Brandon Bower from The Lighthouse says, “Anytime the government’s focused on addiction, I think it’s a really good thing, because our community members, our family members, our loved ones are struggling.”

He adds that greater attention to addiction can be beneficial for ministries. Still, he urges discernment as public support grows, since expectations may not always align with Christian convictions.

Turning to the bigger picture, Bower says addiction goes beyond alcohol or drugs: “But then you have pornography, you have food, you have gambling, you have codependency — you have many things that could be addiction if it takes precedence over Jesus.”

Addiction can look different from person to person (Representative photo courtesy of Mia Anderson via Unsplash)

That’s central to The Lighthouse’s holistic approach and testimonies of recovery. “We are just proclaiming the Gospel to everyone who walks in these doors,” says Bower.

The Lighthouse has 28 beds for people who need help for a season. And if they relapse, they’re welcomed back, since recovery can be a long journey.

“We help them know that they are not defined by their addiction, and most importantly, they’re not fighting this alone,” he explains, adding that faith and struggle can coexist in believers who struggle with addiction.

“God works through repentance and the renewal of the mind and community,” says Bower, “and we’re just providing a vehicle where they can have that community, point them to a new mindset, and point them to Christ for repentance.”

Please pray that the new federal initiative would inspire coordinated support nationwide.

Also lift up The Lighthouse ministry, asking God to provide the resources necessary to care well for those we serve. Addiction ministry requires sustained effort to connect with individuals who need help, maintain financial stability, and hire staff who are both qualified and aligned with a biblical approach to restoration. Visit The Lighthouse website to learn how you can pray and help.

“I ask that you pray that God opens the eyes of those who are struggling to see their desperate need for Him,” says Bower.

Header photo courtesy of Valentin Antonucci via Pexels.

A growing church-based effort is stepping into those critical moments with both practical help and Gospel hope.

Journey of a Life Giver Training in Uganda. (Photo courtesy of LIFE International)

LIFE International partners with a church network in Uganda, conducting training events titled Journey of a Life Giver and Redemptive Conversations. These trainings equip Christian leaders to respond to family crises in life-giving ways.

April Schmidt, LIFE International’s Life-Giving Ministries Manager, says the goal is to have a spiritual and cultural impact as leaders ultimately point people to God the Father’s heart for life.

“We’re seeing just an expansion and a change of heart in the participants,” says Schmidt. “These are leaders in this denomination. They already love the Lord. They’re already committed to the sanctity of human life. But what this does for them in this training is it’s helping them to take what they know and to put that faith into action.”

That action often begins when people approach Christian leaders during moments of desperation.

Journey of a Life Giver Training in Uganda. (Photo courtesy of LIFE International)

“They are usually coming to you because they have what they perceive as their felt need: ‘I have the need for an abortion. I have to have this abortion. I need money. I need a place to live. I need a job,'” Schmidt says.

“However, the greatest need is the real need. The real need is Jesus.”

One simple training tool has opened powerful conversations. Schmidt explains, “One of the Uganda trainings was we give them this little fetal model of [a] 12-week gestational age baby. They hold it in their hand and they look at it, and they have this realization of how small and how precious life is.”

Schmidt says one Christian leader in family ministry and counseling now carries the fetal model with her everywhere.

“She said, ‘Since I have done this training with you, I am finding more and more that people are coming to me with their crisis pregnancies, with their stories of loss and suffering…. I can pull that little baby out and I can put it in their hand, and I can talk to them about the value of life.'”

Journey of a Life Giver Training in Uganda. (Photo courtesy of LIFE International)

As Ugandan churches engage family crises with biblical truth and grace, prayer support is essential.

Please pray for protection, wisdom, and transformed hearts as pro-life ministry continues in Uganda and beyond.

Learn more about LIFE International at their website.

Header photo: Maternity home in Uganda. (Photo courtesy of LIFE International)

What is Spiritual Freedom?

Set Free grounds their understanding of spiritual freedom in Scripture. Hebrews 12:1-2a offers insight into Biblical freedom. It says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”

Dean Vander Mey with Set Free says, “What we do is, we help people get untangled from the issues of life and the sin that can so easily entangle us, just with everyday life. So freedom ministry is, ‘Let’s make sure we run with perseverance with no entanglements and no heavy burdens, no heavy weights.’”

