On Eagles Wings - Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

"Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ." 2 Corinthians 2:14

That victory parade of Jesus marched through nine Indian reservations this summer, bringing hope to hundreds of Native American young people. Because you prayed, because you gave, you marched with Him and with us on this important life-saving mission. We're deeply grateful.

Here's a small part of what happened in just 32 amazing days.

It was a first in all my years with On Eagles' Wings - an outreach where almost no one came.

We hit a wall when we got to the Gospel-resistant Bandera Reservation, our final battlefield in the Summer of Hope 2010. Unlike all the other reservations we've gone to this summer, Bandera is in the heart of a major city. Tackling a Native population that's diffused through an urban patchwork is much more challenging geographically than the concentrated population of a reservation. The challenge was intensified by the fact that we had divided our team into two teams to reach two nearby reservations in these final days.

Our host was once a gang leader on the tough streets of Bandera - until Jesus captured his heart and called him to pastor a small church plant in his old neighborhood. For years, he says he's been "fighting for the lives of my tribe." The victories have been hard to come by. Every time he's tried to get a place for anything Christian, he ends up getting a runaround that ultimately sinks the project.

We had been committed to going to the Many Shells reservation, and we were excited to get back there with the team after having visited there two years ago. However, we had been praying that a neighboring reservation would also open up so we could split the team once again and cover twice as much ground. After much prayer and challenging efforts, we were able to have the team on both reservations to wrap up the 2010 Summer of Hope tour.

As half of the team set up at Many Shells, the challenges became clear. One hour before the event, there were no basketball hoops. One of two speakers was broken. This was a location far from a population center. Team members were stepping into brand new roles. The stage was set for God to work in exciting ways!

The portable hoops rolled in, but unassembled. If you've ever tried to put one of those together in less than an hour – with only a screwdriver – you know it is near impossible. Our team got to it and had our sports going in time.

We were on our way to do our usual door-to-door canvassing on our first day on the rez. We had to turn back. Because of the shooting.

The Buffalo Creek Reservation has a reputation for being hardcore and violent. On Eagles' Wings' first day at Buffalo Creek validated their reputation. One major neighborhood was blockaded by police because of a police/suspect shootout in progress. Ultimately, the police wounded the assailant and arrested him.

Each of our three nights here, the tribal police came and arrested someone during our outreach. Gang members were much in evidence at our events. And on Night Two, a family member of an officer involved in the previous day's shootout confided that the family of the arrested man were vowing revenge on the families of the police. Plus, we were informed by some of the locals that Buffalo Creek is also a community targeted by certain drug gangs who have a deliberate plan to capture Native Americans who they see as "addiction-prone."