A division of Hutchcraft Ministries, On Eagles’ Wings equips Native American Christians to reach their peers for Jesus. More about that here.

Hutchcraft Ministries founder Ron Hutchcraft says, “There were 36 Native American and First Nations people on the team, and they represented about 20 different Indian nations.”

(Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries)

Native American youth at each reservation share similar experiences and trials, from substance abuse to violence and suicide. They also share a similar mistrust of Jesus, often calling Him “the white man’s God.”

“They don’t know anybody who is young, Native, and Christian, so He doesn’t even seem to be an option for them.”

Local Christians invite the On Eagles’ Wings team to their community to spark change.

Previous efforts to introduce the Gospel go unheeded until one summer day, Hutchcraft says, “Here comes a busload of young, Native Christians from 20 different tribes who have life stories like their own, except they have hope, and they all found it when they found Jesus.”

Read individual impact reports here. Below, Hutchcraft shares three reasons why hearts change during the Summer of Hope.

“Breakthroughs happen on each reservation, and there’s an unprecedented interest in Jesus,” Hutchcraft says.

3 Drivers of Change

Transformation begins when Native youth hear something they can relate to. “People are most likely to listen to a Gospel messenger with a shared life experience,” Hutchcraft says.

Because On Eagles’ Wings team members “bring the Gospel wrapped in their own hope story,” Native young people can relate to “how it was before Jesus,” Hutchcraft says.

“Those are sad stories. There has been a lot of abuse and family violence, addiction, depression, self-harm, and, all too often, thoughts of suicide. As they tell that story, the young people on the reservation are going, ‘Well, that’s my story, too.’”

(Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries)

Noise fades as all attention turns to the Native Gospel worker in the middle of a basketball court.

“What was perhaps a rowdy and loud situation when we got there becomes strangely quiet,” Hutchcraft shares, “as these young men and women talk about what Jesus has done for them and they share the Gospel, the message that changed everything.”

Prayer is a second factor influencing heart change. “Before they go, there’s a time when they each hold their (written) hope story up to the Lord and I ask them to pray out loud [that it would be] something God would use to bring hope to people who are where they used to be,” Hutchcraft says.

“It’s powerful to hear them all praying simultaneously for God to use that hope story, and the rest of the month is God answering that prayer.”

Finally, Native youth experience the peace of Jesus through On Eagles’ Wings team members and Summer of Hope activities, opening hearts to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

“They’re feeling the presence of Jesus without knowing it initially because there’s joy and safety in those events,” Hutchcraft says.

Keep praying for the On Eagles’ Wings team. “They don’t just need it in the summer, they need it all year long,” Hutchcraft says. Ask the Lord to help them live in continued supernatural boldness.

Header and story images courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries/On Eagles’ Wings. 

“A lot of children in the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon went through very traumatic experiences, seeing their loved ones being killed, seeing many villages being totally destroyed,” Camille Melki of Heart for Lebanon explains. “A lot of people had to flee for their lives.”

Now, a delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is holding steady, igniting sparks of hope for a more stable future in the region.

“Children who are now finishing school are looking forward [to] a normal summer, and we’re all praying for that, [a time] where children can spend their summer not worrying where the next bomb is going to come from [or how] their parents would provide for the next meal,” Melki says.

Through its Summer of Hope initiative, Heart for Lebanon is ministering to these young hearts. “It’s a summer activity full of hope,” Melki says.

“Hope for a prevailing peace that not only seizes the sounds of bombs and explosions but [also] an inner peace that we only find through accepting Christ as our personal Savior.”

Each Summer of Hope program focuses on a different theme. “Right now, we’re focusing mainly on traumatized children, vulnerable kids, children who are fearful of tomorrow, who maybe have lost hope in the world they’re living in,” Melki says.

“[They are] tired of the violence, tired of the hatred, tired of the message of death and destruction that they hear around them.”

(Photo courtesy Heart for Lebanon)

By focusing on biblical character traits, Heart for Lebanon is seeking character transformation in the lives of Lebanese and refugee youth.

“Biblical stories highlight a particular trait that we find in Christ, a particular trait that we find in the Scriptures, and the Gospel that teaches us how to live the best life Christ desires for us,” Melki says.

Help Heart for Lebanon reach 1,600 vulnerable kids through the Summer of Hope. “Our target is to serve 800 [children] in southern Lebanon and 800 in the Bekaa Valley,” Melki says.

“Children who are vulnerable, struggling to accept reality, but with Christ, they learn how to deal with those realities, how they can conquer those fears, and how they can be Christ’s agents of change within their communities.”

Most importantly, pray. “The news out of the Middle East is always one of war and destruction,” Melki says.

“What I’d like our listeners to pray for [is] that the new news out of the Middle East would be one of peace and tranquility, one of a new future.”

Header and story images courtesy of Heart for Lebanon. 

“Amy gave her hope story. It’s a story of abuse, of alcoholic parents, her depression, her suicide attempts, and of the hope that Christ has given her,” Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says.

