Homeless ministry gets Back to Basics
By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 23, 2006

"He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord" -- Proverbs 19:17

From the Heart Back to Basics is a church for the homeless, the drug addicts, the criminals, the mentally ill, the hopeless and the lost.

"Isn't this what Christianity is supposed to be about?" asks the Rev. Milt Matthews, 59, its founding pastor. "Aren't we supposed to be seeking the lost, helping the poor and getting people functional? If we can't change people, then why are we Christians?"

Back to Basics, located in an industrial park in Forestville just off the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County, sends a bus every Sunday morning to homeless shelters in Washington in search of lost sheep. On any given Sunday, 80 percent of the church's congregation comes from the streets. the rest