In short spiritual freedom is the ability to pursue God without the hindrance of sin.

(Image courtesy of Martín Alfonso Sierra Ospino from Pixabay)

Set Free knows that for people to freely focus on Jesus and pursue life in Him, Christians need to be spiritually fit. When people are not seeking Christ wholeheartedly, sins like anger, pornography, depression, bitterness and others can entangle them and not only hinder their relationships with God, but manifest in other ways as wellphysically and mentally.

“We see that happening all the time here at Set Free, where people are coming in here psychologically confused, and they’re coming in with physical issues,” Vander Mey explains. “And it’s because of unresolved spiritual things that have not been uncovered or dealt with. Our goal at Set Free is to see the captives set free.”

How Does Spiritual Freedom Ministry Work?

The ministry format is simple. The process begins with a Freedom Appointment. In the appointment counselors read the Bible with people and call them to repentance using a seven-step framework. After the meeting, people are encouraged to seek discipleship.

“God has not changed. He’s going to call us to repentance and to walk in truth. And that’s really the message of Jesus. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.’ That’s the message of John the Baptist. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.’ So nothing has changed. Why would we change it? If we walk in truth, the truth will set us free. But in order to do that, we’re going to have to do some repentance.”

Once people have repented then they need to really study the Word of God. Vander Mey says, “You can be as free as you want to be. ‘If you abide in my word, … you will know the truth and the truth will set you free’ [John 8:31-32]. That’s a big if. That’s a really big if because most people are not in the Word of God. And how can you behave in a way you do not know? You can’t.”

How Do I Get Help Experiencing Spiritual Freedom?

The joy of spiritual freedom is available for all Christians, but sometimes it can be helpful to have someone provide guidance. Set Free offers Freedom Appointments for anyone, free of charge. Simply submit a questionnaire on their website here.

If you want to help others find this joy in Christ, you can help support Set Free Ministries here.

Header Image courtesy of Pexels on Pixabay.

However, with God’s leading, one Deaf girl in Uganda went from hidden at home to finding the joy of employment and Christian community.

Grace and her older brother were both orphaned at a young age. Grace is Deaf and her older brother kept her at home for safety while he worked to provide for them.

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

A tailoring shop owner, Mrs. Ssemwanga, employed Grace’s brother. When the owner realized he had a sister, she decided to employ Grace as well who began to excel in craft work.

Eventually, Grace and Mrs. Ssemwanga met Resty, a staff member with Every Child Ministries who was just out doing her shopping. After learning Grace’s story, Resty was moved to connect Grace and her brother with ECM’s Family Empowerment Program. ECM supported Grace to start a shoe selling business in addition to her craft work.

ECM’s Mark Luckey says, “But it doesn’t really end there. Resty began to think about our own program and kids in our own program who also had some difficulties that they were facing. One of them she thought of was a girl named Sarah.

“Sarah is also Deaf…and she’s a teenager. She basically was running out of hope. She was trying to learn how to do some sewing but just began to run into lots of issues along the way.”

Sarah was introduced to Grace and began working alongside her at the shop learning tailoring. Sarah and Grace hit it off right away. Now, they enjoy working together and having lengthy conversations in sign language!

“That might sound like a small thing but it’s not,” says Luckey. “In countries like that especially, there are just not a lot of ways for [Deaf] to communicate with people. So to bring them together, what an encouragement for them.”

You can support ECM’s Family Empowerment Program or learn more at their ministry!

Grace (right) and Sarah (left). [Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries]

“When we can do that through the hope of the Gospel of Jesus, then we’ve opened doors that otherwise did not look like they could be opened. People like Grace and Sarah find renewed joy and find hope in Christ.”

Header photo of Grace (left) and her brother (right) courtesy of Every Child Ministries.

The US makes up about 5% of the global population, yet incarcerates roughly 25% of the world’s prisoners. Today, there are approximately 2 million men and women in the US prison system.

Doug Cupery with Crossroads Prison Ministries says these statistics have significant implications for American society. And they pose an invitation to the American Church.

“A really hard statistic is that one out of 28 children has an incarcerated parent right at this moment,” says Cupery. “One out of 28 grows exponentially when we think about the years. We think about how many through these decades that these children had an incarcerated parent. What does that mean as they grow up?

