Summer of Hope 2026 - Final Report

Surging to Victory
Reservations 5, 6 and 7

A few weeks ago, many of them were strangers. But going to battle together does something. We could see it the night our team went two different directions to get the Good News to more lives.

There were hugs, tears, prayers - the next morning half the Hope Team would head to the Mountain View reservation in the U.S. The other half would travel to nearby Canada for a return visit to the Ravinia reserve.

By God's grace, this year's team was big enough and strong enough to be able to tackle two different reservations simultaneously. And our Leadership Center grads have given us the kind of peer leadership within the team that enable us to do a life-saving split like this.

We circled up, prayed for each other's team, joined hands and shouted, "One team! One team!"

Mountain View - Answering a Long Ago Prayer

Many years ago, Karen and I were vacationing in this area - a part of the country where OEW had never gone. We found a reservation on the map and decided to check it out. I distinctly remember driving through it and sensing the need deep in our hearts.

We pulled over and prayed that somehow God would send His hope to this reservation. Twenty years later, we're there with a Hope Team! There's one church on the rez - not where they would hear the Gospel. But tonight the Light had come to a basketball court in a very dark place.

And the locals were there early! Their rez is pretty remote - so these events were a big deal! And after the intense battles earlier in the month, they were more open to the warriors in the purple shirts.

A young girl named Holly actually asked Allie (Navajo) for her Hope Story and about a relationship with Jesus. A heart made ready by God. Our last night she insisted that Allie share her Hope Story up front with the microphone. At invitation time, Holly and Allie were the first ones to center court!

Melody (Navajo) followed a Spirit-prompting to speak to a lady whose life turned out to be a mirror image of Melody's troubled life before Jesus. And now that woman's life mirrors Melody's in the most important way of all - she left with Christ in her heart that night. Melody said, "She doesn't have to do life alone anymore.

That night, on this reservation so far from almost everything, Jesus came near. And in a personal conversation or at center court, Mountain View young people traded hopeless for hope.

An answer to a prayer prayed on this land many years before.

Ravinia - Hope Knows No Border

Years ago, the OEW Team brought Jesus' hope to this Canadian reserve. Our photos of that outreach show a young girl named Hannah in the crowd.

This time, Hannah was an On Eagles' Wings warrior, bringing Jesus to her own community! It's one thing to be bold with strangers. It's another to be bold when your unreached family and friends are there. Hannah had been clearly sharing her Hope Story all summer. But there was hesitancy in Ravinia.

But that night she said, "I'm not going to worry about what people think. I'm going for it!" And she did. And they listened. Because she is one of them.

God had hearts ready those nights at Ravinia. The girl who came asking what to do when no one cares. Evan, a struggling young believer, who said he had never seen anything like this before - he left fired up to bring more the next night. Kevin, whose first prayer ever was when he had asked God to save his dad who was seriously ill. And now was hearing how much God loved him through an OEW warrior.

Lost ones left "found." Believers saw a faith worth surrendering for.

One of our hosts said, "These are the kids that people write off. The team being here meant a lot." Brad told the warriors, "God sent you to the 'not popular' bunch so you could love on them. To people who needed to know the love of Christ."

Jesus would have felt right at home in Ravinia. As hope crossed the border to deliver His love.

Brighton Bay - Where the Floodgates Opened

It could have been "coasting" time. Last reservation. Heading home soon. Weary from a month of battling for souls.

But not this team. It was "charge!" time. Reunited after their two-country mission, they were fired up to finish strong. Unleashing all they had become this month in an effort to help some Corona young people be in heaven with them someday.

And it seemed God had saved His best for last.

He got there before we did. You could tell by the open hearts. It's hard to express how much that meant to warriors who had faithfully fought for so many Gospel-resistant hearts on other reservations. Ready reservation hearts are directly attributable to prayers like yours. And in these final nights open hearts were a gift from God.

I wish you could have heard the exuberant joy in our final debriefings. Here are a few highlights:

Jesse (Sioux): "I shared my story with Henry. He was open right away. He said he wanted the relationship. Before he left, he said, 'I love you' and 'see you later' in his language."

Megan (Cherokee): "After the Hope Story, I asked this girl Emma if she related. She said yes because her parents got divorced, her mom was bipolar - which was like another version of me. We talked about prayer and I explained to her how I pray. I asked her if she wanted to pray to begin a relationship with Jesus. She gave her life to Christ! Then her friend Amy gave her life to Christ, too."

Allie (Navajo): "Sat with this girl whose dad's a drug addict. He talks to her the same way my dad talked to me. I told her my Hope Story - she said, 'You made me want to talk to my dad again.' And during the wrap-up, she prayed to give her life to Christ."

Jason (Sioux): "I met this guy - we started talking about basketball. He got quiet during the wrap-up. I knew then that he was my dude. After the invitation was given, he wanted to go and his friend said, 'Nah.' I asked if I could go with him and he came. He said he really needed that. It sounded like he wanted to cry."

Andy (Navajo): "The two boys I was talking to yesterday were back. These guys, when the wrap-up was coming together - I have never seen anyone so excited to go up there. They said, 'Come on - let's go!' I'm usually easy on goodbyes. But these guys (choking up at this point) - I don't miss people often, but these kids really touched my heart."

The invitation surge to center court was a night the community and our warriors will never forget.

One of our tribal hosts said, "You brought hope to Brighton. It can be dark here. I was trying to figure out how all this began... I think it came down to God. We have seen how far He is willing to go to reach His children. God used you. I am blown away."

Blown away. That pretty much sums up the Summer of Hope 2026. We lived the miraculous answers to your prayer and the harvest of your gifts. Please keep praying for those young heroes of the faith - they need you more than ever. You were there on those basketball courts with us, fighting for young Native hearts, so starved for hope. And once again, Jesus has won.

"Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: 'The Lord's right hand has done mighty things!'" Psalm 118:15

* Names and locations changed for privacy.