Summer of Hope 2024 Frontline Report #2

July 22, 2024

Topics: Native American Ministry Tags: OEW News

"Just when we think the ground is too hard, God surprises us."

"She had a lot of cuts on her arm - and one of them was fresh. I got a bandaid. She sounded really hopeless. She said, 'This is the reservation. Nothing good comes from here. Why do you come here?'"
OEW Team Warrior, July 2024, Iron Mountain reservation

That very hopelessness is why the On Eagles' Wings Hope Team was there.

Over half the people are unemployed. At times, the suicide issues have reached emergency proportions. And on a reservation where 1/3 of the people are under 18, sex trafficking has been declared a crisis.

But Iron Mountain is where God chose to do something very good this month.

The scene was a basketball court right in the middle of what we have been told by locals is one of the toughest communities on the rez. Surprisingly, it felt like a block party or a community festival as people came, families came, lawn chairs came. Hope was in the air.

There aren't a lot of hope stories there. But the warriors brought hope with them to our 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Brian (Dene Tha', Canada) told how Jesus turned the bondage of addictions to unspeakable joy "that cured my anger, my addiction, my fear." Crystal (Navajo) passionately told how being loved by Jesus cancelled a lifetime of feeling worthless. "God has put love in my heart, life in my lungs, sight in my eyes, a song in my voice."

And God was all over Corey (Cherokee) as he invited everyone to the Cross where his life changed forever.

One out of five people there indicated they opened their heart to Christ that night!

I know our prayer warriors like you often pray that the team will find "open hearts." Prayer answered!

We prayed for a significant public response on Night Three in this community - to leave a lasting, undeniable statement that Jesus is Lord at Iron Mountain.

Tyler's (Tohono O'odham) story touched virtually everyone. A suicidal crash at 100 miles an hour. A coma from which he was not expected to recover. The family and doctors could not know what Tyler saw in that coma. Jesus. Calling to him, "Follow Me."

And there Tyler stood, fully alive. Finally drug free. Passionate. Joyful. Alive. And urging the young men and women of Iron Mountain to follow his Jesus.

The basketball court in the middle of the reservation when OEW was speaking was largely surrounded, with people even in their cars watching and listening. The Gospel wrap-up could not have been clearer. The invitation - "Choose life!" "If you're going to come, come now."

And they did! From every direction. From every corner. From the cars. It looked like up to half the people there were going forward. It was a magnetic, sweeping work of the Holy Spirit!

A milestone moment in a broken community.

Iron Mountain was not part of the original plan (our plan) for this summer. But due to last-minute developments, we had only days to make other arrangements. Much prayer led us to a Native pastor who would be a willing follow-up partner. But he almost said no. It looked like too much.

He and I stood together on harvest night, watching scores of his people streaming forward in response to the Gospel. Thinking out loud he said:

"Just when we think the ground is too hard, God surprises us."

He and his leaders were already making plans that night to turn this historic moment into an ongoing movement among the hope-starved young people of the reservation.

Three reservations so far this summer. Three breakthrough harvests. In the gathering darkness around reservation young people, "a light has dawned." Through some miracle young people who self-describe as "just a bunch of rez kids." To God be the glory.

* Names and locations changed for privacy.