By Karen Willoughby, Managing Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Louisiana Baptist Message talked with three of the 42 Louisiana churches that participated in the simultaneous Native American revivals last fall. (See page one article for the rest of the story.)
TICKFAW – The night before Pastor Michael Baham received an email from his director of missions that forwarded Randy Carruth’s request for churches to get involved in Native American ministry, Baham heard at the tail end of a sermon that the American church had neglected Native Americans.
God got his attention with the juxtaposition of those two bits of information, Baham said.
“As a result of our experiences in Nebraska with Ron Goombi and with Sandstone Community Church in the war zone on the streets of Albuquerque, N.M., our people who have been along on those trips have gained an awareness and a passion for reaching people outside our own context, reaching the homeless and hurting and broken of our community, and especially with Native Americans,” Baham said.
On its first mission trip, to Albuquerque in October 2009, Woodhaven Baptist Church in Tickfaw collected and brought a load of winter clothing, which was distributed along with hot meals to homeless people.
In the evenings, revival services took place at Sandstone.
A month later, a team from Woodhaven Tickfaw went to Macy, Neb., near Omaha, to do minor construction projects at a Native American church, where at night they led in Bible study and worship. One day they had a basketball tournament and testimony time.
“We fed over 100 kids at that event,” Baham said.
This May Woodhaven Tickfaw participated in a Native American church building project in Bristow, Okla. (See article on page 13.) “We’re scheduled to go back to Bristow and help lead revival services in the fall,” Baham said.
About 80 people participate in Sunday morning worship at Woodhaven Tickfaw.
“We’ve seen in our people a noticeable difference in their giving, and more than that, a willingness for more people to put their feet to missions work,” Baham said.
SULPHUR
SULPHUR – First Baptist Church is in the midst of raising $13,000 for a basketball court in Nobidiskush, north of Gallup, a Navajo Nation town known in English as Dalton Pass.
“We’ve gone in to building bridges and relationships with the church and the community,” said David Holder, pastor of First Baptist Sulphur. “We wanted to find favor with those who make decisions.
“We noticed a need as we prayerwalked,” the pastor continued. “There was no recreation area, but we saw basketball goals at some houses. What if we partnered with the tribal council and got a basketball court set up? … Our home is to do an Upward Basketball Clinic as another gift to the community.”
First Sulphur responded to the request to partner with Native American churches because “We had been praying for new missions opportunities,” Holder said. “Our church needed a new challenge that would infect the church with a missions spirit; this seemed a good opportunity to do something.”
They participated in the simultaneous revivals looking for the potential for future projects, and found it in Nobidiskush, the pastor said.
The New Mexico area director of missions had been meeting with a group Sunday nights in a building owned by independent Baptists.
“There’s a lot of potential there,” Holder said. “Two of our ladies have gone back on their own to teach 40 Days of Purpose.” That’s a ministry continuing via Skype on the internet. “A lot of our people made good friends with some of the people there. … We’re thinking longterm relationships and helping the congregation there get established, and helping the whole community. It’s a very practical ministry that’s reaping rewards.
“It has brought us [as the First Sulphur church family] together around missions,” the pastor continued. “People have been able to see the need of others in other cultures. In a real sense it’s another country. … Our ladies have been able to mentor other [Native American]ladies, who started bringing their friends to church.”
First Sulphur’s goal is to “work ourselves out of a job,” Holder said. An unanticipated benefit: “Some of the youth have really gotten a taste for missions, and through this perhaps God is speaking to them about becoming career missionaries.”
ELMER
ELMER – Six years ago, New Hope Baptist Church helped build Pine Hill Baptist Church in Cuba, N.M., but the two churches lost contact when over time both churches changed pastors.
New Hope was therefore eager to re-engage the Pine Hill congregation last October. “We held six services revival-style, and had just a phenomenal worship experience with the Native Americans,” said Pastor Brian Johnson, who works bivocationally as a pipeliner. He and the Pine Hill pastor, Wesley Castillo, began talking frequently on the telephone.
“He felt led by the Spirit to come over here,” Johnson said. “They were inspired that we had gone there, and decided there was no reason they couldn’t do some of the same type of mission work. He said, ‘I’d like to come and hold a revival.’ We prayed about it and both of us felt that it would be a great experience.”
The Pine Hill group of at least 15 people – all of whom raised their own support for the trip – arrived May 31.
“It was just a great experience,” Johnson said. “One of the greatest things in my opinion was that each person who came gave their testimony, including the five teenagers, and some had never given a testimony prior to that. They just told what the Lord had done for them, and I think it showed our people – and visiting churches came throughout the week – it showed them we all are able to give our testimonies.”
About 100 people participate in Sunday morning worship at New Hope Elmer.
“Our church has always been very very mission minded, and opeing to helping anybody they’re capable of,” Johnson said. “We’ve helped churches in Oklahoma, New Mexico, the Philippines, Haiti, but I think one of the great things [Pine Hills mission trip here] did for us was that they really got to see some of the fruits of their own labor.
“They saw how this church they helped to build six years ago, being planted in that area, how it helped these people who gave their testimonies,” the pastor continued. “So many times we sow sow sow but never seem to do the reaping part. We’re not called to be reapers, but it’s moving to get to see both sowing and reaping.”
Johnson said he sees in some of the New Hope congregation a new desire to give some of their own time to be part of hands-on missions.