With Jesus, it doesn't have to be the way it's always been

August 7, 2023

Topics: Native American Ministry Tags: OEW News

Please watch this exciting new Hope Story featuring Miles, recent On Eagles' Wings Leadership Center graduate.

SUMMER OF HOPE 2023 FRONTLINE REPORT
The Breakthroughs Continue

On Eagles' Wings brought Missy back home - to a place that nearly destroyed her and her family.

Fear is a way of life at Silver Creek. It's one of this country's poorest reservations. And most violent. The gangs are nationally notorious. The grudges and vendettas are repeatedly avenged. People are slow to open their door.

But for three summer nights there was a peaceful place. A safe place. In a reservation gym. Peace seems to follow the On Eagles' Wings team. Because prayer follows the On Eagles' Wing team.

Missy grew up there. The violence and hurt were all around her - including in her family. You have to be strong on the Silver Creek Rez - so she buried all that pain. Until, feeling safe in the transparency of her fellow warriors' Hope Stories, she let it all pour out one night. Then she said:

"I want to share my Hope Story when we get to my rez!"

She hadn't shared it publicly before. Now she was ready - if it could help set some of her people free.

We don't usually do our events in a gym - an outdoor court lends itself more to our "hang-out" atmosphere. But these nights, the weather left us no choice. The atmosphere in the gym those nights was electric! People came and stayed. Everywhere you looked, there was a gray-t-shirt-wearing warrior next to one or more local young people. Sharing hope. In such a hope-starved place.

Amid the joy of three exciting nights in that gym, the local young people told of their lives amid so much fear and trouble. On our way to our final event, it was our broken hearts that took us to a hill overlooking part of the reservation. We went there to pray - aloud and simultaneously - for the light to triumph over the darkness, for the love of Christ to bring healing to hurting hearts. That very night.

As we had arrived at Silver Creek, Missy got word that her beloved grandfather had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. By God's grace, her being with the team had her in Silver Creek in time to see him. He knew Jesus - he was ready to go.

The next night - our final night - Missy took the microphone and boldly shared her story in a gym filled with people who knew the drama of her family.

Her message: "I'm here to tell my people that Jesus loves you and Jesus cares for you. And with Him, it doesn't have to be the way it's always been around here." It was bold. It was courageous. And it was heard.

Moments later a relative came to her to tell her Grandpa had just died. He went to heaven while his granddaughter was telling his people - and hers - how they could go there!

As she went to the hospital to join her family, Troy powerfully lifted up the Cross of Jesus. Then he invited those who had prayed along with him to begin a relationship with Jesus to take a stand for Him at center court.

And from the bleachers, from the corners, they came. And came. To stand next to Troy, facing everyone in a sweeping semi-circle. It was the largest public response of the summer... on one of the most desperate reservations in the country!

The prayers lifted aloud to heaven on that hill a couple hours before, now answered in that holy circle in the gym. Along with your prayers for this team.

One amazing footnote. At the hospital, Missy was by grandpa's deathbed, surrounded by family members. She did there what she had done on every reservation this summer. She pulled out our "Created for Life" tract and shared the Gospel with her relatives, telling them "this is the only way you can see Grandpa again!"

Later, someone asked her if she would stay behind for the funeral. She said, "I have a mission to finish."

And she did. Along with all those other rescuers in the gray shirts.

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Thank you for your part in this amazing summer with praying for, giving to, and encouraging the On Eagles' Wings Hope Team of Native young people, as they shared their Jesus with their people.

* Names and locations changed for privacy.