USA (MNN) — Like flower seeds in the created world, Gospel seeds can blossom into generational growth.
For example, “We have some beautiful flowers in our front yard. Karen’s grandmother first planted those about 100 years ago. They moved to this state because of the Dust Bowl; she dug them up, brought them with her, [and] replanted them,” Ron Hutchcraft of Hutchcraft Ministries says.
“Grandma’s been gone a long time. But the seeds she planted are still beautifying our life.”
(Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries)
The hope of Christ shining through young Native believers is changing lives this summer. Graduates from the On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center are among the ambassadors for Christ on this outreach, bringing His hope to a darkened landscape.
Hutchcraft hopes their efforts will catalyze Gospel growth that will bless generations – just like grandma’s flowers. “Isn’t that what we hope for our lives? That somehow, there will be some beauty and fragrance left behind from the seeds we sow,” Hutchcraft says.
Using another analogy, Hutchcraft compares the hoped-for movement to a scene from the film version of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: “One of the characters in the movie climbs to the top of this high tower and lights a beacon. The guy at the next mountaintop is waiting for that signal, and he lights a fire there,” he begins.
“You may remember the dramatic scene: sweeping panoramic light over those mountains, with the fires being lit and burning, representing the beginning of the end of the Dark Reign,” Hutchcraft says.
“That’s what I would ask people to pray for: that the beacon can be lit here that will spread the flame of Christ’s hope across all of Native America and [the] First Nations in Canada.”
On Eagles’ Wings, a division of Hutchcraft Ministries, equips Native believers to share their hope stories on U.S. reservations during the Summer of Hope outreach. More about that here.
“Hope is just a word on the reservation and hardly even a word,” Hutchcraft says. “We can’t change the awful past, but together, I think we can change the future.”
The Summer of Hope is nearing completion, but God isn’t done rescuing desperate people. Read the latest updates here. Ask Jesus to give local disciple-makers His strength and new zeal so the Summer of Hope can become an ongoing movement.
Header image depicts a field of wildflowers. Photo courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels.
