On Eagles' Wings® Update

On Eagles' Wings Team Canada Prayer Update #7

Note: This prayer update is more lengthy than our normal reports, but I'd encourage you to read this amazing report of what God has done for Team Canada in the past few days!!! Craig

Psalms 33:10-11 says, "The Lord foils the plans of the nations, He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations."

These verses would come alive to our team as we made our way from our last outreach site to this new community. It would be here on this Reserve that the faith of our team would be severely tested.

We go out months in advance and meet with local ministry and tribal leaders who express interest in having our team come to their communities. From there, we are in ongoing communication as we make plans for the team's arrival. Over the months leading up to this scheduled stop, it appeared all was in place. The only challenge we would have was the main and only ministry leader would not be there during the outreaches due to previously scheduled trips. Some of the local people would be working with us upon our arrival to help get into the lodging facilities, etc.

A few days before our arrival, the local contact person we were to connect with told us that all the plans were set, but he, too, would be out of town during our days in this community. In a nearby Reserve was a large gathering, including a regional pow-wow, rodeo and golf tournament, where everyone was heading.

When we arrived, it was almost like a ghost town with so many people gone to the other Reserve. As we came to our lodging facility, we were met by those in charge of the facilities who said they weren't told of our arrival, and weren't all that happy to see our team. We were told the facilities were not available to us, and by this time in the day, hardly anyone was around in the band's office to help. Thankfully we did find some people who did their best to find people who could be approached about reconsidering opening up the lodging we were told was to be our home. The team immediately went to prayer, and over the next hour or so, we prayed and waited for some indication of what would come of our situation.

Thankfully, we got permission to use the lodge for one night only, and so the team settled in and tried to leave as light a footprint as possible. We were told by some of the band members at the office that not everyone had deserted town, so we decided to set up and do an outreach, not knowing if anyone would show.

It reminded me of a day in the life of Jesus, when He did many miracles, healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law, cast out many demons, and healed many who were sick. No doubt He had gotten little sleep that night, but He still arose early in the morning to go and pray. When the people found Him they encouraged Him to go back to the huge gathering at the house because many more wanted to see Him and hear from Him. His response to them was, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (Luke 4:43)

Instead of going where the crowds were guaranteed, He was sent to the out of the way places, off the beaten path, where perhaps only a few would be found, "because that is why I was sent."

We set up in the community's softball field, and for what seemed like quite a long time it looked like it was only going to be OEW on that field. But after a while, a few young kids came along, and then a few more, and then some adults came by. All told, we had fourteen local people come out that night, but thanks be to God, two older members of this tribe repented of sin and trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior! It made it all worth the effort to see these decisions for Christ!

Since we were only able to do one night, we started working through what our options would be. We had three more days with no firm lodging for a team of over thirty, and even hotel rooms in the region were all full. We were to have a day off after the three day event in this community was over, so we took our day off on the next day, giving us time to prayerfully understand what God was doing to our schedule. Once again, He amazed us with the truth of His Word that the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.

We made a call to one of the area ministry leaders, who happened to be at a facility we would be using later on for our team's Re-entry Retreat (where we equip the warriors for heading home to various challenging situations). They were having a children's camp there, and there were Native Christians from a number of Reserves in the region right there. As the need was shared, several Native leaders from a nearby Reserve went into action, trying to find phone numbers of tribal officials who could give a last minute approval for utilizing facilities for potential one night outreaches. It just so happened that one of the ladies who just arrived at the camp had all the contact numbers with her, and calls were immediately made.

Also, this camp just happened to have availability to house the team for not only the days in question, but for the final scheduled three night outreaches in a nearby Reserve along with our Re-entry Retreat. Hallelujah, our prayers for lodging were answered, and the potential for several one night outreaches were becoming more and more a possibility. The lodging solution was an incredible blessing, so the team could settle into regular beds for a whole week, not have to pack and repack, and move several more times. As resilient as our team is, and they never complain, a month on the road sleeping on air mattresses and sleeping bags in often less than adequate accommodations, can be wearing on body and soul. It was a refreshing gift of God to be settled in for the duration of our trip in one location. Once again, God blessed the faithfulness of this road-weary team who had given so much of themselves to serve the Lord this summer.

We arrived after our day off to the camp around midnight, and still didn't know if the next two nights would be outreach opportunities, or team training and discipleship times. As we joined a local Native church for their worship service that next morning, we got word that the door had opened in the nearby Reserve to do an outreach that evening. The team excitedly prepared for a one night event as the bus rolled down the road towards this "not on the schedule" community. With no advertising or time to pass out flyers door to door, we set up, and over the next few hours an incredible crowd gathered to see what was happening. On a night that wasn't supposed to happen, God used our team to lead fourteen young people to Jesus Christ!

We also got word that permission was granted to use the outdoor parking lot at the community center in another one of the communities on this Reserve for another one night outreach the following day. In an amazing "only God" way, we were able to include two new communities in our Summer of Hope trip. They weren't in our schedule book, but, the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations. Our local leader informed us that this Reserve was the largest Reserve in all of Canada. We had just come from the second largest Reserve in Canada, now we are on the largest, and our final planned outreaches were going to be on the third largest Reserve in Canada. God's plan from the beginning was that this team would go to the three largest Reserves in this country, all in the Summer of Hope 2007!

When the team arrived at the next community, our faith and trust would once again be severely tested. We were told that this community had a history of violence, and within the past two weeks there were several unsolved murders. They were also just finishing up their traditional Sundance ceremonies today. As the team bus pulled up, we were met immediately by a young angry man who had no problem telling the team that we were on his turf, and in a profanity laced tirade, demanded that he be allowed to do his music at our outreach that night. Just before he left, he taunted the team saying we'd never draw a crowd, and all this was stupid what we were trying to do. When the local Christian leaders arrived, we informed them of the threats made and once again the team went to prayer. It reminded me of Nehemiah, when he was rebuilding the broken down walls of the city. It says that he prayed fervently and posted a guard. Thankfully, the local leaders along with other community leaders who had arrived, said they would function as our security and we began our setup.

In what can only be described as a God-ordained event, our crowd swelled to hundreds of people that night, and when the young angry man returned, I'm sure he was shocked to see the huge crowd that had assembled. He was met and turned away by the local leaders and he angrily stormed off the grounds. From that moment on, the holiness of God filled the grounds, and the hope stories of our team rang out throughout the community. That night, twenty-five people began their relationship with Christ, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ was advanced in an incredible way.

As the team loaded the bus for the ride home, the local Native ministry leader asked if he could address the team. He boarded the bus and with tears in his eyes told the team how powerfully God used them in these two communities. He said, "What you guys did in one night would have taken us years to accomplish. Your faithfulness to Christ has given us great momentum to build our efforts for Christ on. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

I'm reminded of the same thing as I think of you, our prayer partners. We couldn't have done it without your faithfulness to pray and intercede. Our team has had a front row seat on the glory, might, and power of God this month, none more so than these past few days. In what could have been three "throw away days," has resulted in almost 50 new inhabitants of heaven, because "the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations."

So now we move on to our final community. Only three more nights of outreach events. Three more nights of seeing the power of the Gospel come into communities so desperately in need of hope.

Craig Smith for OEW Team Canada