Some of the Native Christians will also participate in Summer of Hope, an annual youth outreach on Native American reservations. Learn more about Summer of Hope here.

Weston Francis says students receive further discipleship in community at the On Eagle’s Wings Leadership Center. Read about the dedication last April of the Leadership Center here.

“We hear from the students even just this year of how they have craved for something like this, they have craved for a community of believers to walk alongside with and grow with,” says Francis.

Many of the students who come to the Leadership Center grow up feeling isolated and surrounded by brokenness. They have not experienced a healthy community before or felt so seen. After nine months, the students return home with the holistic skills they need to thrive and serve others.

Francis says, “We want to create disciples who are going to eventually create disciples.”

“And so if we can show them how to create a community, they can do that for themselves when they go back home.”

One graduate soon began a small youth group in his community and brought nine students to the Warrior Leadership Summit. He now leads a local ministry.

The Leadership Center further prepares the students by showing them their true identity in God’s eyes. When they encounter difficulties and spiritual attacks, they will be ready to counter with the truth.

Francis says, “Sometimes all you need to tell a young person is, ‘Remember what God says about you.’”

He says it is the first time many of the students see their own value and potential. With a little nudge and responsibility given to them, many go further than they thought possible when they started.

“The Leadership Center is built to help them figure out what the next steps are,” says Francis.

“A good chunk of them this year are in a gray area of figuring out, ‘Where does God want me?’”

Pray for the new leadership graduates to have confidence in God and glorify Him wherever they go. As they determine what to do next or how to do it, may they move forward in faith and lead others to Jesus.

Do you know a young adult looking for an opportunity like the On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center? Learn how to apply at OEWLC.com.

Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings, Hutchcraft Ministries.

Brad Hutchcraft with RHM says, “These young leaders are sharing in some of the hardest hit places, most devastated places, by whether it is abuse or alcoholism, or violent crime, or missing and murdered indigenous women, all of these awful statistics that are out there. These are young, native Christians who are saying, ‘Hey, we want to be about bringing hope to our people.’”

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

Instead of one short month in the summer, students in the expanded program have nine months of discipleship, field experience and more. Hutchcraft says this new On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center has exponentially grown the ministry’s capacity to invest in young adults.

“It’s all about equipping them and trying to shore up some of those spots in life, some of those gaps that maybe they’re not getting covered at home, or maybe they’re not getting covered in school,” he says. 

“It’s beautiful to see how these students grow in just a few months time. The things that they are talking about, the ways that they’re diving into God’s Word. It’s just beautiful to see how God is working in their hearts, drawing them even closer to Himself.”

RHM is following God’s lead one step at a time to help these young people take their next steps, whether that be to college, the workforce, local ministry or one-day international ministry.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

“(Jesus) wants to use these Native young people to do what only they can, which is share about the shared challenges that they’ve had. Their ‘hope stories’ are filled with saying, ‘We have been who you are, but we have found hope and His name is Jesus,’” says Hutchcraft.

“We really do see a future where On Eagles’ Wings will be able to go more international. The reason for that is worldwide, it is very real fact that indigenous people reaching other indigenous people with the hope of Jesus. That’s the best model.”

You can come alongside young adults with On Eagles’ Wings through prayer support.

“We just love when people say, ‘Hey, I’m going to pray for these young warriors. I’m going to pray for their protection. I’m going to pray for the peace of Christ to rule in their hearts. I’m going to pray for them to stand firm, and I’m going to pray for them to make a difference,’” Hutchcraft says.

Visit hopefornativeamerica.com to learn more ways to support this ministry.

Header photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings/Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. 

Well one particular demographic of Millennials is certainly defying tradition on several fronts and shaking things up. But it’s a good thing.

Native Millennial Youth Culture

Millennials in Native American communities are confronted with two ‘norms’. There is the norm of their parents and grandparents that follow traditional Indian religions and live in an often despairing environment. Then there is also the norm of a materialistic Western youth culture, that mindset of ‘it’s all about me, whatever makes me happy’.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

It’s no surprise then that there are astronomical depression and suicide rates among Native American teens and young adults today. Ron Hutchcraft Ministries (RHM) even estimates suicide rates among Native teens in the United States are around 10 times higher than the rest of the country.

