On Eagles Wings - Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

"This is what hope looks like!"

Those were the only words I could find to describe that golden moment in the last hour of Warrior Leadership Summit 2009.

Over 600 Native young people – from 70 different tribes – were passionately worshipping the Savior who had shown Himself so powerfully here. The intensity of their praise brought tears to my eyes. I know the hard places they come from. I know the grief and despair that’s part of their everyday lives. But I have seen what Christ can do in their lives. So as they fervently sang, “The Lord our God is mighty to save,” I lost it.

The passion of these Native young people was born of the mighty ways God showed up. But the story of the victories at the Summit can only be understood in the context of the embattled months leading up to it. And can only be explained as an answer to your prayer.

These last months have been some of the hardest we’ve had in Native ministry. We lost Ricky (Cherokee), one of our best and brightest young leaders – and an organizer of this Summer of Hope – to a brain tumor a few weeks ago. His death inflicted a heavy emotional hit on all of us who loved him, including our strongest young leaders. Two On Eagles’ Wings team members had agreed to come to our Headquarters to pick up Ricky’s unfinished work. One changed plans; the other came but returned home after three days. That left Tammy* (Navajo) and our Director of Native Ministry, Brad Hutchcraft, to carry an almost overwhelming load.

And the battle to build this summer’s On Eagles’ Wings team was one of the hardest in many years. So many warriors God has used in the past told us they weren’t coming this year, some because of responsibilities, others because of distractions. The net result: we entered Warrior Leadership Summit with just over half of the warriors needed for this summer’s rescue commitments. We usually add a few Team members at the Summit, but this big a deficit left a need that only the Lord of the harvest could overcome.

The stage was set for victories that had to be God or they weren’t to be. So here comes a little written “highlight film” of God being “mighty to save” at Warrior Leadership Summit.

The Impact

Amazingly, out of our weakness came the largest Summit ever, touching more Native lives from more tribes than ever before. The attendance was up some 20% from our previous high last year!

The Rescues

On the second night, when I presented how the Warrior of all warriors won the greatest battle of all time on the Cross, I gave a public invitation. The response was immediate as Native young people from all over the auditorium streamed to the Cross to declare the giving of their lives to Jesus. The counseling room was full of God’s presence as the young warriors of On Eagles’ Wings led their first people to Christ of this Summer of Hope to Native America. Their excitement and the emotion of reservation leaders who were watching the breakthroughs they had agonized for was something to watch. By the end of the Summit, at least one out of six young people there had come to Christ!

The Depth

Our theme was “The Warrior Way” – an appropriate one for a people whose history is filled with courageous warrior heroes. The central message: a warrior is a hero because he will do the hard things, the costly things no one else will do. That’s the challenge for young people who come from environments where many of us would not be able to stand. Biblical warriors like Joshua, David, Noah, Esther and Peter showed us how to walk the Warrior Way for a Savior who gave Himself for the hardest thing any man has ever done. This was no discount Christianity to which these young people were committing themselves – as evidenced by the night they openly repented of the junk in their lives, confessing them aloud in the presence of their leader or their friends.

The Surrenders

When the call was given for those who would surrender it all for the cause of Christ, Native young men and women stood throughout the audience. They had heard the price. They’ve declared they’re willing to pay it.

The Wall

When we gave our Summit attenders the opportunity to represent their hurt on a large “Wall of Hurt,” the wall was mobbed. It would have broken your heart (as it did mine) to see those words and pictures, full of the death, the abuse, the addictions, and lives lost to suicide. On another night, that wall became the Wall of “Lie-dentities.” Those are the lies Native young people believe about who they are. I asked them to put on name tags that identified them as “The Victim,” “The Sinner,” and “The Junk.” It is believing those lies about where their identity lies that has led to a generation throwing away their precious lives. At response time, virtually every young person there came up to the wall to leave those name tags – and those lies – on the Wall of Hurt. Then, as they worshipped Christ in song, that whole ugly wall was carried on stage and disappeared behind the Cross – the place where Jesus beat all the hurt and all the lies.

The Bridge

What a historic night it was when God built a bridge from the indigenous believers of North America to their Indian brothers and sisters in South America! God has amazingly birthed a partnership with one of the outstanding Christian leaders of the largest Indian tribe in the world – who spoke (through a translator) one night. He told of the high price his family has paid for their allegiance to Christ – and moved many there to a commitment of total abandonment to His cause.

The Warrior Miracle

During the five days at the Summit, God nearly doubled the number of warriors for this summer’s On Eagles’ Wings team – with no compromise in the quality of those who were accepted. I’ve just met with them to train them for the rescues of this summer, and I’m praising God for the team He’s raised up.

The tribute to Ricky that we presented at the end of one meeting highlighted his broken heart for his people and his passion for Christ. And his dying prayer that God would use his homegoing to raise up many others to take his place seemed to be answered at Warrior Leadership Summit. A young man who grew to be a leader for Christ as he served with On Eagles’ Wings was speaking to his generation, even after his death.

Yes, the Lord our God really is “mighty to save.” We’re counting on that as the On Eagles’ Wings team of His young warriors heads to some reservations that are unusually challenging. And we’re counting on the “air cover” of your prayer. If ever your prayer has been decisive, it will be in these weeks ahead. We’re expecting victory – but not at a discount price. But “the Lord your God is with you like a mighty warrior” (Jeremiah 20:11)!

*Names Changed for Privacy