On Eagles Wings - Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

Update from Ron Hutchcraft with Team U.S.

It was a promise that was about to become a prophecy.  Little could our team know the battle they were about to face on our final night at the "Black Rock" Reservation.  Team U.S. had only two nights on this fourth reservation - so we were trusting God for an accelerated work.

The promise James (Lakota Sioux), a team leader, shared that second and final night includes these words: "I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26).  About three hours later, souls would depend on God keeping that promise.

Earlier in the day, the team was given the opportunity to put on a program for the many tribal youth in the summer work program.  Plus, two of our seasoned rescuers had followed a Spirit-prompting to try and visit the tribal jail.  One gave his street-level Hope Story, the other the Gospel.  Three of the eight inmates gave their hearts to Christ!

But as we prepared for the final outreach, several of our warriors felt an "oppressive spirit."  "Jason," whose strongly traditional father had so dramatically come to Christ on our last reservation, was a prime target.  He was scheduled to share his Hope Story - and that afternoon he got hit with some issues that pushed some old buttons.  A fellow warrior challenged him to "throw this right back in Satan's face tonight."  He did - with a knockout Hope Story.

The night before, there had been an uncharacteristic restlessness among the Black Rock young people.  Carrie (Hopi) faced that challenge head-on as she stepped up to give her Hope Story for the first time.  She's our youngest - and possibly quietest - team member.  She came to the bus three times before her Hope Story to reread the promise she was hanging onto:  "Do not worry about what to say or how to say it.  At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you"  (Matthew 10:19, 20).

Facing restless listeners, she shocked us all by saying, "I'd like to ask you all to be quiet and listen to me."  There was sudden and complete silence.  With quiet authority, she glorified her Savior with her story of how He had rescued her from a life of sadness, drugs and nearly deadly depression.  But the restlessness she encountered on Night One was a hint of the Gospel-hardened hearts of Night Two.  In retrospect, we should have foreseen the battle from the closed doors on the two Gospel churches on this reservation.

That "oppressive spirit" even seemed to affect our basketball team physically.  Strangely, they were barely even able to move during our challenge game with Black Rock's local stars.  In the one-on-one conversations that are the heart of the OEW harvest, the team was finding unusually hard hearts. The children were running all over, screaming.  The "big boys" - the star basketball players who are the leaders on every rez - were laughing and very distracted.  The smell of marijuana drifted across the court as one young man was so bold that he was smoking it openly.

But these amazing spiritual warriors refuse to retreat.  Carrie (Hopi) and "Brianna" (Nez Perce), two first-year team members, quickly grabbed some of our rescue tools for children and led the disruptive children to another area.  Another team member managed to engage the pot-smoking guy and to "take a walk" with him.  And "Brad" (Nez Perce) tackled that oppressive spirit head-on with his most powerful Gospel presentation of the summer.

Then, in a moment, the whole spirit changed.  Suddenly, there was a holy hush across the crowd.  Unruly children, who had been on the nearby playground, unexplainably started streaming toward the court as if a magnet was pulling them.  None of the crowdbreakers or sports or music had gotten their attention all night.  But now they were coming over to hear the Gospel!

What was going on when the tide of battle suddenly shifted?  Brad was explaining how much Jesus loves us, as shown by how He died on the cross for us.  It was, in fact, the preaching of the cross that turned the tide!  And again the promise Jesus made about His cross was fulfilled on a reservation basketball court:  "I, when I am lifted up ... will draw all men to Myself" (John 12:32).

Brad talked about how his cousins had looked to him and he'd led them down the wrong road.  He challenged the big boys who had prayed with him to begin a relationship with Jesus to step out now and take a stand for him.  And they came.  The hardest of the hard hearts.  These are the guys all the other young people follow.  One team leader said, "It was hard to find anyone there who did not come forward!"

It was a sweeping victory of the Holy Spirit.  In the thick of the counseling huddles, there was Jason with six of the star basketball players of the reservation, including probably the most influential young man here.  He was, indeed, "throwing back in Satan's face" his attacks of earlier in the day.

There's not been any ongoing youth ministry on this reservation.  That may be about to change - as of this breakthrough.  Using the tools we provide, a team of local believers is ready to capture this momentum and use it to launch a youth ministry here.  It's been that way on every reservation where this On Eagles' Wings team has been this summer.  Everywhere ... a trail of hope.  Everywhere ... a miracle only just beginning.

It had been a hard-fought - but dramatic - victory.  At our team debriefing, "shouts of joy and victory resound(ed) in the tents of the righteous: the Lord's right hand has done mighty things!" (Psalm 118:15).  It's clear that there was a pitched battle in the heavenlies over a reservation basketball court last night. 

The darkness really wanted to hang onto the souls of the young people here.  And he nearly succeeded.  Except for the power of the cross.  And, I believe, the victory was won by your prayers.  I cannot say it strongly enough.  We believe your prayers are decisive in battle after battle.  This awesome breakthrough at Black Rock is your victory, too.

God kept His promise.  The hearts of stone were, in a moment, replaced with hearts of flesh.  James, a team leader, summed it up well:  "Nothing we could do was working.  And God just decided to show everybody how big He is!"