“They’re having alcohol and drug problems like no other over in Africa,” The Lighthouse’s Brandon Bower says.

“The missionaries say, ‘It’s easier to be high than hungry because hungry hurts.’”

Gospel workers in South Africa recently turned to The Lighthouse for help. The Lighthouse takes a biblical approach to addiction recovery. More about that here.

“My wife, my children, and I had the opportunity to go to South Africa to put on an addiction summit for a children’s camp. We were able to spend a week there helping a missionary friend and some of their team,” Bower says.

Then, a second ministry reached out. This group already had a program in place, but leaders needed help to keep it going.

“One of our contacts in South Africa asked us to help them fund a brick-making machine so they can sell the bricks and make money to support their program,” Bower says.

“Within months, they should be able to make that $5,000 back and then fund their program.”

The Lighthouse is raising $5,000 to kickstart this ‘tent-making’ initiative. Contact The Lighthouse here and mention this report if you’d like to help.

Pray that people will find the freedom and victory only Christ can offer.

“Our neighbors in Africa have a desperate need for a Savior, shown through their addictive communities,” Bower says.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Bongani Ngcobo/Unsplash.

“Many of the attendees come predisposed against Jesus already because they have grown up believing Jesus is the white man’s God.”

Nonetheless, God’s Spirit works in powerful ways. Hundreds of Native youth like Jamie meet Christ for the first time, and they learn how to live for Him on the “rez.”

Of abuse and addiction: Jamie’s story

Many youths who attend Warrior Leadership Summit have a story like Jamie’s. She grew up in a remote corner of a Navajo reservation, Hutchcraft begins. While the neighborhood was tough, Jamie’s home life was even more difficult.

“Her dad abandoned her, neglected her, mistreated her; she was abused as a young girl,” he shares.

“She started to drink and then drug, and finally reached a point – by her own telling – that she literally could not stand to be alive unless she was high or drunk.”

Jamie isn’t an exception. A survey published last year found “Native American youth report substantially higher use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, and other illicit drugs” compared to the national sample.

(Representative photo courtesy of On Eagles Wings)

Additionally, “Inflated rates of substance abuse plague tribal communities… it is something Native people and tribes have been battling for years” the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) reports.

Everything changed when Jamie learned about Warrior Leadership Summit.

“She got on a bus, rode a long time from the Navajo reservation to the middle of the country… and heard about a Jesus who said, ‘I can introduce you to a Father who will never hurt you, never leave you, and always love you – no matter what’,” Hutchcraft recalls.

Beginning with the Summit, the Holy Spirit led Jamie from a life of brokenness to one of promise. She turned away from her former life and became a new person in Christ. Today, Jamie attends Moody Bible Institute, where she’s studying to obtain a leadership role on the reservation.

Jamie’s also intent on reaching her people for Christ.

“You should see her stand on basketball courts – where there are a lot of ‘Jamies’ – and tell [her] story, and tell Jesus’ story, and lead so many Native young women to Christ.”

Your turn

God used many things to prepare Jamie for change, but sponsorship was the catalyst. Hutchcraft says Jamie attended Warrior Leadership Summit because someone “paid her way.” Sponsorship covered Jamie’s transportation and conference costs, enabling her to attend WLS and meet a Savior who changed her life.

Will you be a catalyst for someone like Jamie?

Through sponsorship, you can cover the WLS costs Native young people can’t afford. Learn about poverty in Native communities here. It also helps equip Native believers for the Summer of Hope outreach.

“The conference is the epicenter of an entire movement of God that’s going on by Native young people to Native young people for Jesus Christ.”

To sponsor a warrior, visit HopeForNativeAmerica.org and select a sponsorship option.

Header image is a representative photo courtesy On Eagles Wings/Ron Hutchcraft Ministries.

Despite hundreds of years of missionary work, less than 5-percent of Native Americans identify as followers of Christ. Many Native communities resist Christian outreach because of past abuses. Learn more about that here.

According to Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Native citizens often view Jesus as “the white man’s God.”

“It’s very rare to find any significant youth ministry on a reservation, and yet, they are the most broken, most devastated kids in America.”

Healing for the brokenhearted

The U.S. and Canada hold hundreds of Native American and First Nation tribes. Each one has its own rich heritage, culture, and language. Despite being distinctly different from one another, the same evil haunts them all.

(Photo courtesy On Eagles Wings/Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

National statistics reveal the brokenness plaguing Native America, says Hutchcraft. It’s “demonstrated by a suicide rate that’s anywhere from 3- to 10-times that of the rest of the young people in America.

“The rates of drug abuse and alcohol abuse, and sexual violence against women, are off the charts.”

Nonetheless, Christ has won the hearts of some Native youth. They’re carrying His hope to their people through RHM’s On Eagles’ Wings ministry. Learn more here.

“There is, in the young people of Native America, a warrior spirit that has been there for a long, long time,” notes Hutchcraft.

“Unfortunately, the battle today is not against external forces so much as what’s going on right in Native communities. The hurt that is there, accumulated grief from so many years and so much loss.”

Warrior Leadership Summit 2019

Not all American Indian or First Nation communities struggle with poverty – but some do. As described here, chronic unemployment cuts opportunity short in Native-majority counties of Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

(Photo courtesy On Eagles’ Wings/Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

As such, Native believers from these communities need help attending OEW’s annual Warrior Leadership Summit – it kicks off the ministry’s summer outreach. Help someone attend the summit here.  “These young men and women come from Indian nations – indigenous nations – across the U.S. and Canada. Every tribe is more than a tribe, it’s a nation,” Hutchcraft adds. “We had 83 Native nations represented last year at Warrior Leadership Summit.”

One nation is often described as “the suicide capital of North America.” Located in Ontario, the community is small – roughly 2,500 residents – but each year it loses several people to suicide.

“This is a community where little six-year-old kids are in the woods huffing gas and dying from it,” Hutchcraft describes.

“It’s just an unbelievably dark and painful place to grow up.”

Yet – just as dawn breaks faithfully every morning – Christ overcomes the darkest night. God’s using the generous gift of an unknown donor to send an infusion of hope to this pain-ridden community.

“They will probably be the largest group at Warrior Leadership Summit this year. They’re [going] because some Christian somewhere cared about kids like these.”

You can sponsor a warrior here.

Header image courtesy Tolka Rover via Flickr.

By some reports, depression has even doubled in the last couple of decades. It’s a big problem growing ever larger. But one organization believes they have the hope people need to break from these chains of despair.

Edwin Abnous of Heart4Iran says, “This is not a sudden spike. And I believe what we’re witnessing as far as drug addiction goes, it’s a national epidemic. And there’s all sorts of reasons for that. I think one of the main [reasons] that we’re seeing that is because [it’s just] available.”

Iran is in the middle of a drug trafficking route from Afghanistan into Europe and so drugs are always prevalent. Abnous explains that the problem is so widespread that it doesn’t select people from any specific demographic. Families from all economic classes are affected. Even the most religious families are struggling with drugs.

(Image capture courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“Besides the drug trafficking that’s happening through Iran, other reasons contribute to this as well. The sanctions that Iran has experienced over the years, the isolation from [the] international community, some unemployment that is happening inside the country, the serious economic challenges that especially Iranian youth are facing– these are all causes that drug addiction has [become] a national epidemic.”

And tied to the drug problem is depression and suicide.

“The suicide rate is another outcome of these challenges that Iranians are facing. I’ve been reading some statistics about the suicide rate. And they say in the last [five years], there’s a 66 percent increase among Iranian women, and 71 percent among men.”

And while each individual faces their own set of challenges and trials, Abnous says the foundation of these difficulties is the same across the board: “We believe that underneath of all of these, there is a spiritual battle going on.”

Heart4Iran’s main focus is to preach the Gospel through the media they share on TV and through social media. This happens primarily through their ministry arm, Mohabat TV. They know that the message of Jesus is key to fighting off depression and addiction.

