Lifeline Christian Mission – July 18 2015 – A summer of fun and ministry among the Navajo

Many of you want to know how the church ministry is going in regards to visiting and blessing the pastor’s on the Navajo Reservation. Well, I wish I could say it was going great, but so far we have hit a small wall. You see, unlike the churches in your neighborhood, there are no phone numbers, websites, signs with service times, or even a pastor’s names listed on the church building. So to find service times and contacts, we have to ask around each community for information. Some are a little leery of giving us any information about the church, which is not what we expected. Summer work teams also began, so we pushed it off for a couple more weeks before we will attempt it again.  It’s simply a little roadblock, which will be overcome with time. In the meantime, we have been gathering books, gifts and Scripture to bless these pastors at our next opportunity.  Please keep praying for additional information and opportunities to come to us.

Another item that could use your prayer: next week I meet with a Bible college student as a potential intern at Red Sands as a Navajo minister. This will allow him to finish his final year at Bible College and obtain great experience as a preacher at Red Sands. Lord willing, this will be in place by the next newsletter. 

One thing we all enjoy out here is visitors. Work teams are a great source of encouragement to us as they bring joy, laughter, workers, and much needed support. Another blessing is when the Lifeline staff visit to see what God is doing in Arizona. Bob and Gretchen, Lifeline’s founders, visited in June and it was really good having them spend a couple days with us. What a blessing as all the staff had dinner together and we all received encouragement from them, along with meetings and some much needed down time. Bob did catch a few fish, but most of all we enjoyed God’s creation taking the boat up Clear Creek in Winslow. 

Go West production

The “Go West” production performed by all the children of Red Sands Christian School was amazing. (see photo above) They children did so well in memorizing their lines, getting into character, being there for the play and giving it their all. Why we didn’t record it, I’ll never know, but it was an absolutely incredible performance by the kids. Even staff was invited to play their parts, but it was the children who stole the show.

We were all wet by the end of it!

Of course, that wasn’t enough fun for the last week of school, so they teamed up – not only on me, but also Dawn and Todd  this year –  to soak us on the last day with a water fight. It ended up being a water bucket and hose fight, but hey, it was fun! (see photos above) The picnic and water fight was a great way to wrap up the year, but it was hard saying goodbye to those wonderful kids for the summer. It is really quiet around here without them.

After school was finished, the teachers continued on. It was a great week of training and a lot was accomplished in one week. Teachers were able to get their rooms ready for a fresh coat of paint and rearranging, begin work on next year and overall get some video training to help in their classrooms. We are down one teacher though heading into the next school year. We trust God with a plan, but if you know of anyone who is interested in teaching Jr. High, please let us know. The position is on our website www.redsands.cc.

Brad Jones and Brian Schultz both attended the National Archery in School training. With their help we can now launch the National Archery in School Program (NASP) as soon as we get the inspection from Arizona Game and Fish. We are hopeful that this inspection will happen by end of July so that we can offer this right away to our students. I don’t know who is more excited: me or the children!

As a staff, we set a goal of 36 students for the 2015-16 school year. As of today, we are at 34 students. There are so many verbal inquiries as well. God has been so faithful and we continue to grow. Just think, two years ago we had 16 students! We have more than doubled in size. I am excited to see where God is taking this new school year. Todd Hunt also began working as the new School Principal. What an amazing job he is doing. It is so nice to have another strong Christian man helping me in this ministry.