Backyard Mission Newsletter…do the Word.

Mission Statement:

1.  Get people warm and dry by providing free home repairs, using volunteer labor and buying materials with donated money.

2.  Give Christians the opportunity to put their faith into action by loving and serving their neighbors.

3.  Help other churches start a Backyard Mission program in their community.
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A few months ago I sat across the table from a man who made this statement:
  
“There isn’t real poverty in Lubbock.”

Wow, I was speechless; did he really believe that?  That morning I had taken a call from an 86 year old woman who was crying and asking for help, she had no heater, the temperature was going to drop below freezing that night, and she was scared she would freeze to death.

Poverty in Lubbock is real and it is crushing to the individual who cannot meet their basic needs.  No, it’s not a grass hut in a third world country.  In Lubbock it looks like this:
•	An elderly woman who has moved everything she has into two rooms because her roof leaks everywhere else
•	A husband whose home is in danger of being condemned.  He can do the repairs, he just needs help with  materials
•	A single mom who needs to bath her children, but she has no hot water
•	An elderly couple who’s floors are buckled because their toilet  and tub drain directly under the house and the crawl space is flooded

Maybe sometimes we’d rather not see the need.  If we see it, we might be compelled to do something, which might alter our lives; or we might feel guilty because we did nothing.  The need is real and the need is our call. AND there is great blessing in answering that call.  Jesus said so.
June 2007

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Families Served - 513

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The story of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 does NOT say:  “It was Sunday and you went to church, it was Wednesday and you went to bible study, it was the weekend and you went on a retreat.”
Our time in the Lord’s house should be used to worship Him, have fellowship, gain wisdom and understanding, and equip ourselves to share the love of Jesus with people in need.

** A big thanks to Alamo Remodeling for providing a dump truck for us!! **

“Brothers Under Christ”, a fraternity at Texas Tech, praying at the start of a BYM workday.
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  Consider a gift to Backyard Mission in honor or memory of someone.  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Board Members:
Jim Taylor		Mary Kay McCauley
Sheri Haynes		Laren Craig
Glenn West		Lindy Fruge’

LAURIE FOSTER,  DIRECTOR / FOUNDER       
4701 - 82nd St		               (806) 794-4015
Lubbock, TX  79424	  
Lfoster@lakeridgeumc.org  / www.backyardmission.org

Grants received 2007
Betenbough Foundation, LAF – unrestricted funds, Chester & Ada Ruth Green, Fern Cone, Roy & Lela Furr, C.R. & Virginia Hutcheson, Hassel Endowment, Horizon Fund, and Gladys Leftwich.
South Plains Foundation

Backyard Mission operates off private donations.  It is not funded or budgeted by LakeRidge UMC.
(Make check payable to – Backyard Mission)