(Image capture courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“We believe that part of the solution is a spiritual solution and social awakening to the message of the Gospel. So, we have numerous testimonies of the people [who], despite their economic and social problems, after receiving the Gospel of hope, they took control of their own spiritual and emotional lives.”

Along with their content, Heart4Iran runs a 24/7 counseling service for Iranians to call into. This is part of the discipleship and follow-up of people who respond to their Gospel message.

“We receive about 2-300 telephone calls every day. As a result of this communication that we have with the viewers, either if they’re coming from watching TV or social media, we have about 300 salvations per month.”

How can you respond?

There are a number of ways you can respond to this story.

First, Abnous says, “Stand next to us. First of all, we need your prayers. We need your prayers and to know that we have people praying for us—interceding for us. This is a great source of encouragement.”

Secondly, Abnous reminds us that the Church in the West has been blessed with great resources. We can share those resources with the Church in Iran to help them strengthen and grow. But in order for the western Church to share these resources, they need to know about the need.

“Let us share the stories with your community and churches and with your ministries… and I’m sure a lot of people are willing to be standing next to the ministries like us to reach Iranian people.”

If you’d like to help Heart4Iran to continue to reach out with hope, click here!

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries (RHM) estimates suicide rates among Native teens are nearly 10 times higher than the rest of America.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

“Something is horribly wrong there,” says RHM’s Ron Hutchcraft. “If in any of our communities we had the serial suicides going on that go on in a reservation unnoticed, we would have the national news and every agency possible descending on our town. But they continue to die off the radar and silently.”

The Native American community is in desperate need of hope and a reason for life. RHM shares the deepest hope possible; hope in Jesus Christ.

Warrior Leadership Summit

Yesterday, the Warrior Leadership Summit kicked off for hundreds of Native American young people from over 100 Indian nations across the US and Canada. The conference goes from June 27-July 3.

The Warrior Leadership Summit is essentially a discipleship conference for Native teens, but each year they also see around one-fourth of the attendants commit their lives to Christ.

“The messages and what we call The Battle Councils, which are smaller sessions, many of them will be taught by Native leaders. These will address the unique issues of trying to follow Christ in the very toxic environment of a reservation or Native community within a city. This is targeted specifically for them, and that’s what makes it so powerful.”

Pain and Addiction

There are many unique challenges and hurts facing Native American youth, says Hutchcraft.

The Warrior Leadership Summit runs from June 27-July 3 this week. (Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

“One time I asked this question in a large group in the main session. I said, ‘How many of you have either attempted suicide, know someone else who’s attempted suicide, or lost someone to suicide?’ Almost every hand in the whole auditorium went up. Is there any youth conference anywhere where that would be the truth; where it would be almost everyone there? That’s why we really have to address the issues underlying this hopelessness.

“There is [also] a massive amount of sexual abuse. One out of three Native American women will be raped in their lifetime. Now for me and for us on our team, these are not statistics. These are people we know. These are names and faces of precious young men and women, and the issues of sexual abuse and sexual violence have left tremendous scars on Native young people.

“There are rates of suicide, alcohol addiction, [and] drug addiction because of the pain of all that has been lost by Native Americans over the years and even in their lifetime. That’s their pain reliever. There are horrendous, almost epidemic levels of addiction.”

Hutchcraft says, in many ways, Christians in North America have been very focused on overseas missions while missing the Native American mission field in our backyard. Today, only four percent of Native Americans know Christ.

“I think Satan has created a double-blindness. He has blinded the first people of this nation to Jesus by convincing them that He is the white man’s God. And Satan has blinded the rest of North American Christians to Native Americans. We don’t even think about them. But God does.”

Summit Theme: Hope Rising

This year’s Warrior Leadership Summit with RHM has a powerful theme: Hope Rising. The worship band, the breakout sessions, and the messages are lead and taught mostly by other Native leaders.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

“This conference, it’s about a Jesus who walks into that kind of a world and can heal a wounded heart, restore a broken life, forgive a lifetime of sinful choices, and give people who never thought they had a future…to give them a hope,” says Hutchcraft.