However, the Millennials of today are more defiant to the old way of doing things. And for Native American communities, following Jesus is definitely not the ‘old way’.

“There is something different about this generation,” says RHM’s Ron Hutchcraft. “They don’t necessarily salute to the things the previous generations have saluted to. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, I’ve been a lot of places, and there is a generation that is truly more up for grabs, and that’s true in Native America.

“They are probably more willing to consider an alternative, more willing to be open to a change than any previous generation before them where, before, it has been mom was like grandma, and grandma was like great-grandma, and great-grandma was like great-great-grandma. Not so much in this generation.”

Will 2017 be a critical year for the spread of the Gospel to First Nation People…by First Nation young people?

(Photo courtesy of RHM)

“In Acts 17, Paul said this: ‘From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.’

“And that word ‘times’ means kairos, it’s a moment of opportunity. It’s not the clock kind, that’s chronos. Kairos is a moment of opportunity. And apparently, could it be that God has decided this is the time for a breakthrough, and He has used world events and the growth of the youth culture and all the rest to create a generation that, on the one hand, is more open perhaps than previous generations, but also more broken than previous generations.”

Native American Millennials Lead Gospel Breakthrough

When you think about it, Native Americans were the first mission field, but now they tend to see Jesus as the “white man’s god”. And it doesn’t help that many missionaries to Native American’s have been white — reinforcing this perception. Which is why a Gospel witness from within is so critical.

“They [young people] are the right messengers, and they need to be the focus of our prayer and our investment,” Hutchcraft shares.

The On Eagles’ Wings team praying over the mission field. (Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

Already, RHM’s On Eagles’ Wings outreach has seen incredible advances for the Kingdom of God. It’s a team of Native young people who go around and witness on multiple reservations in the summer.

“We saw for example last summer when we were on 11 reservations, and where I would have to say probably it’s taken us 20 years to get into some of those reservations because they’re either some of the most unreached people in Native America or some of the most unreachable. And God just broke through, they led almost 600 Native Americans to Christ among a population that about four percent know Christ.

“Their ministry, their breakthroughs have been made possible by praying people like the folks who listen to this program, who read this. Those praying people have prayed down something in this generation that has never happened before.”

A Reunion of Family

Recently, the young people who participated in the On Eagles’ Wings trip got together again for a winter retreat. Hutchcraft was there as well, and the reunion was very moving.

“I just had the opportunity to spend about a week with my heroes, the greatest heroes I’ve met really I think in all my years of ministry. They are young Native Americans, they are warriors for their people, they are the people who are on our On Eagles’ Wings team in the summer, they are from 30 different tribes, and they come out of that background, the dark context of so much despair and hopelessness,” he says.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

“We had a winter break retreat with them because of the battle, the target they are. I mean, I have to say that the enemy hates these young men and women because they are threatening his strongholds. So we had a great time of revival and renewal with them.”

Defying tradition to follow Christ isn’t easy, going against the grain of your generation, your tribe, and maybe even your family. But we can find new family in the Body of Christ.

“Most of that team has said this: ‘This team is my family.’ The reason I bring that up is it underscores how very alone they feel and how very alone they are when they go back to the places where they live. Most of the people there [are] very deep into the traditional Indian religion, many of them [are] very broken, as these young warriors once were.”

They were together at the retreat from a few days after Christmas through New Years.

“Going into the New Year not partying as they once did, but going into the New Year together on our knees, observing the Lord’s Supper, remembering His death on the cross that liberated every one of us and each of them from the darkness they’d been enslaved by — I was reminded that these warriors are really heroes,” Hutchcraft reflects.

“They are defying their tradition, they are standing alone, they are going back and starting ministries on their reservations, they are going back and being listened to because they are of the people reaching their people.”

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries).

