On Eagles Wings - Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

Greetings from the far northern reaches of western Canada where, at this time of year the sun doesn’t stay down for very long! Much has happened since our first prayer and praise report. God has been gracious to us and we’ve sure felt the sustaining power of our praying friends around the world. Thank you for being with us in the journey!

We had a wonderful finish in our first community, which was surrounded by three other Native Reserves. The youth were bussed in from some of the outlying communities, and the crowds grew night after night, culminating in almost 300 people at our final outreach event. I was thrilled with how both the veterans and first time team members fulfilled their roles and responsibilities as if they were well seasoned in the On Eagles’ Wings way of reaching Native youth.

“It breaks my heart. He’s only eight years old.”

OEW Team U. S. just finished an amazing three days on our second reservation of this Summer of Hope. One of our warriors was helping the eight-year-old fill out a response card when the boy said, “I can’t do that.” When he was asked to explain, he said, “I can’t do what you’re asking us to do.” Our warrior finally figured out what he meant – “Is this about Jesus?” The boy’s answer spoke volumes: “I can’t. I’m traditional.”

That hurts. Night after night, our OEW warriors pray and fight to break through to hearts more hardened to Jesus than we’ve ever encountered. Now it’s becoming clear that if you grow up on the reservations of this area, you know from your

earliest years that you must never think about Jesus. For centuries, whole generations have been lost to a five-word lie about Jesus – “I can’t. I’m traditional.’”

Wow, you should have seen the relief on the faces of our team as we disembarked off the bus in the parking lot of the high school in the first community in our Summer of Hope Canada 2007. We had been traveling six long days just to get here, crossing interstate highways, back roads, and even a ferry boat ride over the swift currents of a mighty river. All the way, God protected us as we traveled almost 2,500 miles from where we launched from our incredibly successful Warrior Leadership Summit. By the time we landed here, our rookies were now true veterans, and a sense of great anticipation filled the team.

A grueling travel schedule was not the only challenge our team faced as we made our way to northern Canada. En route, we received word of a suicide that had happened in one of the communities we're scheduled to visit. The hearts of our team members broke, and we grieved for the loss of yet another Native youth who didn't know there's hope, and that hope was on its way.

"This team is amazing!"

Joe (Dakota Sioux) is a leader on Team U.S. - and he's right! Your prayers have helped build one of the strongest On Eagles' Wings teams in a long time. They are Navajos and they are Eskimos; they are Nez Perce from Oregon and Seneca from New York; they are Hopis and Apaches from the desert and Lakota Sioux from the plains. And they are rescuers!

We've praised God as we've watched them reach out to virtually every young person at our events. And, man, have they been tested on this first reservation of the U.S. Summer of Hope. We have returned for a full month among a family of nations where last summer the OEW warriors fought some of the most intense battles for hearts we've ever been in.