(Photo courtesy of Ashkan Forouzani via Unsplash)

“What does it mean for society where one out of 17 white men will likely be incarcerated at some point in their life, or one out of six Hispanic men, and one out of three African American men will be incarcerated at some point in their life?

“It’s really difficult when we think about how many of these men and women — not all, but many — have had a hard life. They’ve gotten lost in the system. They really come out of difficult upbringings. They got lost in the school systems. One of the main things is that they haven’t had an advocate speaking on their behalf.”

This is where the Body of Christ comes in. What men and women in prison need is a gracious and persistent Church to engage them with Jesus’s transformative love.

Cupery points to Matthew 25 where Jesus says to His followers, “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…. whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matt. 25:36, 40b)

What if we really believed visiting the prisoner meant visiting Jesus? How could that create a surge of interest in prison ministry among believers seeking to serve the Lord?

Crossroads’ mentorship program connects Christian mentors with Bible study students in prison. Mentors connect by writing letters with their mentees and taking them through a Crossroads Bible study.

“Through Crossroads, our mentors have an opportunity,” says Cupery. “I’ve heard the stories over and over again about what that has meant to them, what the mentors have experienced when they visit the prisoner. That intersection with Jesus [and] that Holy Spirit experience is life-changing.”

Engaging with and visiting prisoners also goes beyond the prison walls. It needs to extend to men and women released from prison as well. 

“When they are released, in many respects, they are still a prisoner,” says Cupery. “It just saddens my heart that when we release them, they will never ever fully be restored into our communities. They will have trouble finding apartments. They’ll have trouble finding employment. They’ll have trouble finding acceptance into our community.

(Photo courtesy of Ismael Paramo via Unsplash)

“That’s why I believe it is so important for the Church to step into this problem, to step into what God calls us — to reach and come alongside those that we oppress, those that we push down, those that we forget, those that we push aside. It’s our responsibility.”

Looking beyond someone’s sins and offering mercy, love, and friendship — this is what Christ did for all of us.

Cupery shares, “I’ve been working for this type of ministry for almost 20 years. What I’m speaking is what I was offered. That’s why I can sit next to you today. So many of the folks getting out of incarceration or who are incarcerated just don’t have anybody.

“What they really need is for you to be present. And not just one time to give them the Gospel message. They need you to sit down next to them and say, ‘You know what? I’m here for you. I care. I’m going to come back and I’m going to come back.’ That’s the beauty about Crossroads. We keep showing up.

“If we don’t speak into the problem, if we don’t come alongside them as the Church, somebody else will.”

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

You can learn more about becoming a mentor with Crossroads here!

Cupery also asks, “Pray for our ministry, that we will have the resources and the capacity to continue to grow. You can pray for our legislators who continue to make laws that become more and more difficult for people to navigate. You can pray for our prison systems, that they will be fair, that they will be just, [and] that there will be kindness.”

Header photo courtesy of Hasan Almasi via Unsplash.

Pew Research Center surveyed citizens from 13 developed nations in 2020 and again in 2021. It showed that feelings of division across these countries during the pandemic only increased — sometimes by more than 30 percentage points.

(Photo courtesy of Lina Trochez via Unsplash)

Despite growing divisions, we as Christians can’t forget our calling to make disciples for Jesus.

Ed Weaver, CEO of Spoken Worldwide, says that starts with showing grace.

“As we think about the pandemic, I think the grace that we exhibit toward one another is really critical. No matter what our opinions are about the pandemic, about the political ramifications of actions, responses, plans, whatever, I think we need to have grace toward one another in love,” Weaver says.

“There are so many people out there who have lost loved ones. So however serious this pandemic is, it’s cost the lives of many.”

Maybe it looks like reaching out to your neighbor (you know, the one with the yard sign you don’t like) and asking what their needs are or how you can be praying for them.

Maybe it looks like inviting a lonely teen or senior church member out to coffee.

(Photo courtesy of Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash)

Whatever it is, ask the Lord to reveal opportunities where you can speak into the life of another hurting person with Christ’s grace, truth, and love. Whether or not you agree with their viewpoints.

