November is Native American Heritage Month, and you may not realize that Native Americans were the first mission field in North America. However, “as far as missions are concerned, we’re doing better all over the world than right here with the First People of our land,” Ron Hutchcraft of Hutchcraft Ministries says.

“After 400 years of missions, only four percent are estimated to have a relationship with Christ.”

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

Native communities don’t connect with Jesus

Many Native people see Jesus as “the white man’s God,” especially when so much loss – land, language, culture, and lives – was carried out in the name of Christianity. Yet Jesus is deeply relevant to the Native experience. “Jesus was not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy like we see in some paintings. He was a tribal man,” Hutchcraft says.

“If you asked Him, He’d say, ‘I’m from the tribe of Judah.’ Our Native Americans would say, ‘I’m Apache, I’m Sioux, I’m Cherokee, I’m Choctaw,’ or ‘I’m Seneca.”

Along with tribal heritage, “He lived on land occupied by others – the Romans. He was from a place that people thought, ‘Nothing good comes from there.’ Some people may say that about Native communities,” Hutchcraft says.

“Jesus was also a victim of gross injustice, as many Native Americans have been.”

A rising movement

These connections are transforming Native young people through Hutchcraft Ministries’ On Eagles’ Wings outreach. More about that here.

Summer of Hope 2025
(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

“I have had the privilege of watching Native young people who are not only survivors, but more than conquerors, as they have told their hope story on that reservation basketball court. They have shown a boldness that would shame many of us,” Hutchcraft says.

“With a deep spirituality that the Creator has built into them, an understanding of suffering and injustice and abuse, and with the warrior spirit – when all of that comes under the Lordship of Christ, fasten your seat belt. They are a force,” he adds.

“They are hope with skin on.”

Hutchcraft Ministries’ Warrior Leadership Summit and On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center focus on discipling Native young people to become pastors, missionaries, and youth leaders for their own communities. Here’s how you can help.

Header image depicts a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, c.1912-1915, titled The First Thanksgiving, 1621. (Wikimedia Commons)

A division of Hutchcraft Ministries, On Eagles’ Wings equips Native American Christians to reach their peers for Jesus. More about that here.

Hutchcraft Ministries founder Ron Hutchcraft says, “There were 36 Native American and First Nations people on the team, and they represented about 20 different Indian nations.”

(Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries)

Native American youth at each reservation share similar experiences and trials, from substance abuse to violence and suicide. They also share a similar mistrust of Jesus, often calling Him “the white man’s God.”

“They don’t know anybody who is young, Native, and Christian, so He doesn’t even seem to be an option for them.”

Local Christians invite the On Eagles’ Wings team to their community to spark change.

Previous efforts to introduce the Gospel go unheeded until one summer day, Hutchcraft says, “Here comes a busload of young, Native Christians from 20 different tribes who have life stories like their own, except they have hope, and they all found it when they found Jesus.”

Read individual impact reports here. Below, Hutchcraft shares three reasons why hearts change during the Summer of Hope.

“Breakthroughs happen on each reservation, and there’s an unprecedented interest in Jesus,” Hutchcraft says.

3 Drivers of Change

Transformation begins when Native youth hear something they can relate to. “People are most likely to listen to a Gospel messenger with a shared life experience,” Hutchcraft says.

Because On Eagles’ Wings team members “bring the Gospel wrapped in their own hope story,” Native young people can relate to “how it was before Jesus,” Hutchcraft says.

“Those are sad stories. There has been a lot of abuse and family violence, addiction, depression, self-harm, and, all too often, thoughts of suicide. As they tell that story, the young people on the reservation are going, ‘Well, that’s my story, too.’”

(Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries)

Noise fades as all attention turns to the Native Gospel worker in the middle of a basketball court.

“What was perhaps a rowdy and loud situation when we got there becomes strangely quiet,” Hutchcraft shares, “as these young men and women talk about what Jesus has done for them and they share the Gospel, the message that changed everything.”

Prayer is a second factor influencing heart change. “Before they go, there’s a time when they each hold their (written) hope story up to the Lord and I ask them to pray out loud [that it would be] something God would use to bring hope to people who are where they used to be,” Hutchcraft says.

“It’s powerful to hear them all praying simultaneously for God to use that hope story, and the rest of the month is God answering that prayer.”

Finally, Native youth experience the peace of Jesus through On Eagles’ Wings team members and Summer of Hope activities, opening hearts to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

“They’re feeling the presence of Jesus without knowing it initially because there’s joy and safety in those events,” Hutchcraft says.

Keep praying for the On Eagles’ Wings team. “They don’t just need it in the summer, they need it all year long,” Hutchcraft says. Ask the Lord to help them live in continued supernatural boldness.

Header and story images courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries/On Eagles’ Wings. 

God is at work in Native communities! Every summer, On Eagles’ Wings — a division of Hutchcraft Ministries — organizes Summer of Hope outreaches to reservations.

Doug Hutchcraft from Hutchcraft Ministries shares, “There have been six [outreaches] this summer. Like the other communities we visited, this is a community screaming for hope, [there’s] the hope crisis.”

