Spur Ministries

One of the missions that we support is Spur Ministries: Spur Ministries is a non-profit Christian organization that is dedicated to introducing Native Americans to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, and then to train them up to reach their generation.

Spur Ministries is run by Steve Thompson.

If you ever wonder what happens with the money we give to our missions, just read a recent newsletter from Steve about a family needing a home:

John and Roberta, along with their three boys are a Navajo family that lives in a small shack near Indian Wells, Arizona. Their shack is built out of scrap pieces, 2 x 4’s and scrap roofing. Tarps wrap around the house so the wind doesn’t blow in the cracks. The floor is dirt, no running water and no electricity. The wood stove heats in the winter when there is wood and doubles as a cook stove. They have no transportation so they have to rely on others to haul water to them in three 55-gallon drums (two weeks worth).

Sheep and chickens are in the yard, raised for their grocery money. To make matters more challenging, a relative with six kids 1-9 years old, moved in with them due to domestic violence. When I visited again a week ago, they were out of water, had no propane to cook and 2 cups of flour with minimal other food. So we hauled the drums and filled them with water, filled a little propane and brought in a food box and diapers.
Why don’t they get a job? The Navajo Reservation has 50% unemployment rate, and the median income is less than half the American average. A recent NY Times article demonstrated the disparity, “Apache county, Arizona which contains Navajo and Apache Indian Reservations, was the second highest in income equality and the income of the bottom fifth of households was $2,835/year.” I spend $300/week to get up to these families and do water and propane runs. It is no wonder that they are having trouble buying food.

I asked John and Roberta if they had asked the tribe for a house. They had, but the waiting list is hundreds long and there was no hope. The local chapter house has given them some of the scrap that they used for their current “house” to make it livable. I met this couple through a Navajo minister Marty Etsitty. He knew I had some resources and the couple has been going to different church events when they could. Roberta became a believer in 1998 at a tent revival. When I was getting water with John one day, he asked me a few questions about baptism. He had been reading a Bible in Navajo and English. What a great discussion we had. The next Sunday I took the horse trough up and he was baptized at the White Cone Baptist Church.

Spur Ministries is collaborating with some other ministry teams and local individuals to build a hogan, (house) for this family. It will be 322 square feet with a concrete floor, metal roof (to collect water) and a new wood stove. Our best bid for material is $7,500. If you are interested in helping with this or future projects like this one you can donate to Spur Ministries and write in the memo line “Native American Housing Fund”. If you have skills to help or want to put together a group to come out and put one up in one weeks time, it takes me about 3-6 months to make sure all the details are in order such a making sure the family has a home site lease registered with the tribe. It is remote, so campers or tenting is one way to do a project in one week. Also, it is about 3-4 hours drive to the Grand Canyon.

Please consider giving to missions so we can continue to support people like Steve.