Tijuana home building ministry reaches poorest of poor

TIJUANA, Mexico — The acrid smell of burning garbage lingers in the nostrils, and the sight of masses of humanity crowded into makeshift shanties remains fixed in the mind. More than two million people live in the border town of Tijuana—some in conditions below household pets in the U.S.—but one group is organizing a broad array of helps to meet their needs.

“My heart is going after the harvest and serving the poorest of the poor as much as possible,” said Bob Sanders, founder of Baja Christian Ministries.

Sanders developed his heart for the poor 20 years ago while working as a custodian at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California. He started taking small groups of students to visit orphanages in Tijuana and Tecate on his free time.

“It was hard for me to be a pew potato,” he said. “I wanted to get engaged and involved.”

Today Sanders entertains a lofty dream—to mobilize an army of believers to build 10,000 homes in Baja California and reach one million people for Jesus Christ. His multi-pronged strategy involves evangelism, church planting, house building and food distribution.

There are signs others are embracing his vision.

Home Depot recently made a significant donation that will assist his efforts, and Teen Mania will send 500 young people across the border next summer to build homes and evangelize with the ministry. A concert by the Christian rock group Newsboys will be part of that summer event.

Many Americans are shocked when they first cross the border and see the reality of living conditions in Baja California.

“It’s a different world from the U.S.,” Sanders said. “The families that do have jobs make $100 to 200 per month.”

This secures some of their food needs, but doesn’t allow them enough to buy a modest house, or even quality building materials for a permanent dwelling. As a result, many live in makeshift shelters fashioned from wood crates or cardboard. They often have dirt floors. Such shelters offer little protection from the weather, and a thin line of defense against disease.

With dirt floors, inclement weather can create havoc.

“I’ve seen so much rain water there was a foot of mud in some of these shelters,” Sanders said. “The families have to get up on pallets to stay out of the mud. Even our animals in the U.S. haven’t endured this.”

Overwhelmed by the need and burdened with compassion, ministry teams led by Sanders set out to help.

“We build homes in two to three days,” Sanders said.

The homes include three bedrooms and a loft, plywood exteriors, dry-walled rooms, and composition roofs. When completed, they will be somewhat smaller than an American two-car garage.

Typically, church groups raise the cost of the construction materials—about $5,000. Then Sanders wires the funds to BCM staff in Mexico, who lay the foundation, purchase the materials, and have them waiting at the site when church groups arrive to finish the job. Women and teens with little construction experience are welcomed by Sanders.

“We have volunteers who haven’t done much more than hang a picture on the wall with a nail,” he said.

The homes are given away to the poorest of the poor, after a careful selection process involving a 12-question application and input from local pastors and leaders in the community—as well as prayer.

“Without prayer it’s really hard to move forward,” Sanders said. The targeted areas also happen to be places where BCM is involved in planting churches.

Ultimately, it’s the people who draw Sanders’ interest and attention.

“There are precious beautiful people in these communities, some of the most beautiful people in the heart.”

He recalled a 71-year-old grandmother they built a home for recently.

“She has a face like a roadmap, it’s so wrinkled, but when she smiles the love of God breaks through and glows on her face,” he said.

The grandmother had taken responsibility for raising three grandchildren, because the children’s father was dead and the mother was in jail. Sanders took a team from Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, Calif. to meet the woman and view what Sanders termed “an inspiring sight.” Sanders took them to a 10-foot hole in the ground—single-handedly dug with a shovel by the woman, which created a primitive latrine for her and the children.

Moved to tears, one of the church volunteers stepped forward and wrote a check so they could build her an improved latrine, an addition to the home built by other volunteers.

“None of the houses in these areas have indoor plumbing or electricity,” Sanders said.

Most will use 55-gallon drums for their water supply, filled by water trucks that pass through on a regular basis.

Sanders said he believes his primary gift is evangelism, and he organizes teams to go out in the communities where they serve. Building homes is part of that evangelistic strategy.

“House building becomes a vanguard of word and deed that cuts into the heart,” he said. “We present the gospel house to house and shack to shack.”

He’s developed a 10-minute presentation, and reports that 90 percent receive Christ.

“With prayer we’re able to break through and reach a lot of people for our Lord,” he said.

There was a time when Sanders’ frenetic pace in ministry was leading toward burn-out.

“I went through a time when I was too much ‘Martha,’” he said. “I was too service oriented and not very devotional.”

He went to the Lord and confessed his heart, and then sensed God was telling him: ‘I don’t want you to be a ‘Mary’ or a ‘Martha.’ I want you to be a ‘Marinated Martha.’’

He tries to minister from the overflow of his devotional life, and the several hundred poems he’s written in the last few years provide evidence of a heart like David’s.

“My calling came out of Hebrews 10:24,” he said. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds.

“It’s an exciting time. I believe God wants to do this more than we do.”

Published by Keener Communications Group, December 2004
ASSIST News Service

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