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Jim Uttley : Oct 29, 2009  ASSIST News Service

Indian Life newspaper published throughout North America since 1968

(Winnipeg, Manitoba)—On Friday, October 23, 2009, Intertribal Christian Communications, better known as Indian Life Ministries, celebrated their 30th anniversary in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In October 1979, Rev. George McPeek formed a Board of Directors and established a literature publishing ministry in order to continue the production of Indian Life, a Native Christian publication begun in 1968, on a dairy farm outside of Rapid City, South Dakota.

Rainsong, the Grammy-nominated and Native American Music Award winning (NAMMY) Native worship husband and wife duo Terry and Darlene Wildman, whose most recent CD, The Great Story From The Sacred Book won the Best Spoken Word Recording at the 2009 Native American Music Awards in Niagara, Falls, Ontario.

Celebrations were held at the North Kildonan Mennonite Brethren Church in Winnipeg. There was a luncheon at noon and a coffee and dessert at 6:30 pm, October 23.

In 1967, Rev. Ray Gowan, a South Dakota dairy farmer, attended a conference in British Columbia, for those working with North America's Indigenous Peoples. At this conference, Gowan was challenged to begin publishing a publication he could distribute to the thousands of Native Americans residing on reservations in South Dakota, especially those surrounding the Black Hills region, an area considered sacred to Native Americans.

Gowan returned home, bought a small offset press, taught himself to run it, and then began putting out a small two-sided sheet he called Indian Life. Within a couple years, he was printing and distributing close to 100,000 copies of this little newspaper throughout Indian Country.

In 1979, when Gowan was approaching retirement age, he was looking for someone to take over the editing and the distribution of Indian Life. Around that time, he heard of a young writer and teacher by the name of George McPeek who had taught for several years in remote areas such as Churchhill, and Gillam, Manitoba. At the time, McPeek was on an educational leave from another small publication he edited, known as The Indian Christian in Cass Lake, Minnesota. While a graduate student at Wheaton College, McPeek heard of the need for someone to take over Indian Life, the publication published by Gowan's American Ministries International.

In the summer of 1979, after completing his studies for a Masters Degree in Communications, McPeek returned to Manitoba with his Native wife, Bessie, and their three sons, and began to organize the organization Intertribal Christian Communications. ICC was incorporated in October 1979 and the first issue of Indian Life was produced in Winnipeg in January 1980. This time, Indian Life came out as a magazine.

McPeek continued to single-handedly edit Indian Life until 1988 when Jim Uttley, a former missionary editor/writer to Haiti, came to be his Assistant Editor. For four years, McPeek and Uttley, along with Native artist Don Monkman, Cree, put together the 24-page bi-monthly magazine. Uttley took over as editor in 1990 and served until 1992 but returned in 1995 after an assignment in Florida, and continues to serve as editor along with a small, dedicated staff at ILM.

During that time, ILM published a few books, the first one being The Grieving Indian by Arthur H., the story of a recovering alcoholic who went on to be a role model for thousands of Aboriginal people battling alcoholism and the sad effects of that addiction on Native communities across North America. The Grieving Indian went on to become a bestseller, selling almost 100,000 copies to date.

Since that time, Indian Life Ministries, as it's now known, has published 12 titles including reprinting the work of bestselling author, Crying Wind, and her classic books Crying Wind and My Searching Heart. She has written two other volumes including When the Stars Danced and Thunder in Our Hearts, Lightning in Our Veins. These books are all available from Indian Life. Check the contact info below.

Last week, Indian Life Ministries honored those who founded the ministry—the late Rev. Ray Gowan, Chuck Fiero (founder of The Indian Christian which merged with Indian Life in 1979), and George McPeek.

For more information go online at www.indianlife.org

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