Weaver also has this to say to Christian leaders: “I think that we as ministry leaders have the opportunity to change some of the narrative. So how can we look past our own thoughts or our own expectations as we go into a new year and say, ‘How can I be different? How can I be different from the world? How can I be obedient to God in this time? How can we be men and women of Issachar who understood the times and then, in that process, glorified God?’”

Ultimately, as we head into 2022, Weaver encourages, “Instead of getting anxious, be at peace. Be content. Trust God. That’s the thing that I want to preach to myself. That’s what I want to preach to my team. That’s what I want to preach to the world right now in every aspect.”

Click here to learn more about Spoken Worldwide’s Gospel-centered ministry!

Header photo courtesy of Toa Heftiba via Unsplash.

George Houssney, founder and president of Horizons International, has had 50 years of ministry alongside Muslims. During that time, he has seen many Muslims convert to Christianity only to leave the faith between a year and three years later. It’s enough of a pattern that he felt the need to investigate.

After interviews, study, discussion, and reflection upon his own decades of experience, he came to a conclusion: “many Muslims become Christians religiously, but not spiritually.”

For many Muslim-to-Christian converts, Christianity isn’t as important as an alternative to Islam is. Many grow up in strict religious environments, partaking in regular rituals, worship, prayer, and study. Even if they become disillusioned with Islam itself, they may struggle to break free of their religious roots. Christianity allows them to continue being “religious”

Often, Houssney says, Christians are too excited to think twice. “They walk into a church, say ‘I want to become a Christian.’ The pastor comes and says, ‘Oh, that’s great. Let’s baptize you next week or next month.’ And those people have not understood the cross. They’ve not understood Christ and why he came to earth.”

Houssney once met a man who was going to be baptized the day after their meeting. After a lengthy conversation, he discovered that the man did not believe Jesus had died on the cross or been resurrected and still believed Mohammad was God’s prophet. When Houssney informed the man’s pastor, the pastor was shocked and postponed the baptism in favor of discipleship.

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

“We assume if they want to become Christians that they have understood what that means,” Houssney says. Instead, Christians need “to make sure they understand the cross, the redemptive work of Christ and what it does to them, giving up everything for Christ, surrendering their lives, not just adopting another religion.”

But why Christianity? Aren’t there other alternative religions Muslim converts could move to? That’s where the Gospel message comes in; Houssney says Christ’s mercy can be a double-edged sword if presented incorrectly.

“If they get exposed to an alternative, which is Christianity, which is not a religion of rules and laws and do’s and don’ts but a religion of grace, salvation by faith alone where there’s nothing you can do to earn your salvation, it gives them a lot of peace,” Houssney says. “But then there’s a job we have to do as explaining to them that grace does not mean license.”

Many people are attracted to grace because it frees them of strict religious responsibilities. Unfortunately, they often take that freedom too far. Sometimes, “they don’t do anything, including they no longer read the Bible or go to church or pray or anything.”

So what’s the answer? In a word, discipleship.

“If we make the Gospel too easy and too cheap, it won’t last long,” Houssney says. “Easy come, easy go. So, right from the start, they need to understand what they’re getting themselves into. You can’t trick them into the kingdom and then later on, ‘Hey, you know what, there’s a cost to this.’ They have to count the cost before they step into it.”

Converts need to understand that following Christ means taking on an eternal focus. It means saying “no” to worldliness and materialism. It means enduring persecution and pressure from the outside world.

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

“They need to understand its commitment to following Christ the rest of their lives, and you can only communicate that message by modeling it,” Houssney says. “When a Christian lives out the Christian faith, they demonstrate a prayer life. Trust in God in all circumstances, joy in the Lord, the fruits of the Spirit.”

Reaching Muslims should not be difficult, Houssney insists. Often, people think they need to have deep spiritual understanding of Islam and its relationship to Christianity, or that they need to know exactly which phrases and arguments will win someone over. In reality, it’s just about living like Christ and opening oneself to the Holy Spirit’s voice.

“That gives them an introduction to Christianity, then what they hear is what helps them get to the next step,” Houssney says.

“It’s easier than you think.”

Find the resources you need right here.