“Amy gave her hope story. It’s a story of abuse, of alcoholic parents; her depression, her suicide attempts, and of the hope that Christ has given her.”
(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

Believers can learn a thing or two from Native young people like Amy, Hutchcraft says. “Each of us going to our ‘tribe’ could be the difference between hope and hopelessness, and eternity with hope or unthinkable eternity,” he says.

“They are models of what the whole Church of Jesus Christ ought to be.”

RHM’s On Eagles’ Wings team went to seven reservations during the Summer of Hope outreach. See reports from each reservation here. Through their stories, team members point other Native youth to Christ – the only source of true hope. Then, lives change.

For example, after Amy finished speaking, “she started [to leave] and saw a grandmother and a teenage granddaughter coming. The grandmother immediately said, ‘Amy, your story is her story exactly’ and pointed to her granddaughter,” Hutchcraft says.

After speaking further with Amy, “she began a relationship with Amy’s Savior that night. That’s what happened night after night” during Summer of Hope 2021.

Today, some of the “warriors” who shared their hope stories are heading to Bible college. Pray God uses this experience to bless each believer as they seek His will. Learn how you can equip Native believers here.

More hope stories: Dylan and Missy

Each of the 21 people on this year’s Summer of Hope team represented a different Native American tribe. It was the smallest team in the outreach’s 29-year history, but “they were an awesome group of young people, and it turned out to be Gideon’s Army,” Hutchcraft says.

Just as every team member hailed from a different tribe, each young person had a uniquely different hope story. “Dylan talked about his violent father, and the first thing he remembers as a child was seeing his mother in a pool of her blood,” Hutchcraft says.

Hate filled Dylan’s veins until, one day, he looked in the mirror and realized he was becoming the same man as his father.
(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

Hate filled Dylan’s heart until, one day, he looked in the mirror and realized he was becoming the same man as his father.

“He was ready to get the rope (to hang himself). Instead, he gave his life to Christ, and boy is he a powerful leader for Christ now.”

Missy’s hope story resonated with many Native young women. “Missy still has the scars on her arms from the times she tried to bleed out her pain. She had to be stitched up so many times, and she used to be ashamed of those scars,” Hutchcraft says.

This summer, “she said, ‘I’m not ashamed anymore. They are my reminder that, because of Jesus, I’m not that girl anymore.’ She led girls just like her to Christ, who didn’t have the hope she had until they found her Jesus.”

Each of the 21 people on this year’s Summer of Hope team represented a different Native American tribe. (Header photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says many U.S. efforts bypass a people group with critical needs. “After 400 years, only 4% (of this group) are estimated to know Christ,” he says.

“We’ve done better all over the world then among the people right on our doorstep.”

He’s talking about Native Americans. While they have a rich cultural heritage, Native communities are also plagued by chronic social ills.

“I’ve been in cross-cultural youth ministry all my life,” Hutchcraft begins. “Never have I met young people who have no dreams, who are pretty sure they’ll have no future, among whom the suicide rate is at least three times – in some parts of the country, 10 times – that of any other kids in America, whose rates of addiction are off the charts.”

According to the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute, alcoholism mortality rates are 514 percent higher for Natives than the general population. Suicide rates are more than double, and Native teens experience the highest rate of suicide of any population group in the United States. Violence, including intentional injuries, homicide, and suicide, account for 75% of deaths for Native youth between 12 and 20 years old.

There’s a brighter future on the horizon. God’s using On Eagles’ Wings – a division of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries – to infuse Native America with hope.

Summer of Hope

(Photo courtesy of OEW)

A team of 32 Native believers from 23 different tribes just finished an intensive month-long “Summer of Hope” outreach. “I had the privilege of traveling with what I call a bus full of miracles,” Hutchcraft says, referring to this year’s Summer of Hope team.

“Every one of the young people on this team has lived those statistics that I talked about… they’ve buried many of their friends.”

Instead of leading the way, Hutchcraft prefers to watch the team in action. “I’m the little white guy on the bus praying, which is where I belong. One of the main reasons so few Native people have come to Christ is because of a lie – that Jesus is the white man’s God,” he says.

“You hear that on every reservation I’ve ever been on – Jesus is the white man’s God.”

On basketball courts in seven reservations throughout the U.S., Native believers like Marisa* shared the Gospel and their “hope story.” As a result, 483 Native American young people came to Christ.

“There’s food, there’s fun, but all night long, individually they are telling their ‘hope stories’ to young people who are desperate for hope,” Hutchcraft says. “Out of that has come this wonderful harvest that God has given this summer among the first people of this land.”

Marisa’s story

(Photo courtesy of OEW)

Five years ago, Marisa knew death was the only way to escape her pain. Cutting didn’t work, and neither alcohol nor drugs provided a solution. On the way to a location she chose for her suicide, Marisa stopped by the “rez” basketball court. Little did she know it was a life-changing decision.

One by one, On Eagles’ Wings team members stood up and shared their “hope stories.” Marisa’s heart stirred when she heard about pain like hers. “Jesus intercepted her that night, and Jesus changed her life,” recalls Hutchcraft, This fall, Marisa will head to Bible school to begin training for Christian ministry.

Her story gets even better. “Fast-forward to this summer on that same basketball court,” Hutchcraft begins. It was Marisa’s turn to stand up and give her hope story – one God used in a powerful way.

“When it came to ‘invitation’ time, a 13-year-old young lady came forward. It was Marisa’s younger sister, also a victim of sexual abuse, having already attempted suicide twice.”

Now begins discipleship and leadership training for new believers like Marisa’s sister.

Next steps

The Summer of Hope acts like a rocket launch, Hutchcraft says. It’s a powerful starting point for the Holy Spirit, which continues working in each new believer. “The ‘launch’ takes place on the basketball court. Now there is momentum, there is energy, there is life among the Native young people on that reservation in the direction of Jesus,” he explains.

“This isn’t just about a great moment. It’s about a moment that gives birth to a movement.”

Click here to support ongoing ministry. “All year long we work on equipping them to be leaders for their people. What is launched in the summer is nurtured now all year long,” Hutchcraft says.

(Photo courtesy of OEW)

Most importantly, pray. Subscribe to OEW News so you can pray for this ministry throughout the year. “Let’s pray for God’s protection. This is a war and a battle unlike any I’ve ever been involved in in all my work across the country and around the world,” Hutchcraft requests.

“The prayers of God’s people are not only needed they are decisive in the battle for Native America. Every prayer warrior that God raises up for the First People of this land is an answer to prayer in itself.”

*– Name changed.

Header image courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries.

“There’s a lot of pain, a lot of loss, a lot of death… and there is a tendency to ‘stuff it’ rather than face it,” observes Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. “The leader of the Center for Native American Youth said this: ‘Youth suicide is the single biggest human loss a family or community can experience.

“‘It is destroying Native American communities.’”

Nonetheless, hope remains. Learn how you can help.

An overlooked tragedy

According to Hutchcraft, many Native people – young and old alike –face life’s challenges without the hope of Christ. He calls this people group the “unfinished business” of the U.S. Church.

“Only 4% know Christ after 400 years; that is one of the Great Commission tragedies.”

John Gadsby Chapman depicts Pocahontas, wearing white, being baptized Rebecca by Anglican minister Alexander Whiteaker in Jamestown, Virginia…. The scene symbolizes the belief of Americans at the time that Native Americans should accept Christianity and other European ways.
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

This challenge is rooted in history.  Misunderstandings about God and generational mistrust are critical components.

“I’ve been on about 100 reservations and [On Eagles Wings has] been in Canada and Alaska, and all over the continental US. Wherever you go, it’s true: Jesus is perceived to be the white man’s God,” Hutchcraft explains.

“Tragically, His name has been associated with so many of the things that they’ve lost… so much was taken from them in the name of Christianity.”

Through a recent media release, he adds, “No people on this continent have lost so much. They lost their land, their language, their family unit – and their lives. The estimated 10 million Indigenous people here when Columbus came had shrunk to only 200,000 by 1900.”

Hope for Native America

(Screenshot via On Eagles’ Wings / Warrior Leadership Summit 2018)

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries (RHM) mobilizes believers to communicate Christ to the lost in their world. Through On Eagles’ Wings, RHM equips Native believers to reach their peers.

As described here, On Eagles’ Wings is a movement of Native American young people bringing hope to their communities through Jesus Christ. Each summer, a team of Native youth travels to reservations across North America following a week-long conference called Warrior Leadership Summit.

WLS 2019 begins next Monday. Help bring hope to Native America by sponsoring a Native team member. We’ll continue the conversation later this week.

Header image courtesy of istock via ICTMN.com

The result? Over 800 Native American young people began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

"It's something breathtaking," said Joe Donnell about seeing hundreds of his people come to Christ. Donnell was a Native leader on the tour. "You're just in awe that you can be a part of something like that."

Taking a step of faith toward Christ is, in essence, taking a step away from Native culture. Donnell said many Native Americans are taught at a young age to resist Christianity. While most young people aren't aware of the Gospel message or who Jesus Christ is, Donnell said they'll resist it anyways.

"They won't consider Jesus because of what Christians may have done in the past," he explained. "It's just sad to see that."

Pray that God would open their eyes. Click here to read more about the spiritual warfare teams encountered this summer.

The issues plaguing Native Americans today are complex, Donnell said. Past governmental wrongdoings like broken treaties and the assimilation of thousands of Native children into boarding schools lay a foundation of general mistrust. Rampant poverty and unemployment add another layer of hopelessness.

Many Native teenagers turn to drugs or alcohol to dull their pain. According to a national study, Native Americans aged 12-17 years had the highest rate of substance use and abuse. Over a third of Native teens had substance-related disorders.

This is why knowing Jesus is so important.

"It can make things right that were wrong," Donnell said, speaking about the power of forgiveness. "That's what the Lord Jesus has done for me, and that's what He's done for the On Eagles' Wings team members.

"That's the hope that we carry."

Pray for strength and boldness for the 800+ new Christ-followers. Pray that they could bring more people in their family to know Jesus.

Click here to read full reports from the 2012 Summer of Hope tour. While there, you can donate to support the ministry of On Eagles' Wings.