"An Historic Awakening" is Sweeping across Native American Lands-The way God is Restoring Broken People is...

Teresa Neumann : Aug 1, 2014
Irene A. Harkleroad – Baptist Press

"To see the way God is moving is unbelievable. I have truly realized that God takes broken people, restores them and uses them. Then He puts them all together and makes them a family and they serve Him. This is the ultimate story of mercy and redemption." -Eric Gibbs

(Sacaton, AZ)—Eric Gibbs, pastor of First Pima Baptist Church, the oldest Native American Southern Baptist church in Arizona, is reporting that "there is an awakening across Native American land." (Photo via Baptist Press)

"It's like God has been preparing for the harvest and it's here," he said. "We've baptized 20 people since October 2013. In the previous two-and-a-half years we baptized five or six."

When the Gibbs family—who, along with a biological son and daughter, have adopted a child from Africa and also two Native American children—first moved to Arizona, they joined a mission team in Hickiwan village on the Tohono O'odham Nation land. Their focus there was working with teens.

"Life as a teenager on the reservation is borderline impossible," said Gibbs. "Everything they know is broken—marriages, families, individuals. They live in a society of gang violence, teen suicide, alcoholism, drug use and teen pregnancy. Arrests and prison are like rites of passage. Teens exist day-to-day without hope. We offer them eternal hope and acceptance in Jesus."

According to a report in Baptist Press, since their arrival, the Gibbs' and their team have planted churches in Kohatk and Chuichu villages.

"To see the way God is moving is unbelievable," said Gibbs. "I have truly realized that God takes broken people, restores them and uses them. Then He puts them all together and makes them a family and they serve Him. This is the ultimate story of mercy and redemption."