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

DR Congo (MNN) — A new wave of extreme violence in DR Congo is making a bad situation even worse. Ebola continues to spread in the nation at a frightening pace since the outbreak began in August. And as the UN and ministries try to stem the Ebola tide, there have been 130 attacks on health facilities this year alone. Additional attacks on villages have sent people flooding into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

IDP camp in East DRC. (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

Mission Aviation Fellowship has a base near an IDP camp in Bunia. Jon Cadd with MAF says the situation is desperate.

“A year ago, we had a huge influx of IDPs — internally displaced people — and refugees into the town close to us, Bunia. There were over 100,000 refugees in the camp [and with families in town] there, and then more camps opened up and there were more refugees. It was a really terrible situation.

“We were just getting ready this month [for] people who would be going back to their homes, and the government was trying to be helpful with transportation and stuff like that. Then all of a sudden, violence has erupted again and people are pouring back into the camp.”

In the last few weeks, Cadd reports Bunia’s IDP camp — whose capacity is already bursting at the seams — took in nearly 1,000 more people.

“They’re coming into the camp with nothing except for what they have walked with on their back…. The violence in their villages [is] people coming in and burning houses and shooting people and hacking them up with machetes. They just run for their lives and are hiding in the bush for a while. Then they walk all the way to Bunia to try to get to a safer place.”

Wash station in IDP camp. (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

Some of the new arrivals haven’t eaten in days. Many of them are children.

Cadd met one woman who walked four days with her five kids — one of whom is just an infant still breastfeeding — to escape certain death.

“Imagine you in America having to do something like that. You would be devastated with nothing, no place to live. And it’s the rainy season. It’s pouring down rain. So a lot of these people are just stuffed into one tent that’s about 10-by-20 feet and it’s just wall-to-wall people in there with pouring down rain outside.”

MAF is responding with food, tarps for shelter, and spiritual encouragement.

They show the “Jesus” film with the help of national pastors, and MAF’s chaplain, Pastor Bisoke initiated the start of a sewing class for rape survivors in the IDP camp.

“We just love being able to help [in Christ’s name] and be an extension of the Church in the States and around the world.”

Jon Cadd with children in IDP camp. (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

But Cadd says there is more they want to do. “We have kind of exhausted all of the funds that we had for helping just as this was happening, so it’s been really a challenge. Through MAF’s Disaster Response Team, they gave us some money to get some tarps and things for helping with shelters and some money for food.

“We basically give about $4,000-worth of food a week. They kind of spread that out over 10,000-plus people. You wonder how they can live on that much, but it’s what we can provide…. Then the new people that are coming, we try to get a tarp for each one of them as a shelter.”

MAF’s Sheryl Strietzel also goes to the IDP camps to help where she can and be Christ’s encouragement. An 11-year-old girl in the camp named Grace left a lasting impression on her.

Grace [2nd from the right] with family members and ministry workers. (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“Her father and her other siblings, they seemed really traumatized to me,” says Strietzel. “Yet, there was Grace smiling, acting as if nothing had happened. To me, she was really a blessing and encouragement and a good example, because she was like a light in that camp…and so just really showed to me a reflection of God’s grace in those difficult circumstances.”

Strietzel says their goal in the IDP camp is so people like Grace and her family can know true comfort that only comes from Jesus Christ.

“I give them a little bit of Scripture, I share the Gospel message with them,…and I listen to them. Some of them just want to confess their sins so that I can reassure them of the forgiveness of sins that they have through Jesus. And then I pray specifically for those who are ill.

Sheryl Strietzel praying for healing in the IDP camp. (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“One time when I went, mothers were there with their children. They came and they each told what they would like the Lord to do for them, where they were hurting, and what they needed. So I was able to pray for them, specifically. And then some of them have burdens. They just want to share a burden, so I can be there to listen and pray for them and just point them to Christ.”

To support MAF’s “EDRC IDP” fund as they provide relief, click here!

Your donations really do have a profound impact, Strietzel says. “The people are sending their thanks. They know that people from far away are remembering them and care about them. That’s what I hear from everyone who talks to me, including people who are not in the camp. They say that’s an amazing thing that we can talk to people in the States and that they’re remembering us and thinking about us to help us here in Congo. So I just wanted especially for you to know that.”

Header photo courtesy of MAF.

They are with the On Eagles’ Wings team – a branch of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries – and they are traveling to 12 Native communities across North America to share Jesus.

