were fortunate to serve with guys like this!

Lindsey Killebrew, a high schooler from North Coast Calvary Chapel of Carlsabad, writes, "Baja Blast 1000 was a blessing all around.  It was a blessing not only to those who received houses, but also to those who went down to serve.  I personally felt blessed beyond belief to be a translator... I was worried before translating, about whether or not I'd know enough to interpret, but I was also super excited because God was going to do amazing things.  Once I started translating, I felt God's happiness and tranquility... I think God has given me a more confident, self-affirmed, and joyful soul through Spanish and the Mexican culture.  And as the week passed, we all witnessed amazing things.  It was a week of healing, salvation, joy and tears.  I could honestly write pages and pages about this experience and how many amazing people we met.  I hope to one day live there, God willing.  I enjoyed playing with the kids, hearing and experiencing amazing stories, seeing people being saved, and, most of all, watching the hand of the Lord moving through Mexico."

Barnabas Encouragement Team: BCM mobilized a refreshment and encouragement team to refresh these workers with cut watermelon, oranges, and cold water. This ministry was quite important to not only help keep the laborers from dehydrating but also to encourage them with that cup of cold water in His Name. The team was framed by Kevin and Cynthia Collins and Theresa Horak who both brought motor homes along with Janet Sanders, Tom and Judy Sprinkle,  Kevin Claypool, Tim and Bill Lickness, the Asbra family, Deborah perkins, Chantel Blackwell, Kelli Chadwick, Ryan Haggerty and others.  

Campsites, Accommodations, and Catering:  Very generous Senior Nieves Mercardo provided his ranch, Rancho Alamo Bonita, for the Global Expedition tent community of 850 missionaries and leaders to make a wonderful camp.  With his own funding he built a very nice serving area, and bathroom facilities and treated the group like kings and queens.  Global supplied breakfast and lunch. Jose and Patty Venegas and team provided dinners. Global Leadership provided great atmospere of testimonies, sharing, and worship times there. 

The BCM team of Bi-lingual Translators, Contractors and Builders, and Barnabas Encouragement team members, totaling about 150, stayed primarily at Rancho Gire which was well run by Jose Medina.  Breakfast and lunch was catered by Julio Marquez.  Life- generating worship was provided by Deborah Perkins, Chantel Blackwell, and Karen Asbra who labored morning and evening in praise amd worship and prayer with the teams at Rancho Gire before they went out and when they returned after dinner. The meetings were run by Alex Guiterrez. This was a vital and Holy Spirit energizing reprieve for the teams. Much thanks to all!

Peter Furler initiated and sparked the fuse of Baja Blast 1000 when he communicated his faith-filled idea with Teenmania’s founder, Ron Luce, to consider that our 3 ministries link up together. He then arranged a conference call with Ron Luce, Jonathan Hasz, Wes Campbell, and myself... it took shape and developed over a maturation period, through God's orchestration.  Together through Him we put wheels to this expedition and rolled it south. It  blasted a sweet aroma that spread and is still flaring out!  We are so grateful to Teenmania/ Global Expedition leadership listed above  and the Newsboys that have changed our lives and blessed our ministry forever beyond belief — Peter Furler, Duncan Philips, Jeff Frankenstein, Phil Joel,  and Bryan Oleson.  Also the Newsboys management Wes Campbell, Steve Campbell, and Dave Wagner that have brought so much good, blessing, and encouragement to us!

Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope (Eph 3:20-NLT) And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:20-NLT) and this we do...we are very grateful for all He has done and continues to do.  And we thank Him for you and for many wonderful ministries and ministry partners who have willingly allowed us to be inter weaved into their nets for this large Baja Sweep and hopefully many more to come!

I Thank God for... the wonderful support ministries and organizations: Vania Consentino and team of Radio Nueva Vida Network, Andy Rameriz and Air 1 Radio, Jon and Sherry Rivers of KLOVE Radio, Matt and Esther De Witt through Calvary Satellite Network and the Field Report, Mark Ellis and Dan Wooding of Assist News, Lamar Keener of Christian Examiner, Pastor Gamaliel Garcia, Alex and Sonia Gutierrez of Amistad Church, Pasquale Russo, Pastor Ed Wright, Nikki Gibson, Kevin Collins of North Coast Calvary Chapel of Carlsbad, Pastor Danny Carroll of the Water of Life Church, Deborah Dillinger and Nick Parmsley of Rock Harbor Church, Ken Larsen, and the amazing things he did, Ross and Patty Johnson, Jeff and Laurie Hack, and the many I failed to mention who cast theirs nets to help us gather prayer warriors, bi-lingual translators, builders, and the team of heroes of nail and hammer. 

Special Thanks: to BCM administrator and good friend, Cheryl Walker, who ran operation  liaison between the BCM office, support teams, field logistics, and Global Expeditions vast network with great excellence. No doubt one of the bravest people I know. To her daughter Jenny and friend Ashley who worked vigorously. To Hector Rubio who set up all of the jobsites, with tons of background stuff to make it all run smoothly, and who did such a fantastic job coupled with the assistance of Dave Bower, Oscar, Hector junior, Bob Allen and Cheryl, who assigned families and arranged for maps and liaison oversight. To Dave Bower for his many  volunteer  hours to keep the BCM website fresh and sharp to communicate vital logistical and vision info to so many, and to Howard Hahn's volunteer hours in developing such great promotional materials.  Also special thanks to our friends Pastor Anthony Walton, Greg Walton, Amber Ofee and their entire team that flew out from Wellington, New Zealand to join us for this wonderful week!

Special thanks to Home Depot Corporate of Atlanta, Georgia who gave Baja Christian Ministries a financial gift of which a portion was used to fund 8 of the 26 houses built during this week! 

I Thank God for You and your vital participation, your field support, your financial support, and your amazing prayers, we felt them powerfully and greatly needed them.  I thank Him for stirring love and a willing heart in you to stand with us in this ministry!  We wouldn't want to do it without you!  And there is still so much of Baja yet to be planted, watered, and  harvested for our King.  We are really just getting started!  For behold, the harvest is truly ripe in Baja!  Thanks for linking up and working your nets with us!  We appreciate you so much!

With Gratitude,

Bob Sanders