Men's Breakfast Report, April 2010
The Men’s Breakfast Group met Saturday, April 10 with Brenda and B.L. George, pastors of the New Birth Church. Brenda and B.L had lived in Houston where they attended a 5000 member church and were active in a ministry to the homeless. Brenda says, “God loves everyone no matter how they look or smell.”
B.L is now working for the railroad in Brazosport so they moved to Freeport and bought a house on Avenue A which they are fixing up. The have also opened the New Birth Church and the associated House of Hope. The House of Hope is to be an afternoon refuge for children, especially homeless children. There is some overlap between the missions of House of Hope and the Boys and Girls club, but Brenda says that the House of Hope will emphasize the word of the Lord. The Boys and Girls club also serves mostly children with parents and so does not need to provide the more extensive care needed by homeless children.
When the House of Hope can get state licenses Brenda wants to have it also provide nighttime accommodations for homeless children. The Brazoria County Youth Home only provides beds for teenagers because of limited space and because it is usually possible to find relatives to take care of young children. Homeless children often go from one house to another to get a couch to sleep on at night. This can present dangers. One twelve year old girl said “I could go to one house where the stepfather would try to rape me or another house where the brother would try to rape me.” Brenda says that the homeless children appreciate the backpack program because this is the most food they have had during the weekends. The backpack program is expensive and is running short of funds and is not covering the full need.
It was asked “Where are the parents of these children, especially the mothers?” The fathers were usually long gone and sometimes in jail. The mothers were often unable to care for themselves properly, let alone their children. They were often alcoholics, drug addicts or had mental problems. In some cases they could only support themselves by prostitution. The lifestyle program sponsored by the First Assembly of God Church tries to bring these women up so they can support themselves and their children. The poor economy is also a problem in that it makes it difficult for these women to get jobs.
Renovation of the facilities has been done by volunteers, a couple of whom were at the breakfast. The Carpenters Hands led by Ralph Hendricks, and our pastor Tom Sharon were also involved. Brenda presented Tom with a t-shirt for his work and our church with a plaque for its help with the project.
The breakfast was closed with a prayer for the project and a laying-on of hands for Brenda by all the men. As usual, the men had an interesting discussion and a good breakfast. The next meeting will be Saturday, May 8th.