We caught up with Ron Hutchcraft to get an update, and he says they are seeing God move in amazing ways.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

“It’s an amazing group of young people who have all lived the brokenness of growing up on a reservation and their stories, though they have lived thousands of miles apart, are tragically so similar and they are congruent with what we’re finding on reservation after reservation.”

Even though Native Americans were the first mission field in North America, today only four percent of Native Americans know Jesus as their Savior. Native communities are often plagued by violence, drug and alcohol abuse, broken families, and suicides compounded by the pain of abuse their people have suffered.

“I will tell you, it’s pretty hard to deny a living Christ because these young men and women can only be explained by a Savior like Jesus. There is no other way to explain the rescue that has taken place in their lives.”

The young men and women with On Eagles’ Wings are going out to tell fellow Native people that hope has a name — and His name is Jesus.

Their plan is to visit 12 Native communities across North America with the Good News of the Gospel. So far, the team has gone to seven communities.

“These young men and women have already led hundreds of young Native people to Christ — many of them taking a public stand in environments where you just don’t choose Jesus — and they are.”

The Prince of Peace in a Violent Park

At one point this summer, the On Eagles’ Wings team split to cover more ground. Part of the team went to an urban Native area. This community is notorious for drug-use, shootings, and violence.

The epicenter of the violence and dealings is a park in the heart of the city. And that’s where the Native men and women with On Eagles’ Wings took the Gospel.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

Just across the street from this park lies a housing parking lot. The On Eagles’ Wings team gathered there to hold sporting events, play music, and get to know young people in the community. The whole time, they prayed fervently for protection and wisdom.

Not long after they arrived, Hutchcraft says they could sense the Holy Spirit’s presence. “What we were told, first of all, was that there was a supernatural peace that settled over the park and the housing area that people would say [they] never see…. The park was empty, and with our events right in that parking lot, we had all kinds of basketball things going on and a large crowd there and the local people stood there just amazed.

“There was a supernatural peace that was just great evidence of the presence of Christ. There were some difficult conversations because you get very hard in the city. It’s a survival skill to show no feelings and admit no feelings. Yet, all around this housing area parking lot, here are these young warriors, some of them pretty intimidated when we started…but still, with supernatural courage…they went out and began to have personal conversations with these young men and women.”

The fun activities continued throughout the week, and eventually On Eagles’ Wings team members began to publicly share their hope stories and how Jesus made the difference in their lives in front of the young people gathered.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

“All of a sudden in this usually chaotic area, when those hope stories began, it was like a supernatural silence fell across the crowd,” says Hutchcraft.

A public invitation was extended for the local Native young people to accept Christ. In an urban Native community like this when vulnerability is considered a weakness, there is tremendous pressure to not accept Christ.

However, there is no denying that the people were starved for hope. “They came from every corner of that parking lot and it was led by the big basketball players, which are the most influential guys in the community. They were the first ones out to choose Jesus publicly. It was overwhelming.”

Hutchcraft shares, “The local leaders who have invested their lives in this community, the local Christians just melted down in tears and said, ‘This is a dream come true.’ One of them said, ‘You can’t imagine what it’s like to have every day another drug overdose, another shooting, another death, another tragedy, and then On Eagles’ Wings came with the hope of Jesus and brought His peace with them.’”

Meanwhile, the other half of the team was at another reservation, small and remote. This reservation has had 75 drug overdoses since 2016 and 15 drug overdose deaths.

“Again, there, one by one by one, they led many young people there to Christ. So it was twin victories! In just a couple of nights on two reservations simultaneously where the need, the brokenness, the danger even is greater than most of us will ever face, God is an awesome God and He shows how awesome He is by the changed lives of these walking miracles that I call the warriors.”

From Dealing Drugs to Receiving Grace

One of the most powerful stories with the team comes from the second Native community they visited this summer. A team member with the On Eagles’ Wings team shared his story and the Gospel. He then asked the crowd to join him in prayer if anyone wanted to begin a relationship with Jesus.

Afterward, the young man gave an invitation for anyone who prayed with him to come forward. He hadn’t even finished speaking before people started coming.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

“The first one out, we see this late-20-something young man step out and he just stands there facing all the people. He didn’t care who knew that he was choosing Jesus…. We didn’t know who he was till later.”