Hutchraft says, “It’s like we invited them to dinner and forgot them for 400 years.”
Native Americans saved the pilgrims when they taught them how to gather enough food for the winter. Today, that scenario has been flipped. It is Native American communities struggling to survive. And yet, very few hear their cries.
“Today, Native Americans are in a monumental battle to survive and it’s not even on our radar. And ‘Exhibit A’ would be that here is one people group in the country whose suicide is at minimum three times, and depending on the part of the country, ten times greater than the rest of the people in America.”
In addition, Hutchraft says, they struggle with sexual crimes and abuse, as well as drug and alcohol addictions. There is a common theme of despair and hopelessness. According to Native American Aid, the 22% of Native Americans living on reservations face conditions comparable to the third world.
“I have a native brother who [said] ‘Ron, I listen on the news and in all these things that were broadcast. [They] talk about African Americans and Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans, and my ears are all ready to hear my people. [I] never do.’”

Forgotten plans, forgotten people

Christians know that the only hope that can combat any brand of despair is the hope found in Jesus. In the beginning, there were some Christians who wanted to share the Gospel with Native Americans. Hutchcraft says some of the first translations of the Bible were directed towards different tribes.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

But somehow, reaching that mission field didn’t happen back then, and it’s a mission field all but forgotten by today’s Christians.
“Four-hundred years later only 4% know Christ. This is a Great Commission disaster. And if there is one group of people for whom American Christians are responsible to represent Christ to, it would seem like it would be the people who were here first. It would be the first Americans, the Native Americans. If not us, who?”
Hutchcraft explains, these people haven’t been forgotten by God, they’ve been forgotten by his people. He calls it a double blindness. The enemy has blinded Native Americans so that they believe Jesus is the white man’s God. Unfortunately, from the beginning, they have had plenty of reason to substantiate this belief.
“They have lost their land, they have lost their language, they have lost their culture, they have lost their lives. And often it was in the name of Christianity– doing things that Jesus would have had nothing to do with—that he would abhor.”
The other blindness is God’s people not seeing the huge need in these communities.

What now?

Hutchcraft says the solution to this blindness is not to go rushing in to try and do something. The problem from the very beginning is that the Gospel messenger was an outsider who understood very little about the Native American culture.
“The messengers of the hope of Christ need to be Native Americans who have been changed by this savior. And, I know that for a fact because I have seen it with my own eyes.”
Through “On Eagles Wings,” RHM has been able to empower Native youths to reach out to their own people. God is really doing something through this generation.
“I have watched what happens when we go out with the team of Native American young people who have lived the hopelessness, who have lived the violence, who have lived the despair, who have lived the addiction and the brokenness. And when they stand up on a reservation basketball court surrounded by their people, and they tell about what this Jesus has done, all I can tell you is when they give people an opportunity to come to Christ, they see what few if any missionaries in this 400-year history have ever seen.”
He’s seen thousands of Native Americans publicly choose Christ.

What can YOU do?

If you feel like God is asking you to do something there are a couple of ways to help. Consider partnering with “On Eagles’ Wings.”
But first, Hutchcraft says, we must commit to prayer and consider where our hearts are. He is praying that from this conversation would arise thousands of gatherings of Christians to pray for first Americans. Join a chorus of voices asking God to bring hope where despair reigns.
Another thing to consider is whether or not you have been ignoring the plight of Native Americans because of stereotypes or assumptions. Hutchcraft says if you have, asking for God’s forgiveness is a good step. And if there are First Nation individuals in your life, ask them for forgiveness too.
Finally, if we have friends, neighbors, or coworkers who are Native Americans, Hutchcraft suggests that you take time to sit down with them—not to talk, but to listen. Ask them about what it’s like to be Native American today—what breaks their heart, hurts them. What do the rest of us need to understand?

Next month, 50 young Native leaders are planning to attend a leadership training conference. You can help send them here.

Hutchcraft shares one young man’s story:

Lost friends to death, now bringing friends to Christ

“He talked about a lifetime of depression. His dad was murdered in cold blood. Two weeks later, he lost two of his best friends who were like brothers to him in a traffic accident. He has been to more funerals of more of his friends than he could ever count.

(Photo courtesy of RHM)

“He said he just became numb, and he said, ‘I became a person that I hated.’ But he went to our Warrior Leadership conference sometime ago and he gave his heart to Christ.

Hutchcraft says now, “He has been amazingly transformed, and he was instrumental in many people who have drug issues coming to Christ this summer. He has gone home back to his drug-wracked, violence-wracked reservation and we keep getting reports back of his brother coming to Christ and friends coming to Christ. He’s being asked to speak to groups of young people now!”