“One of the great nights will be the night we call them to the cross of Jesus Christ, literally. And if it’s like most years, there will be somewhere between one-fourth to one-third of the young people there who will choose Christ to be the driver of their life and, as we say, the Chief of all Chiefs.”

Funds Needed for Support Goal

Many teens attending the Warrior Leadership Summit are only able to go through donations to RHM’s Summer of Hope Outreach. Currently, the Summer of Hope Outreach only has 72 percent of their $575,000 goal funded.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

Click here to give, and help RHM reach their support goal for the Summer of Hope Outreach!

Together, we can show Native American young people that they are seen, that they are loved, and that we want them to know the fullness of life in Jesus Christ.

You can also request a prayer kit for the Summer of Hope Outreach here.

Hutchcraft says, “When you gather Native young men and women under the banner of Christ from all over the continent in one place where many of them will choose Christ, and where many of them will be trained and equipped to go back and become spiritual warriors for their people…this is so exciting because I feel like I’m standing and watching missions history take place.”

(Photo by Christian Aid Mission)

China (MNN) — Often it’s those who struggle the most with their sin who have a greater chance of understanding God’s mercy.

Christian Aid Mission supports a drug rehabilitation center in China that is a picture of God using our sin to draw us to Himself.

Amie Cotton of Christian Aid says, “China has a long history of drug use and abuse. Back in the 40s and 50s, there was a lot of opium poppy farming in China.”

She says that there are 7-12 million drug abusers in China– 80% of them being men, and 70% under 35. The most popular drugs are heroin, meth, and ecstasy.

The ministry they assist is called New Birth Garden, located in the Yunnan Province. It is a Christian rehabilitation center that is recognized by both the government and the community as a positive, effective solution to the drug abuse in China.

(Photo by Christian Aid Mission)

“It’s amazing to see what kind of life-changing impact this center is making on drug abusers for years and years,” Cotton says.

Along with addressing addictive behavior, drug users are taught helpful skills that will aid them when they reenter society. This includes farming, acupuncture, and massage.

Students at New Birth Garden participate in Bible study, prayer, and praise and worship gatherings.

“The biggest thing is that their life is changed. We know that true healing and freedom can only come from Christ, and so it’s exciting to see lives changed, I mean, lives restored and families restored,” Cotton says.

For some, whole families accept Christ because of the miraculous change they’ve seen in their loved one.

“Even people on the outside can see the changed lives and the continuous change. It’s not just a change for a while and then they go back to it, which is often the case with drug abuse.”

Cotton says this is a practical way of being the hands and feet of Jesus.

The change is obvious even on governmental levels. It’s because of this that the government allows them to do other outreaches in the community.

Cotton says, “Because of its successful track record, they see individuals restored and re-engaging in society successfully. They see that it works, and so they’re supporting that. They want that for their communities. It’s exciting that this is recognized by the Chinese government.”

One of the biggest needs of the center is financial support. Currently 21 men are enrolled in the program, and there are 14 full-time workers.  But New Birth Garden has to send people away because they cannot afford any more participants. The operation runs for about $10,000 a year.

You can support the center by clicking here. Use gift/CAM code 926GDTC.

If you’re not called to support financially, Cotton shares something you can do right now:

“Most of all we need your prayers, that God would be with these men, that He would give them courage, He would give them strength to go through this program to overcome this temptation and this vice in their life, and that God’s glory would just shine through and make a difference in their lives.”

(Photo by Christian Aid Mission)

This team of students has been going from reservation to reservation sharing
Christ with Native American young people.   

But Ron Hutchcraft
says he has never heard students use the word "hard" more than this summer: not
referring to the difficulty of the work, but to the state of the hearts they're
trying to reach.

