Even though Native American Ministries (NAM) has not yet hung up its hat for 2011, this is a good time of the year to celebrate its accomplishments and express gratitude to the Lord for all that he has enabled this ministry to do. It was not the biggest construction project that NAM has undertaken, but placing a new steeple on the church at Lower Brule (Lower Brule Sioux Reservation) was the most meaningful. With the help of a lot of hardworking and generous people, NAM was instrumental in tearing down and then building a new church in this community in 2007. Nearly four years later, an old friend, Richard, built an enlarged replica of the old steeple, which we placed on the new building last July. Along with that project we coordinated remodeling work on a church on the Standing Rock Reservation (Diane and I were pastors of both this church and the one at Lower Brule.), refurbished the parsonage at Mission on the Rosebud Res., and provided for small projects in many Indian homes.
As always, NAM provided an extraordinary number of ministry opportunities. I do not have space here to reference all of them. A church group from Pennsylvania kicked off the year with a trip to a new church plant on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, which is officiated by an old friend of mine named Bill Lee. Bill is a full-blooded Navajo and clearly understand the needs of his people. He needs a lot of help in getting his new work off of the ground. Besides all of the vacation Bible schools that NAM coordinated (Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wisconsin), two projects stand out above the rest, though, equal in importance. They are the Day in the Park events at Mission and Lower Brule. At Mission, approximately 1,000 Indians attended the event and this in a very traditional community. At Lower Brule, the pastor, Randy Jenson, also invited residents of the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, which is located just across the Missouri River. Close to 800 people from both communities attended Lower Brule’s Day in the Park.
As of this date, NAM is busier than ever gathering and preparing to distribute Christmas boxes and winter clothing through our Birthday Party for Jesus program. Along with this activity, we are receiving more requests than ever before from churches all across America that want to go to the reservation in 2012. It looks like 2012 will be a very productive year for reaching Native Americans with the gospel. We thank all of you that were instrumental in helping Native American Ministries accomplish so much in 2011. May the Lord receive all of the glory and praise.