Good anxiety
March also brought some anxiety, but in a good way. In February, I attended a conference and had the opportunity to really share about the entire mission with some new friends. I shared about our desires for the church and the frustration that God has not led us to a Navajo minister for the church. I told one gentleman that I was frustrated that God has not answered my prayer in three and a half years. His response: “maybe you are praying the wrong prayer!” That hit me square in the head and so I began to pray differently: “What do YOU want with the church? Where do YOU want to take us?” I wish I would have prayed that prayer a long time ago. I will share what I was hesitant to share with the church and others, but God has shown that He is up to something good. I was hesitant because it was so different and I was beginning to imagine their response to this.
I began talking with trusted individuals to share what God had shared with me. They are all excited to hear how it turns out, and have strongly encouraged me to move forward with it. I was about to share it with the church, but my wife (Barb) stopped me until we thought through it more. I was encouraged, though, by an elderly woman in the church who sat down next to me and told me that she knew God had a plan and she couldn’t wait to hear what it was! That really shocked me, but also confirmed that God was going ahead of me. Therefore, I shared it with the congregation the next week and they 100% supported the decision and are excited to get started with it. I was so relieved, but now doubly excited to see how God uses this.
Want to know what God is leading us to? I’ll share it, but first I need to give you a background. Since my family arrived here, I have noticed how Christianity is perceived, accepted and sometimes distorted on the Navajo reservation. I noticed how many professed Christ, but weren’t seeing the genuine fruit of true followers. Some were on fire for the Lord, but mostly I found people that had a limited knowledge of who Jesus really was. I have always said that the Navajo Nation is not an unreached people group, but an ineffectively reached people group. Yes, the gospel was preached. Yes, people were accepting the Lord, but discipleship never happened.
Preachers on the Reservation have no support. Regardless if they are part of a denominational church, or not, there is simply no mentoring, support, or encouragement. If a teen suicide occurs the congregation looks to the pastor, but he has no one to help him through it. If a couple needs marriage counseling, if the church is out of spiritual control, or if people are seeking benevolence, it all falls on his shoulders. How is the pastor supposed to get training, mentoring, encouragement, or prayer? Many pastors are giving into alcohol, sexual immorality, gambling and many other vices that pull him away from ministry…and no one notices.
This is where we come in. We have noticed and realize these pastors, regardless of their denominational background or church name, need help. Most are bi-vocational and are only there on Sunday morning. Many have never had formal training, and almost all of them lack funds to obtain books, ministry tools and education. We also believe that if the pastor is trained, mentored, prayed for and all around “spiritually full”, then the church will begin to be fed in turn.
Now for how God is using us to reach out to the churches and pastors on the reservation: We see this being the main ministry of Red Sands Christian Church. Not a ministry of the church, but the church is the ministry. As a church, we will come together on a Sunday morning to pray and have communion together. We will then load up the vans and drive to one of these churches on the Reservation. As a church, we will simply slip in and worship with them. After the service (not drawing attention to ourselves intentionally), we will then gather around the pastor and his wife (if married). We will also ask for any church leaders to join us. We will bless the pastor with books, tools, CD’s, etc. We will pray for the pastor, his family, his ministry and the church. This will be led by myself and the families in our church. We will then leave and discuss on the way back anything that was different, what was learned, how we can do it better, etc. If anything doctrinal comes up, we will address it the following Sunday during Sunday School or in Bible study during the week. We will begin in April and will start with only one Sunday to see how it goes. We do not know exactly how God will use this or how often it will happen down the road, but we do pray it will begin to build strong relationships with the other churches and especially the pastors. There are also kinks that we will need to work out along the way.
I realize this is different, but it begins to build relationships and unity among brothers and sisters on the Reservation. It shows God has heard their cries for help and we are stepping up to help through God’s calling of us to do so. We are all so excited and I can’t wait to share with you how it goes in April. Please pray for us as we begin this new direction with Red Sands Christian Church and seek to be pastors for the pastors on the Reservation.
