USA (MNN) — ‘Safe’ and ‘Seen’–these are two words used over and over by students to describe the atmosphere of the new On Eagles’ Wings (OEW) Leadership Center, dedicated on Saturday, April 20.
The Center sits on 75 acres in North Western Arkansas and provides a nine-month ‘gap’ year program, exclusively for Native young people. The experience equips these young people for a future that makes a difference as a messenger of Hope to Native people.
Tracking the journey to the unveiling of the center is a path that took 30 years to trek. Leadership at Hutchcraft Ministries, the parent ministry of On Eagles’ Wings, noticed a pattern among the Native Youth participating in the OEW movement.
OEW’s mission is to disciple and equip committed Native leaders to be lifetime Jesus-followers, prepared with the skills and strategies needed to be messengers of hope to Indigenous and worldwide communities. The mission was being carried out, but frequently, these young leaders didn’t feel equipped for the next stage of life: adulthood.
The backgrounds of many Native youth didn’t include life skills. Many Native youth working in the On Eagles’ Wings ministry could share their Hope stories but were inexperienced in other avenues of ministry, evangelism, and discipleship. Many didn’t know how to budget their money; others felt unready for college.
They needed a launch pad. Statistics on the reservations for Native young people are grim. Substance abuse, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, and suicide all exist at epidemic rates. It’s so desperate among the First Nation Youth that they are ‘young people with no dreams’, says Ron Hutchcraft, founder of Hutchcraft Ministries. The challenges they face to survive to adulthood are unlike any other people group in North America. They are deep-rooted and endemic.
On Eagles Wings Leadership Center
(Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries)
Add to that the lack of resources among First Nation communities, and not only do people feel isolated and ignored, they feel voiceless. OEW restores that voice as each team member found HOPE through a personal relationship with Jesus. They then share that hope with others as they visit reservations and share their life experiences and new identities in Christ with others.
The student body at the OEW Leadership Center is developing community with others who share their likeness, stories, and background. They are taught how to ‘life’ with others who share their history. The Center is filled with rustic elements that are subtle reminders of that, from the giant stone fireplace in a gathering place to the 50s-styled coffee shop, Suzie Q, named after Hutchcraft’s wife, it’s more than an aesthetic.
Every room has a function in the holistic approach. There’s a studio for the creative arts: music, beading, painting. Students often work on their life maps, artistic reminders of their past, present, and future selves. There’s a gym and regular workout schedules to keep their bodies as healthy as their hearts and minds. Each class helps them build rhythms of life that can be replicated elsewhere…and that’s how hope spreads.
Ron Hutchcraft defines hope this way: “Hope is a defiant confidence beyond what is seen that redemptive change is on the way.” From despair to discipleship, hope has a name, and its name is Jesus.
Header and story images courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries/On Eagles’ Wings.
