by Ronnie Goines, H.I.S. BridgeBuilders' Ministry Associate
When we started our men's discipleship program on Monday nights at the Turner Court gym, I really didn't know what to expect. But I knew God was up to something when one of the guys introduced me as his pastor to his mother. Then more and more men would come to the gym, not to play ball but to talk. I'll never forget almost a year ago, one Monday night at about 10:30pm, I called Mike Fechner to share with him how humbled and even intimidated I felt concerning the amount of equity and credence the men of Turner Court were starting to attach to the message being preached about the transforming power of Jesus Christ. I remember telling Mike that we had to do something to provide these men with a viable alternative to financially support themselves. We were having success in teaching them to seek God's face, now it was time to show them His hand. After we wept and prayed Mike said, "Ronnie we’re just going to trust God, and watch what happens." And, God did start working, as He always does. I was able to meet with Bob Bowen of Manhattan Construction. Together, we formed a program to get these men trained and then assist in finding them jobs upon completion of the training.
Upon selecting the first ten men to participate in the training, I made a promise to them that as long as they trusted God, through BridgeBuilders, Hewould make sure that neither them nor their kids would ever be homeless or hungry! Trusting God included the following:
- No drugs of ANY kind
- No illegal activity of ANY kind
- Committing to be at weekly Bible study EVERY week on time
- Submitting to me holding them accountable as to how they lived
Satan wasted no time attacking these first ten men. By the time the class started three and a half months later only five of the original ten began. God allowed for other young men to fill these open spaces and then men completed the training.
There are so many things that I've learned while serving these brothers, but here are a few:
- Men need to hear another man they respect say, "I love you and I believe you can do anything you set your mind to."
- They need to know that God does not hold grudges, but there are consequences for certain actions.
- No one is truly content with being outside God's will.
- It's not our job to "make sure" these men succeed, it's our job to give them the opportunity to succeed through the resources and relationships in which God has given us.
Words cannot describe how much I love these men, even the ones that did not take advantage of this opportunity, by not "fully" trusting God with their obedience.
Praise Reports:
- Jermaine Mays tithed to BridgeBuilders from his 1st check.
- When Byron Sterling did not have money to buy his kids Christmas toys and food, he chose to trust God and not go hustle for the money. When he shared this with me, BridgeBuilders subsequently sponsored him (and other men in the same situations) at the Christmas Store held at Prestonwood Baptist Church and took him grocery shopping at Minyards.
- Tyrone Price says, "It feels good just to get up and go to work in the morning!"
- Gordon Traylor says, "Rev, I aint gonna limit God! I got too much faith to fail and that's real."
- An older gentlemen from the community known as "Unk", told me, "This is the best thing I've seen them excited about in a long time. Keep doing what you do."
- The men themselves are not keeping what God is doing in their lives to themselves. Men that I've never met are coming up to me asking if we are REALLY helping guys "get it together".
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