Hutchcraft says they learned from one of the local Christian leaders that the first young man to step forward is Casey* — the local drug dealer.

“So here he is looking at his customers probably, saying, ‘I’m choosing Jesus tonight.’ He came up to the local leader of the team that invited us…and after he had been counseled, he came up and he just bear-hugged the local Christian leader and said tearfully, ‘This is amazing.’ Yeah, it is. It’s amazing grace is what it’s called.”

The Work Isn’t Over

We will tell you more about what is next for the On Eagles’ Wings team tomorrow. They still have five more Native communities to travel to and share the Good News.

For now, please pray for wisdom and strength as these young Native men and women continue their Gospel ministry.

If you would like to give in support of the On Eagles’ Wings team, click here!

*Name changed

Edmonds and his family lived for a long time overseas and raised their children outside of an English-speaking context. But eventually, he shares, “Our oldest son, he had a desire to go to an American college. So just before his junior year in high school, we put him on an airplane all by himself and he flew to the United States to live with one of my brothers and be incorporated into an English-speaking school. And that was tough for him in many ways because he’d grown up in another culture, another context.

“I was reflecting on that from the standpoint that I had to trust my brother and sister-in-law at that point. I had to trust the people into whose hand I was going to place my very own son. I thought about it in relationship to Jesus, that the Father gave his own Son who couldn’t speak the language when he became a baby, he turned [Jesus] over to Mary and Joseph, he turned him over to a harsh and cruel environment. But he trusted them to care for [Jesus], to nurture him, to protect and provide for him.”

As we ponder the meaning of Advent, it’s a poignant picture of loving sacrifice – a sacrifice that Jesus not only made himself later on that cross, but also the sacrifice of a Father sending his Son down to earth to reconcile the world to himself. This sacrifice that cost our Heavenly Father was his grace to us.

Edmonds was struck again by this reflection on his recent trip to Uganda and Rwanda. Food for the Hungry brought together senior leadership for strategic ministry planning. They visited northern Uganda where there are a lot of refugees coming from South Sudan. Some of the displaced people even trekked for six months to reach safety in northern Uganda.

“It’s estimated there could be 1.2 million people there who have fled in from South Sudan because of the war, the conflict, and the drought situation. Nine out of 10 of them tend to be women and children.”

One of Food for the Hungry’s critical ministries in northern Uganda is medical clinics in the refugee camps.

“We’re working in that context of Adjumani, [and] here come these mothers. They’ve often been traumatized, they’re confused, the children are fearful and timid — and yet at the same time, our people, our staff, and the people we’ve mobilized are there to love them.”

As FH and their ministry partners provide medical care for refugee children, there is still often a language or cultural barrier present. They try to reassure parents, most of them mothers, that their children are receiving good medical attention and will be cared for. And some of the mothers are uncertain about allowing strangers to tend to their children. But as the FH team builds trust with the mothers, “reluctantly, cautiously, these mothers will hand their children into our care because they believe somehow…that we will love [and] care for their children.”

(Photo courtesy of Food for the Hungry)

It struck Edmonds that the decision to hand over your child into the temporary care of a stranger is especially agonizing for these refugee mothers who have worked so hard to protect their children.

“I think about that for Christmas. God has given his own Son to us in such a way and he says, ‘Come, follow me. Follow the way of Jesus.’”

This Advent reflection, the recognition of God’s sacrifice that led to Jesus being born as a human child, fully God and fully man, is what gives us hope in the Gospel. And that is what Food for the Hungry’s ministry is all about.

“That’s the work of Food for the Hungry, to be relational, to follow Jesus, to invest wisely, carefully in nurturing and seeking the well-being of these people who often are simply just survivors of a cruel world right now — a world that’s been negatively affected, whether it be by drought and famine, whether it be by war, civil war, and hardships.”

Edmonds says proclaiming the Gospel through relational service is truly the heartbeat of their outreach, and really at the heartbeat of the Great Commission. “We lead off and we say we follow Jesus. The second value that we establish is our work is relational. So I think as we look at the Great Commission, the call that’s been on our life, we make a statement that we’re following Jesus.”

Click here to learn more about FH and how you can support their ministry.