On Eagles Wings - Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

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."

The Summer of Hope 2010 On Eagles' Wings Native American team has been impacting many lives this summer.

The spiritual breakthroughs on reservation after reservation have been simply amazing! Hundreds of Native young people have been making commitments to Christ over these past four weeks.

Forty-nine (49) young Native warriors have visited multiple reservations throughout the month of July. Directed by the father-son leadership team of Ron and Brad Hutchcraft, this "Summer of Hope" has seen many amazing breakthroughs for the Gospel in some very difficult environments.

Here is a quick look at the Native communities the OEW team has been to this past month: