"Summer of Hope 2012" Kicks Off with 143 Native Warriors Born into God's Family

Ron Hutchcraft : Jul 13, 2012
On Eagles' Wings/Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

"Never in 20 years of camps and conferences for Native American young people have I felt the resurrection power of Jesus be more palpable, more amazing. The power that blew away death on Easter morning has swept through an historic gathering of young Native Americans—and the Resurrection moves to the reservation—through these transformed lives."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Each summer On Eagles' Wings (OEW)—a Ron Hutchcraft ministry to First Nations people—begins their "Summer of Hope" outreach with a training and equipping time known as the Warrior Leadership Summit. Then those OEW leaders are joined with teams that bring the light and deliverance of Jesus Christ to Native reservations in both America and Canada. It's exciting to see the great outpouring of God's awesome Holy Spirit on this year's meeting. Please join me in keeping these teams of God's warriors in prayer as they venture into some of the darkest spiritual battlegrounds, dressed in the Armor of God, brandishing the Sword of the Spirit; carrying the Gospel in the Resurrection Power of Jesus. Hallelujah! –Aimee Herd, BCN.

Months ago, God led us to a theme for this year's conference—"Dunamis-Power Unleashed!" "Dunamis" is the Greek word for "power"—and it's used 117 times in the New Testament. And it was more than a conference theme—God chose to unleash His "dynamite" power in amazing ways.

Over 50 Native Alaskan young people from ten different Eskimo villages traveled two weeks and 5,000 miles to be there—many had never been out of Alaska. Nearly half of them indicated they began a relationship with Jesus at WLS!

There were direct confrontations with our spiritual enemy. One of those was a young woman who responded to the Night Two invitation to come to Christ and had to be carried out of the counseling room by emergency medical personnel. Just as she was ready to pray to give herself to Jesus, she collapsed in a seizure. Later, some Native leaders prayed with her, confronting the demonic forces who had held her captive for so long. On our final night, many WLSers streamed to the microphone to offer this testimony in prayer: "Thank You, Jesus, for the power to..." And there was that young woman! "Thank You, Jesus, for the power to give my life to You!" You had to know the battle that had raged for her soul to fully appreciate what a breakthrough that was. It was just one of the open spiritual battles won by Jesus at WLS!

The session on "The Power to Get Love Right," presented what so few Native young people have ever heard—God's desire for us to have love without scars and regrets. And God's truth about the counterfeits of pornography, sex outside marriage and sex with the same sex (growing exponentially on reservations). God's "dunamis" brought hundreds of WLS warriors to leave the "wrong loves" and commit themselves to a new beginning of purity.

Amazing healing was unleashed when a speaker addressed the source of so much depression, suicide and life-wrecking choices—hurt and abuse and sin that have been locked in the dark closets of their soul. Lots of tears, lots of intense counseling, lots of deliverance, lots of breakthrough—and then so many faces that said, "I'm finally free!"

And the long, long line of precious Native young people, lining up to testify in a prayer to their "thank you, Jesus, for the power to..." "Break free of my addiction to meth." "Leave my traditional religion." One after another, declarations of the power of Jesus unleashed! And then, one voice shouting, "Power unleashed"...with more voices joining in...until it became a heart cry across the auditorium.

Never in 20 years of camps and conferences for Native American young people have I felt the resurrection power of Jesus be more palpable, more amazing. The power that blew away death on Easter morning has swept through an historic gathering of young Native Americans—and the Resurrection moves to the reservation—through these transformed lives.

The power was unleashed before the first young person ever arrived at WLS—as you prayed for these young people who come from some of the most hope-starved places on the continent. Thank you for your decisive part in this incredible launch to the Summer of Hope. What your prayer will mean in the weeks ahead now means more than any words can possibly convey.

Space launches begin with the massive force of a ball of fire that lifts a rocket to the heavens. Warrior Leadership Summit has been the "ball of fire" to now launch an "On Eagles' Wings" team into what may be the most challenging reservation rescue mission of all these 20 years. They will need—and they will have—the dunamis power of the risen Christ to overcome the deep darkness that rules the places they will go and the lives they will touch.

I can't wait to begin to tell you their story as we head out for this battlefield summer in the power of our death-beating Savior!