USA (MNN) — A spiritual breakthrough is taking place on reservations throughout the United States.
Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says nearly 600 Native American youth began a relationship with Christ last month.
"A wall has been broken; the Spirit of God has broken through," says Hutchcraft. "And isn't it awesome that He has done it through these very broken Native American young people?
"They were the drug addicted, they were the drug dealers, they were the alcoholics," he continues, "they are the sexually abused, they are the rape victims. But they come with a story of hope about our Jesus. That is what has captured Native hearts on 10 reservations this summer.
"It has been almost like a Book of Acts thing to behold."
The 2013 Summer of Hope outreach began July 1. On Eagles' Wings teams traveled around the country to share the hope of Christ with their peers. By clicking on each of the following links, you can read about the team's journey to the Roaring River Reservation and Deepcreek Reservation.
For Hutchcraft, the impact is difficult to describe with mere words.
"Let's put it this way: 25 days, the team traveled 2,700 miles [to] 10 different reservations…53 Native warriors from 30 tribes led 23 powerful reservation outreaches," he says. "593 Native American young people began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
"Nearly 600 [made] commitments to Christ among Native Americans. That's a miracle," Hutchcraft adds. "And let's make it clear: God alone gets all the glory. God alone could be the only one who gets the glory."
Many of the reservations OEW visited were not only places of death and destruction. They were a stomping ground for spiritual darkness.
"Any time there is a major spiritual event on a reservation, there is a great deal of summoning of the spirit world through the drums and the ceremonies," Hutchcraft explains.
"Of course, what people don't realize is that if you don't go through Jesus, the spirits that are being summoned are from the other side of the spirit world. Consequently, their sense of ownership of people and lives and geography is enhanced at those times of the year."
For example, OEW teams arrived at Wind Canon Reservation right before their biggest pow-wow of the year. One of the young men who came to play basketball against the OEW team ended up accepting Christ as Savior during their stay.
"He's dead today," Hutchcraft says. "He was shot to death two days ago."
The uncertainty of reservation life is why Hutchcraft asks God to keep young people alive until the Summer of Hope can arrive.
"In this case, that's exactly what happened," he says. "Who could've guessed that within a couple of weeks of us coming back (from Summer of Hope) that he would be in eternity?"
Pray that others who came to know Christ will keep growing in their knowledge of Him.
"Prayer is at least as important now as it was during the actual battles," says Hutchcraft.
Click here to read all the reports from this year's Summer of Hope.