The most recent
reservation was not a typical one. It is known as an "urban rez," or a city
where many people from various reservations go to find work or summer
diversions. Already hardened Native young people turn harder in the city. Gangs
are everywhere. Violence reigns. And no one seems open to Christ.

That's the battle.
But there have been numerous other cannons and rifles creating the battle scene,
too.

On the most recent
reservation visit, the Hope team was involved in all-out spiritual warfare. In
the span of one basketball game, two warriors were downed with serious
injuries, and another was overcome with an allergy attack so severe he had to
be completely taken out of his rescue conversation.

With three warriors
on their way to the hospital, the team was already in a rough spot. But then on
the night of the final night of Gospel presentation, all the lights on the
basketball court where the team was sharing went out.    

"It was abundantly
clear that this court was a battlefield — with the enemy unleashing an all-out
attack to cripple our team at our most decisive moment," says Ron Hutchcraft.
"I prayed aloud, ‘O Lord, please call those folks who said they'd pray for this
team to pray right now!'"

Hutchcraft says that
some of the gang members there listening began to clear out even as a team
member continued to share his testimony in the dark.

"I found myself
praying out loud, ‘Lord, You said that Light has come into the world and that darkness
could not overwhelm it.' At that moment, the lights came back on."

Hutchcraft continues,
"And the Light was about to come on big-time on that concrete battlefield, because when the invitation was extended to come to Christ, it was over in 15
seconds — with probably 80% of the people there flooding forward. It was a
stunning, undeniable victory of the Light over the darkness."

Later, the team found out that a woman had brought
witchcraft paraphernalia to disrupt the ministry's work. But that woman ended
up not only throwing away all of her materials, but actually coming to Christ.

Hearts seem hard all around the reservations of the United
States, but God is responding to the prayers of His people. Many native youth
who had nothing but lives of drug abuse, violence, and drinking in their future
can now see the brilliant light of eternal life ahead of them. Keep praying for
the Summer of Hope as these warriors continue to boldly persevere in sharing
their hearts and the joy they have found in a brown-skinned Savior.

From that day on, the number kept rising.

Today marks the last of the June 28-July 3 Summit that gathers Native youth from all corners of the U.S. and Canada. Scores of young people struggling with drugs, alcohol, depression, gang affiliation, abuse, and so much more have come to the Lord already. And after a frightening start, it's clear the glory belongs solely to God.

The night before the Summit began, the conference center hosting the Summit had an extended power outage. Evangelist Ron Hutchcraft says he thinks it was the first in the center's history.

With the conference theme for the year as "Dunamis – God's power unleashed," Hutchcraft and his team hardly believed the power outage to be coincidental. They began praying against spiritual warfare, recognizing that they were fighting against the "prince of darkness."

After much prayer and last-minute adjustments, the team went to sleep. Halfway through the night, the power came back on.

The power outage followed by prayer and then light was clearly an omen for the week. As On Eagles' Wings staff and other Christians around the nation have prayed over the last few days, the power of God has indeed been unleashed as Native youth have seen the light of the Lord for the first time.

On the first full day of the conference, Hutchcraft says about one in six kids there chose to follow Christ. The next day, baptism broke out by the lake as dozens of young people made public professions to follow Jesus Christ from now on.

Native American youth are among the least-reached demographics in the United States. The large majority of them live in poverty, abuse, and neglect. But in just a few short days, eternity has forever changed for young people who have heard the testimonies of dozens of other young Native Americans just like them, proclaiming the changes a brown-skinned Savior has made in their lives.

There is still one day to go. Pray today that the Lord would break the last of the chains enslaving the hearts of Native young people at Warrior Leadership Summit. Pray that the light would come on for anyone still wandering in the dark, that this generation of Native youth would change the course of their people forever.

There are multiple ways for you to get involved with this important ministry. Visit OnEaglesWings.com for more information and more Summit updates.

New Europe Online reported frightening findings from the new European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The study surveyed several European countries, finding that fifteen of them have significantly higher abuse of inhalants than at the time of the last survey in 2007. The two nations with the largest rises in inhalant use are Croatia and Latvia.

Tiffany Taylor with Orphan Outreach says the epidemic of drug abuse in Latvia is a threat to all students, but one group is particularly at risk: orphan graduates.

"Orphans are so fragile. When they graduate, they have very little life skills, very little money, and they really just want to escape. Drugs are an easy, inexpensive way for them to escape the everyday harshness of their life," says Taylor.

Orphan Outreach partners with the Jelgava orphanage and the Day Center Program in Latvia. Taylor says in search of escape, many of the older kids have been using a sort of drug that causes hallucinations and is very addictive.

The staff and caregivers are working hard to help prevent and treat the problem, but it has been overwhelming for them.

Taylor notes, "The most important thing for our staff and caregivers is to work really hard with these kids to let them know that they have a heavenly Father, that their life is in their hands, and to help them turn away from the desire for the drugs."

This work requires much prayer. Pray for wisdom for the staff, and pray for orphan graduates to cling to Christ. Pray also that Orphan Outreach will find a Christian social worker to begin ministering to the kids and getting to know each one personally.

Your help is also coveted. You can get involved through prayer, child sponsorship, and even short term missions to Latvia.

"So many people are wanting to help orphans, and they think about orphans like sweet Little Orphan Annie and young children. But the orphans that really need our help are those older, tough kids that are facing life on the street, without a family's support, with little life skills."

To learn more about partnering with Orphan Outreach in Latvia, click here.

"The reservations that God has led us to this summer–working in partnership with people who are there day after day and are trying to find a way to break through to the young people there–comprises one of the most challenging itineraries that we have had in many years," says evangelist and ministry founder Ron Hutchcraft.

The summer outreach begins in June with the annual Warrior Leadership Summit, where hundreds of Native American young people will gather to learn more about Christ. Out of that Summit, 50-60 Native youth will join a traveling team to spread the saving message of Jesus Christ on several reservations.

All reservations have difficult histories. Most are riddled with sky-high suicide rates, domestic violence, drug abuse and poverty. But this summer, the team will enter some of the most dangerous and at-risk Native populations in the United States.

"One of the places we're going is the #1 poorest place in America," says Hutchcraft. "It is a tough, tough place to grow up. Over half of the people there live below the poverty level, and at certain seasons of the year, there is 90% unemployment."

At another reservation the team will visit, suicide has become too overwhelming even for professionals, says Hutchcraft. "The suicide problem among 12, 13, and 14-year-old kids on this reservation has claimed so many lives that the people who work in the mental health area on that reservation have basically quit. They say, ‘We can't take it anymore.' It's just horrific."

The team will also head into some of the most dangerous Native areas: "One urban center we're going to be going to is probably the epicenter of violent, Native American gangs in that entire part of the country. It's, to be very honest with you, a dangerous place to be. Yet we believe that God has called our team to go in there."

Only 5% of Native Americans in the U.S. know Christ, says Hutchcraft, even after 500 years of Christian ministry. On these challenging reservations in particular, Christ is the only hope for a future.

Hutchcraft explains, "Nothing is breaking through to these young people, and in many cases, honestly, if they don't come to Christ, they will not be alive much longer. That's not an overstatement. That is statistically true. It is tragic."

The Gospel may just break through this summer, though, as it has done in reservations across the U.S. and Canada for the past 19 summers. Native American young people will tell other Native young people about their own stories of pain, and then the life they found in the Lord. Opportunities abound for this summer's ministry, just one element remains absent.

"We should not go unless God's people are committed to praying," says Hutchcraft.

With such a trying itinerary for the team, fervent prayer is more crucial than ever before. Ron Hutchcraft Ministries is offering a free prayer calendar along with a free book of Native youths' hope stories to get believers on their knees for this lost people group.

This summer could be the difference between life and death for hundreds of Native young people. To see what God has done in past years and to get your free prayer materials, visit OnEaglesWings.com. Then, start praying.