On Eagles' Wings - Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

On Eagles' Wings® Update

On Eagles' Wings Team Canada Prayer Update #3

As we were getting ready to leave Fort Victory to travel to our next scheduled stop in Winding River, my cell phone rang. It was the Chief of the Band where our team was heading. He had some truly sad news. Only days prior, I had received another call from him indicating that there was a suicide of a young teenage girl. Today’s call was to tell me that the funeral would be in the afternoon of our arrival in this grief-stricken community. Winding River is a community of only three to four hundred people, so you could imagine how difficult a day this would be for them.

Several years ago, we made an organizational decision to extend On Eagles’ Wings into Canada, because the need is as great here as it is in the States. In the U.S., there are about 340 Reservations. In Canada, there are approximately 668 Reserves.

In the U.S., in Native America, we have a suicide rate four times the national average.

Among Canada’s aboriginal young men, it’s five times the national average.

Among First Nations young girls, it’s seven times the national average.

Those statistics glared at us as we made our way to this community. Another young life cut short because of an absence of hope.

We asked the Chief how we could help the community during this pain-filled day. As our caravan pulled into the community, we had only an hour or so before the funeral would start. Several of our team mesmbers quickly mobilized to help provide some worship music for the funeral service, while the others stood outside the Catholic Church praying and supporting the family and community in this hour of need. Throughout the evening, we set up our sound system in the community complex and in a very low key way, made ourselves available to the youth, many of whom were struggling to understand this loss.

On Eagles’ Wings is in these communities at the invitation of the Chief and Council of this First Nation group. Along with their traditional ways, there has been a long standing involvement of the Catholic Church in these communities, but very little evangelical witness historically. Having On Eagles’ Wings come with our message of hope through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is something new to this First Nation people group.

I’ve been greatly encouraged by the leadership of the Chief, who even sent a delegation of community leaders to our Warrior Leadership Summit. He has a great burden for his people, and especially for the youth. Though this is an isolated region of northern Canada, the influence of the world youth culture is all around. You see it in the dress and in the music styles they are listening to. So much of the "MTV culture" that promotes violence, drugs, sex, etc., has invaded these isolated communities, and the end result is a generation that is being pulled into lifestyles that are destroying them. How thankful I am for the willingness of this Chief to partner with us to help bring our message of hope.

Throughout our three days in this community, all I can say is God visited us with His power and grace as we saw close to forty youth, children and adults in this community cry out to Jesus for the life-giving hope He alone can give!

Prayer Requests:

Pray for these new believers who have put their hope in Christ for the first time.
Pray for the family and community as they work through the grieving process.
Pray for the ministry partners in the surrounding communities who are willing to move the follow-up forward in these isolated communities.
Pray that the strategy of incorporating a monthly rotating OEW follow-up event in all the four communities in this region will succeed and have the blessing of God.
Pray for the Chief of this First Nation, who through his initiative has brought the hope of Jesus to these First Nations communities.

Craig Smith for OEW Team Canada

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