By Todd Brechbill
Conquest Saskatoon, SK Canada has been very creative. Their fall apostolic project a few years ago, helped the Conquest national office to offer the “Backyard Bethlehem” service project. The Conquest dads kept it as simple as possible – the dads produced the nativity scene parts in wood, and the Conquest boys painted them. Gerald Lashyn, the Conquest leader said “We painted 4×8’ sheets of plywood then sent them to a local company to be “water cut” (by computer). Once we received them back, we gave the front of the images a second coat and sealed the edges. In the attached picture the sides were not painted, only sealed with glue, which we thought was an interesting look. Outsourcing the cutting of the images allowed us to “mass produce”, was a huge time saver, & ensured a quality product. The Conquest members felt a sense of “ownership” because of their involvement with the painting. We haven’t made these for a couple of years now, but I was surprised at the requests received even this past Christmas season.” 
The nativity scenes are about 4 feet high and they made a professional looking flyer to distribute for sales. The boys then sold the sets for $130 a set. For all of you Conquest groups out there, this shows there is a demand for nativity scenes and it is a great fundraiser and apostolic project! Who needs a Santa in their yard when we can help keep Christ in Christmas. For more information on this project, see the optional High School project “Backyard Bethlehem” on the Team Leader online resource center.