No longer ‘felon’, but ‘freed’

Another story of a changed life now reaching others, shares Hutchcraft:

“A young lady who, because of the terrible violence in her home, started cutting. That led to her ultimately taking a whole box of Tylenol trying to die, and then trying to numb herself with alcohol, then cocaine, then meth, then dealing those drugs to other people.

“She ended up being beaten by her boyfriend violently when they were both drunk. Then when her dad died, nothing was working for her. She went to her traditional Indian religion and it just didn’t give her any hope, it didn’t help at all.

“Then in an incident of road rage, she pulled a cocked gun on somebody. Now she becomes a felony before the law.

“Amazingly, she came to the point where she just said, ‘I was tired of being high. My body and soul were tired of feeling hopeless. I turned to Jesus, He gave me life and purpose, He died for me. And when He looks at me, He doesn’t see felon. He sees a beautiful Indian woman.’”

The On Eagles’ Wings team praying over the mission field (Photo courtesy of RHM via Facebook)

While ministering in the Summer of Hope outreach, Hutchcraft says this young woman shared from her heart, and it touched the youth she spoke to.

“She said, ‘I should be in prison, but God sent me a long way from home to tell you He is the hope you’re looking for. He’ll light up every dark place in your life. And the Jesus that resurrected me can resurrect you.’ And that night, He did [resurrect] so many of the young people on that reservation.”

Year-round discipleship

These are just two stories of lives transformed for Christ this summer who, in turn, reached others for Jesus and will continue to do so.

“Those are the kinds of incredible young warriors God is raising up.”

Now, Hutchcraft says several of the Native young adults are looking ahead. “Realizing how God can use them, now many of them with scholarship help from On Eagles’ Wings are going to Bible college or Christian school as a result to train to become leaders for their people.”

The discipleship and faith-building relationships with On Eagles’ Wings aren’t confined to the summer; they’re year-round.

“What we’re going to do during the year, we’ll continue to disciple the team members, make it possible for them to get a Christian education, to help the reservations follow-up in the places where we have been and conserve the harvest and train reservation leaders on how to reach young people, as On Eagles’ Wings has learned to do. All that’s going to continue to go on.”

Support for the unsupported

Many of these young teens and adults need outside support to pursue continued education or biblical training. Ron Hutchcraft Ministries works with them, but the greater support of the Church in this mission is critical.

The On Eagles’ Wings team for Summer of Hope 2016 (Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

“There are always those who say, ‘I didn’t know about this. What can I do?’ And I can tell you, for almost everything we do in Native America, it takes a lot of funds that have to be raised because the young people themselves don’t have anywhere to raise it. They can’t write missionary support letters to somebody, there’s nobody to write to back home. So this is a year-round program.”

This is how you can help!

“If God moves you to say, ‘Could I give to something like this?’ go to Hutchcraft.com and if you specify your gift for On Eagles’ Wings, every dollar of it will go to continue this amazing, historic breakthrough to Native America all during the year.”

The On Eagle’s Wings team for Summer of Hope 2016 (Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says this summer was historic in the evangelization of North America’s first nation of people. And there were some amazing stories of transformation that came from it.

But first and foremost, Hutchcraft says, “This is a story about a great Savior, not about a great organization and a great team.”

So what happened this summer? First, the overview:

• On Eagles’ Wings Summer of Hope was 34 days of outreach across 4,000 miles.
• The team consisted of 48 Native American warriors from 26 different tribes.
• They went to 11 different reservations in North America to put on 32 spiritual rescue events.
• It was from there that 600 Native young people came to Jesus.

Hutchcraft explains, “This all began at Warrior Leadership Summit, which turned out to be our largest gathering ever of Native American young people representing about 88 tribes of Native young people from across the U.S. and Canada. It was easily the most powerful we’ve ever had. Over 200 young people came to Christ there.

“The [On Eagles’ Wings] team was trained and launched from there, and we began to travel to an area of the country where really many of the tribes have been largely unreached. We were literally asked, ‘Who is Jesus?’… They had not heard of Him, they didn’t know about Him in some cases!”