On Eagles’ Wings equips Native American believers to bring the hope of Christ to their communities.
(Screenshot)

The On Eagles’ Wings team, dressed in green shirts declaring “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul” (Hebrews 6:19), aims to bring that hope.

Outreaches bring powerful testimonies! One new Native believer, Carrie, had just given her heart to Christ.

“She immediately, when she’s done praying, goes and runs to her group of friends a few yards away, saying, ‘You need this too. You need this Jesus.’” Like the biblical account of the Samaritan woman at the well, Carrie became a rescuer of her people within moments of giving her life to Jesus.

The ministry goes by invitation. “Once we get invited, we will go physically meet with the people there that are the inviters. [We] make sure that there is sufficient follow-up and people to disciple and bring these new believers into the faith in a responsible way,” says Hutchcraft. They continue serving alongside Native young people throughout the year.

Hutchcraft adds, “[There are] just amazing things that God is doing. He is such an amazing God. These things don’t happen without the power of the Holy Spirit filling the lives, the hearts of these young heroes on this team.”

The On Eagles’ Wings team faithfully follows the Great Commission among Native communities, but they need your prayers and support.

“We do need God’s people to come alongside to pray and be the fuel that makes this possible,” he adds.

If the Lord is moving you to pray, to give, or to participate in any way, visit Hutchcraft Ministries!

Header photo: the Summer of Hope team (courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries).

This year, around 700 Native young people came to the Warrior Leadership Summit with On Eagles’ Wings. They came to this evangelism and discipleship conference to be equipped as leaders for Christ.

Photo of Warrior Leadership Summit 2025 courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook.

“To have 700 Native young people praising Jesus together, seeking to be leaders in their communities, is a real miracle, something only God could do,” said Doug Hutchcraft with Hutchcraft Ministries. 

People who come to the leadership summit aren’t called campers but warriors. Hutchcraft said they hear a common response to the gathering:

“‘I’m not alone. I realized I’m here seeing how many brothers and sisters I have in Christ that really love Jesus and want to do what I want to do.’”

Following Christ hasn’t always been shared well with Native communities, Hutchcraft said. Yet today, more and more young people realize Jesus is about relationship, not religion. 

“When they (Native young people) share with their people that Jesus was a brown-skinned man, from a tribe, [who] was persecuted, [who] had issues with the government, all those things, they say, ‘I’ve always heard that Jesus is a white man’s God. But you’re saying He is for everybody.’”

It then opens the way for Native young people to share their own stories of how Jesus changed their lives. During the 2025 Warrior Leadership Summit, 43 people chose to be baptized.

Hutchcraft said that in many Native tribes, to be baptized isn’t just a thing done at church on a Sunday morning. It means publicly stating “I’m a follower of Jesus. He is everything to me now.”

Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries

“These are bold warriors who are saying, ‘I want to make this public declaration of my love for Jesus,’” said Hutchcraft.

Picture the scene: a lake with hundreds of Native young people sitting at the edges. Then shoulder-deep in the lake, “a Native young person coming out of the water, arms raised, shouting for joy. It’s so amazing,” said Hutchcraft. 

In the Warrior Leadership Summit last year, over 100 tribes were represented. Pray Native young people from this year’s gathering will boldly bring the hope of Jesus to their people!

“We are 100% dependent on God’s people praying about this,” said Hutchcraft. 

Header photo of Warrior Leadership Summit 2025 courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries via Facebook. 

Brad Hutchcraft with Hutchcraft Ministries says, “These are young people who remember what it’s like to be lost, to remember what it’s like to not have Jesus part of their lives. And they want their peers, they want other Native people to find the hope of Jesus they have.”

The 2025 Summer of Hope will begin with the Warrior Leadership Summit for youth. The team expects 500 warriors to attend, representing dozens of tribes. The youth will spend five days learning from God’s word, hearing from great Native Bible teachers, participating in amazing worship, and learn how to live for God on a daily basis.

These conference leaders will then spend the month of July visiting tribes and proclaiming the gospel to their peers and Native American youth. 

Hutchcraft says, “It’s important for these local young people to learn that there is hope, there are answers, and there is healing that can take place. For that message to come from someone that looks like them and who has walked a similar road as they have is just an amazing time where walls come down and people are set free.” 

Many of the issues rural communities face are magnified in Native America. These messengers of hope, however, can touch hopelessness with their own stories and can say, “We were in the same place. We’ve been the abuse victims, we’ve been the suicide attempts. We’ve been the gang members, the drug dealers. We’ve been these things, but we found hope, and his name is Jesus.”

These Native leaders reach youth with the truth– that Jesus is for everyone. They can paint the picture of a Jesus who is more like these Native young people than they ever realized.

After 400 years of mission history with Native Americans, only 4% know Jesus. Hutchcraft believes this is changing and walls are coming down. 

Please pray that God’s hand will be in the logistics and for provision for the team. Pray for ready churches and ministries who will continue to pour into youth after the team has left. 

Pray also for the “three opens.” Open doors, so that there will be open doors to receive the team. Open hearts, so that people come to these events to be ready to hear about the hope of Jesus. Open mouths, so team members will boldly share how their life has changed and how to have a relationship with Jesus. 

Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries

Every new grad, whether finishing college or high school, is closing one chapter and starting a new one. However, the story looks slightly different at the On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center.

Hutchcraft Ministries’ Ron Hutchcraft says, “Graduation Day is ‘launch day’ here, and we call this a launching pad for leaders.”

This year’s graduates completed 245 hours of coursework in a nine-month gap year program. “They represent 10 major tribes in North America, everything from Apache to Lakota, Sioux, Mohawk, Ojibwe, Hopi, and others,” Hutchcraft says.

“They have just completed a very intensive year of discipling and equipping for ministry and living for Christ in difficult circumstances.”

From new believer to leader

Graduation is the latest step in a longer journey. “This launch day is a celebration of a journey that begins for Native American young people in something we call the Warrior Leadership Summit,” Hutchcraft says.

“It is a Native discipleship conference, although I will say that often a quarter to one-third of the young people who attend there begin a relationship with Christ.”

Following the conference, an On Eagles’ Wings team will bring the Gospel to several Native American communities during the Summer of Hope.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings via Facebook)

“This team is usually made up of about 30 to 40 young Native Americans, maybe 20 tribes represented. When they go to the reservation, they see young people coming to Christ. That has usually never happened before on that reservation in anybody’s memory,” Hutchcraft says.

“When the messengers are young, Native, and their message begins with their hope story, it’s very hard to argue with the Jesus that they will tell you has become their hope.”

The Summer of Hope leads to a new class of students at the On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center.

“Out of those team members come young men and women who aspire to be leaders for their people and to be strengthened in their faith. They are considered to be students here at the Leadership Center,” Hutchcraft says.

A new season

According to recent studies, many college alumnae work in fields unrelated to their major. Will the same be true for these Gospel grads?

“This has Great Commission implications because every one of them is now planning on ministry life,” Hutchcraft says.

“They will be messengers and models of hope planted in a Native community, in a Native ministry.”

Follow the On Eagles’ Wings page on Facebook for more updates.

“We appreciate the prayers of Mission Network News listeners for these young men and women. They are God’s warriors and the enemy’s target,” Hutchcraft says.

“Every warrior in Christ’s army is another proof of His power to save and His victory over death and hell.”

Header and story images courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings.

Weston Francis with Hutchcraft Ministries is a member of the Navajo tribe. He knows that cultural preservation is a sensitive topic among his people, who have faced so much mistreatment by people from other cultures. 

But Francis stands on Exodus 20:3, where the Lord says, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

“There’s the talk of syncretism, of blending of traditional practices and redeeming of a culture — ‘As long as we slap the name of Jesus on this practice or this dance, it’s okay,’” he says.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings, Hutchcraft Ministries)

“But any culture around the world, the moment the want and need for preservation of a culture becomes more than your love for God, you have already crossed the line.”

Many things can become practical idols in a Christian’s life. Consider your own life, values, allegiances, family traditions, routines, and habits.

“We do it all the time, (with) our phones, our family, the people that we love. This (culture) is just one more thing that we put before God,” Francis says. 

“We need to be able to have the maturity and the diligence and discipline to recognize when we’re putting something more before our relationship with God.”

Every Christian on the planet faces challenges to put God first. Join in praying specifically for young Christians in Native America, that they would have discernment and discipline to follow Jesus over the traditions or values of their cultures. 

What could God do with a young person fully committed to Him? 

“I believe that when God gets a hold of a young Native American, they have an opportunity to reach people that you and I may never ever get to reach,” Francis says.  “I think that’s something that’s so beautiful, and that’s something that only God can do.”

Learn what On Eagles’ Wings does to raise up Native American Christians. 

Header photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings, Hutchcraft Ministries. 

Hutchcraft Ministries’ On Eagles Wings team offers the life-changing hope of Jesus Christ, but it’s not always an easy process.

In one broken community, a young woman eyed believers with suspicion.

“What she said conveys the feelings of generations of Native Americans, especially the young people. She told our warrior, ‘This is the reservation. Nothing good comes from here. Why do you come here?’” says Hutchcraft Ministries founder, Ron Hutchcraft.

“That hopelessness is the answer to her question. That’s why we come.”

Every summer, Native American believers visit reservations with On Eagles Wings to tell their peers about a Savior who knows their pain. More about that here.

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings/Hutchcraft Ministries)

This year, “It was wonderful to see the graduates of our leadership center [give] new strength [to] the team,” Hutchcraft says. “They were big brothers and big sisters to younger team members.”

The Lord moved powerfully through the largest Summer of Hope team to date. “We are now seeing the full circle of the On Eagles Wings ministry,” Hutchcraft says.

“They come to Christ at our national conference, they go on the [Summer of Hope] team and feel a call to make a difference with the rest of their life, and they come to the Leadership Center.”

Pray for continued momentum. “Pray for those who are now coming out of the summer experience [and] have applied to be the class of 2025 at the On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center,” Hutchcraft says.

“We believe we’re going to have a significant group of young men and women here.”

Learn how you can sponsor a Native leader here.

“We’re praying God will supply the funds that will sponsor these young men and women to be trained at the [OEW] