On Eagles Wings - Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

A Life of Faithfulness

Sometimes it’s hard to put into words what is happening here at WLS because WLS is multifaceted. There are all kinds of things happening, sometimes simultaneously. One of the things we do is bring in some of the Native Christian leaders from the ministry world and the secular world. These are all Native Christian men and women who have walked with God and have learned lessons in their life and they help teach workshops called Battle Councils for our youth. Some of them are very serious, and some are a little more lighthearted.

One of our battle councils is called Eharmony.rez, instead of Eharmony.com. It is dealing with dating and how you develop God-honoring dating relationships. That place was jam-packed with Native youth learning godly principles on how to have God-honoring dating relationships. We’re trying to cover and address the practical everyday living issues for Native youth back home on the reservations. We deal with issues a Christian will face in the Native culture. Every nation who comes to Christ has to wrestle through issues and we talk about that for a more serious session. The purpose of the Battle Councils is to help equip these Native young people to live victoriously for Christ.

WLS is not just about the teaching, WLS is also about fun. It’s a youth conference so we have all kinds of sports events. We have different sports competitions in basketball, volleyball, and softball, and the youth can be a part of all kinds of different activities.

One of the most exciting things and a highlight every year at WLS, at least for me, is a very special session with a group of honored people in our culture—our elders. Every year at WLS, we bring in a wonderful group of godly Native men and women who have reached the sunset years of their life. Many of them came to Christ as teenagers, just like some of the youth here, and they are now nearing the end of their life. They have lived a life of faithfulness. How did they get in their generation from that point to where they’re at today, living a faithful, God-honoring life? They did it through obedience to God’s Word and hard work. Some of them have faced great trials and persecution in their life, but they’ve stayed faithful to God all the way through. We got to hear from them in a stand-alone workshop called Elders Council. I’ll tell you what, it was one of the most powerful presentations from our elders that we’ve heard in all the years we’ve been doing this, and it ended on such a powerful note.

One of the great Native leaders, Dr. Julian Gun, wrapped it up as he shared with the youth from his own journey as a young man. He was put in detention centers in California and he said, “They didn’t know what to do with me.” He said, “What the state of California couldn’t do in years of trying to rehab me - when I came to Jesus Christ at an old altar of prayer, Jesus took care of in one breath.” I’ll tell you, the place erupted in rousing applause and it was so exciting to hear how these elders who walked with God for a lifetime started their journey very similar to the young people in the seats here at WLS.

My heart is full when I come to you and I’m so grateful for our elders. Tomorrow morning we will be honoring our elders as we do every year. We will give these elders what we call The Elder Awards, so we’re looking ahead and anticipating that. We give them beautiful awards thanking them for a lifetime of faithfulness and for modeling the life of Christ to this generation. I’m anxious to share with you how all that goes. Stay tuned and stay with us, and we’ll give you another update as soon as we can on what God’s doing here at WLS 2008.