An overlooked mission field

While it’s not surprising to have non-Christians in North America, people tend to assume most individuals in the U.S. and Canada have at least heard of Jesus.

However, Hutchcraft says in the Native American community, “only four percent know Christ after about 400 years of mission work. Their young people have the highest suicide rates and drug abuse rates and sexual abuse rates and sexual assault rates. It’s just an awfully broken generation.

“We went this summer with a team of Native Americans who have lived all that brokenness, who once were the dealers and users, who are the abuse and rape victims, who have been the abusers, have been the violent, have been the gang members, have lived all of this, the family brokenness, and they’re the ones who are the messengers [for the Gospel].”

A culture of death

The On Eagles’ Wings team praying over the mission field (Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

The last reservation they visited for Summer of Hope was the first ever to be reached by missionaries in North America. But it looks very different today.

“This tribe, where the light has come for so long, has chosen in this generation to consider Christianity and Jesus an unwelcome intruder, feeling that in His name centuries ago everything was taken from them. And in some cases they’re right, but it wasn’t Jesus. It was done in the name of Christianity. But there’s been hardened hearts.”

Hutchcraft goes on, “The first lady we met said, ‘I have had 11 people I love in 12 months die of drug overdoses.’ There have been ten drug overdose deaths in just a four-month period that we were told. And we were told many of them we never would have heard about, we’re not even counting. It’s just going every day, all day, is just a tremendous amount of dying.”

God in the park of drug dealers

The On Eagles’ Wings team was set-up for their Gospel outreach and presentations in the reservation’s park. This same park is where the drug deals went down on the reservation.

“Even the smell of marijuana was in the air, a temptation by the way for many of our warriors who that was their gateway into very heavy drug use. It was literally one of the darkest places we could possibly be.

“The last night there, [the team gave] a powerful presentation of a brown-skinned Savior who came from a tribe, who died on a cross for us. Virtually every person in that park that night came forward to give their heart to Christ. It was an amazing breakthrough.”

Then, says Hutchcraft, an amazing thing happened…

“One of the young men who came to Christ that night is the dealer for the dealers. He’s the one who had the drugs the dealers are dealing. And he said, ‘I’m tired of dealing death to my people. I don’t know how many people have died because of what I have done. But I’m sick and tired of it. I need to be forgiven.’

“He burned his drugs, he burned his drug money, and said, ‘I am now going to go to the dealers and tell them this is exactly what they need.’”

In each of the Native reservations, local leaders were given plans for follow-up and discipleship of those who accepted Christ.

Speaking from brokenness

Hutchcraft says throughout the Summer of Hope, much of the response they saw to Christ’s message of hope and healing came from how God used the warrior’s testimonies.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings via Facebook)

“What we found was when you speak out of your brokenness, it reaches the brokenness in somebody listening. And that’s what these team members did. No matter how high a wall people have put up — their traditional religion, their drugs, their mask, their lifestyle — something happened when they heard about Jesus.”

This is something we can all embrace; when we are willing to be vulnerable and share our stories of healing and change through Jesus Christ, hearts and souls are shorn of their pretenses.

“All of us know somebody with a hard heart and a super glue mask they don’t want to take off. And I’ll tell you, the way to their heart is for us to speak out of our brokenness. Not arguing with them, not even throwing Scripture verses at them, but bringing the Gospel to them through our own brokenness.”

Pray for the ongoing discipleship of Native young people and individuals.

If you’d like to learn more about Ron Hutchcraft Ministries and support their outreach, click here!

Now 50-60 of those young people are launching from the Warrior Leadership Summit to start Summer of Hope Outreach with the On Eagles’ Wings initiative. They’ll go to 11 other Native reservations to host music and sporting events, and start conversations about God.

Ron Hutchcraft of RHM says, “We’ll go in right on the basketball court in the center of the reservation on neutral ground where they feel safe and where they hang out all day and sometimes all night long! That’s where the events will be held and sports and music and a lot of tremendous activity.”

Summer of Hope Outreach 2016 (Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

This is RHM’s 24th Summer of Hope within the ministry. The young people with the On Eagles’ Wings team range in age from 16 to 30-years old and represent 35 different Native American tribes.

On Eagles’ Wings is unique because it is outreach to Native young people by Native young people. And that is what makes it so unique and successful, says Hutchcraft.

“We’ve got the most powerful message in the world being delivered by the most effective messengers who could deliver it to some of the most broken people on our continent in some of the most unreached places on our continent.”

An outreach initiative on such a widespread scale like this is critical, because only four-percent of Native Americans know Jesus Christ as their Savior today.

Hutchcraft says, “As you look, you will see the On Eagles’ Wings warriors out having conversations all night long meeting the local young people. And as they share their stories and compare the similarities of their battles, even though they may come from places thousands of miles apart, the Jesus who changed their life becomes a Jesus who changes the life of that local young person.”

The Native American community deals with many of the same struggles the rest of society faces — addiction, depression, abuse, and suicide. But their struggles are often on a much larger scale due to the pain caused by the marginalization and oppression their Native communities have experienced through several generations.

The message of salvation and hope through the Gospel of Jesus Christ makes a huge difference in the lives of these teens.

“On the final night, they will be given the opportunity to do something that is pretty much unheard of. Right there in the center of their community with everybody watching — in a place where Jesus is not necessarily what people choose, believe me — they will be given an opportunity to take a public stand to say, ‘I am giving my life to Christ right here, right now,’ and come to center court. And the one giving the invitation will be one of those Native young people. They do it all, they are the messengers.”

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook)

Over the past several years, Ron Hutchcraft Ministries has seen the Summer of Hope Outreach have a ripple effect as Native young adults accept Christ and go back to their reservations to reach their peers with the Gospel.

“As has happened in other summers, some of them will be called by God in the midst of serving Him this summer to begin to train and go back and be the Native Christian leaders for their people…. Youth ministry is almost non-existent on reservations, so we watch as youth ministries are born on reservations [and] ongoing reservation youth ministry from the team being there!”

However, Hutchcraft says there will be challenges. “We are going to reservations in some cases where the name of Jesus, they don’t even want to hear it. They will in some cases come and cover the ears of their children so they won’t even hear His name. So we are going to some hard and hostile places and the team will be going to some reservations where there is literally nowhere for them to hear the Gospel. There is no church, there are virtually no Christians, there might be one or two or a handful of Christians. It’s just all ground where the Gospel has just not gone. So it’s going to be pretty powerful but a pretty challenging set of battles this summer. So pray for breakthroughs on every one of these 11 reservations.”

To learn more about how you can pray for the On Eagles’ Wings team and the Summer of Hope Outreach, click here to sign up for RHM’s Pray for Native America Kit.

Hutchcraft explains, “That [kit] will help you understand and pray with an informed heart for the needs and the move of Christ in Native America…. We send reports out by email to those who want to sign up for them, and you can do that at the website and really travel with us in a sense as you’ll get frontline reports as it is happening.”

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

And for the Summer of Hope Outreach, Hutchcraft says the prayers of Christians everywhere lifting up the Native American communities to God are so eternally important. Pray for spiritual protection over those both on the team and for those attending Summer of Hope.

“The outcomes in the battles these warriors will fight this summer will be decided in the throne room of the Most High God, and these victories have to be pre-won by prayer warriors. The [team members] will be the frontline warriors, but they’ll be empowered by the prayer warriors behind them. I just hope and pray you might be one.”

In addition to praying, you can sponsor the On Eagles’ Wings team by donating to the Summer of Hope Outreach. It’s only made possible through your support.

“These young men and women are not like kids from our churches who can write a letter to the folks at church and say, ‘Will you sponsor me for this missions trip this summer?’ There’s nobody to sponsor them and in most cases there’s nobody to even write to.”

Hutchcraft emphasizes, “The empowerment of prayer and the empowerment of your gifts, this makes this a partnership and I believe God is honored by that as His people pull together, non-native and native…. And in that partnership, we may be on the edge of the greatest breakthrough in Native America.”

(Screenshot courtesy of RHM)

International (MNN) — In John 1:5, John declares: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

That’s exactly the experience had by a group of Native American evangelists.

The On Eagles’ Wings team is a group of Native American young people and an outreach of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. Every summer the ministry conducts the Summer of Hope Tour, where the OEW team visits Native American reservations throughout the U.S. and Canada to share the Gospel along with personal stories of hope.The team’s most recent trip was to the spiritually-dark Woods’ Crossing Reservation.

Satan was unrelenting during those four days. Many team members reported experiencing spirit disturbances and having dark dreams. Brad Hutchcraft, son of RHM founder Ron Hutchcraft, had a run-in with a moose as he was driving. But God protected Brad and ensured His plan for the week would not be thwarted.

“All this simply served to stir the warriors to a greater sense of spiritual warfare,”  Ron Hutchcraft wrote in a recent update. “At our team training, we taught on the victory won by Jesus’ shed blood on the cross–the crushing of ‘the serpent’s head.’ Some 60 warriors cried out to God for nothing less than a miracle in Walker Park. And they went to battle, prayed-up and fired-up.”

On the fourth night, one of the leaders invited the Woods’ Crossing Natives to give their lives to Christ. And that’s when they witnessed the miracle.

“It was like a dam broke,” Hutchcraft wrote in the report. “They came from all around the court, from every corner of the park! It was stunning!”

(Image courtesy RHM)

“I was frequently on the bus asking for prayer, but tonight was the best night I’ve ever had through OEW,” Dylan, an OEW member, added in a wrap-up video. “I got to talk to a guy; he struggled with the same things I did. I mean, it was a divine match-up.”

Native American reservations are some of the most spiritually-dark places in the world. They’re a hotbed of drug abuse and alcoholism, and many Native youth end up taking their own lives. The OEW team along with RHM are making a great difference, but they need your help.

There are multiple ways you can help bring Christ to Native American reservations. One is by prayer. Pray that Native Americans would realize their need for a relationship with God and that they would come to Christ. Pray that the On Eagles’ Wings team would continue to stand strong against Satan’s attacks.

Also, consider supporting this ministry financially. For $60, you can fund a half-day of reservation rescue. Click here to get started.

(Image courtesy OEW via Facebook)

North America (MNN) — Many Native American youth have lived in despair and hopelessness since they were born. Their lives are marked by depression, poverty, violence, and suicide.

The suicide rate among Native young people is “up to six, seven, or even ten times that of the rest of the young people in America,”says Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries (RHM).

According to The Center for Native American Youth, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for Natives between the ages of 15 to 24. And violence such as homicide, suicide, and intentional injuries has caused 75% of deaths among adolescents.

“The pain comes very early,” Hutchcraft explains.

“Sexual violence against women [is] horrific. Life expectancies for Native men are 20-30 years less than for non-Native men. It is almost unspeakable and unimaginable.”

As a result, addiction to drugs and alcohol is rampant.

Hutchcraft describes going to a remote reservation in northern Canada. “When our team [was] there, there were 6-year-olds, all scattered in the woods, who were huffing inhalants. Some of them out cold–a common thing there.”

A recent report states that in Oregon, Hepatitis C, which is often caused by drugs, is very common among younger generations. The highest rate of the disease appeared among Native Americans and Alaskan Natives.

On Eagles’ Wings

Since tribes are so remote, sometimes hundreds of miles away from the nearest town, they seem to have been forgotten. But RHM has remembered them and is helping to turn communities around.

For the last 23 years, RHM has faithfully held their annual summer outreach program, On Eagles’ Wings.

Often times, they hold basketball events to bring kids together. RHM also shares the Gospel, then gives kids the chance to spread the Word among others. In other words, kids are becoming messengers and missionaries of the Good News for their own people.

“The audience is listening to the messengers of this life-changing message, that never changes. But [it] needs sometimes to come through a messenger that will be heard. The messengers this summer–and for the last 23 summers–have been Native American young men and women.”

The team this year is made up of 60 young Native Americans from 33 different tribes, including Sioux, Apache, Eskimo, and Navaho.

“These young men and women: we call them warriors. They are fighting for their people, and they are able to go honestly,” says Hutchcraft.

“They are able to prevail because of the prayers of listeners and because of the gifts that have been sent in to sponsor these warriors. They do what you and I and listeners could never do: and that is to go and break through.”

Team members have been haunted by the past, but they’re able to share their stories with audiences as proof that there is hope.

One boy said three of his brothers had committed suicide, and he was almost next. He drowned his sorrows with drinking, but through RHM, he came to Christ, who turned his life around.

“He stood up and shared his hope story of how he has found that hope has a name. And hope’s name is Jesus.”

Hutchcraft adds, “[Team members] are finding out that God can do things through them that have never happened before spiritually on these reservations. And one after another, they are beginning to sense the call of God on their life.”

Because of the 23 years of work RHM has put in, there are now Native men and women who have started their own ministries.

The team has visited 4 reservations so far this summer, and they have 7 more to go. Be praying for spiritual breakthroughs and that RHM will help build a bridge between Jesus and Native kids.

You can also help sponsor Native kids here!

Praise God for the victorious new life in Christ!
(Image courtesy WLS via Facebook)

North America (MNN) — On many Native American reservations, drug abuse and alcoholism run rampant. Most live in poverty, and many have not even heard of Jesus.

But every year, young adults from nearly 100 different tribes throughout the U.S. and Canada receive a message of hope. And soon, they will hear it again. Ron Hutchcraft Ministries is holding its annual Warrior Leadership Summit Conference and Summer of Hope tour, bringing the Gospel to some of the most spiritually-deprived people in North America.

“The great thing about Warrior Leadership Summit is when these young people walk into that room, we hear them say time and time again, ‘I realized that I’m not alone,’” says Brad Hutchcraft. “And this is what’s so huge. We had one of our young people who said when you’re at your reservation, you think you’re alone because you’re the only believer there. Then you come to WLS [Warrior Leadership Summit], and there’s over 600 there.”

The event is put on by RHM’s On Eagles’ Wings team–a group of trained Native American young people who share personal stories of triumph over hopelessness. About 600 young people and leaders attended last year, and Hutchcraft said he is hoping and praying for 800 this year.

“We certainly would love to have some people praying with us for that many,” says Hutchcraft.

But that’s only the start. Following WLS, RHM workers, as well as about 60 On Eagles’ Wings members, will travel to 10-12 villages across the U.S. to share more “Hope Stories.”

“They will stand on basketball courts, and they will tell that they were the abuse victims.They were the suicide attempt. They’ve been the drug dealers. They’ve been the gang members,” Hutchcraft explains. “But they have found freedom through this relationship with Jesus Christ.”

This freedom is something Native Americans desperately need. Between December 2014 and March 2015 at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, over 200 people contemplated, attempted, or successfully completed suicide, including a 12-year-old girl. Tribal officials say nine people were successful.

This can largely be connected with Native Americans’ interaction with spirits.

One youth worker at the reservation said many have had suicidal dreams. “The spirit is going to make me kill myself,” the worker said in an MNN article, explaining how people were describing their dreams. “The spirit wants me to kill myself. It’s a really scary thing for someone who’s 13, 14, or 15 to deal with a spirit invading your life and trying to push you over the edge.”

Ron Hutchcraft says your prayers help curb the suicide problem at Pine Ridge reservation.
(Courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

But how big of a difference can a few “Hope Stories” make? Apparently enough to change a life. Hutchcraft explains how one girl went from nearly taking her own life to teaching children in her church, and eventually talking with the First Lady about a mentorship program she started.

“The Lord used WLS and your staff to change my life that summer,” the girl said in a letter, according to Hutchcraft. “I went from being a suicidal, broken girl in need of a Savior that [I] did not know, to being a strong woman of Christ who can stand before hundreds of people, including government officials, and speak on sexual assault awareness and suicide prevention as a survivor. I have the opportunity to show people the love of Christ, and I want you all to know God used your camp in a huge way to enable this to happen.”

Through God’s power, you too can help transform lives. Pray for the On Eagles’ Wings team as they bring hope to those in despair. Pray also that Native Americans would be encouraged and recognize the joy found in Jesus.

“Prayer does change things,” Hutchcraft affirms. “It changes people, and it changes hearts. That has been true from the very beginning to this day, and praise God for that.”

You can also help financially. Visit RHM’s donate page to see how you can support an On Eagles’ Wings team member or make a general donation.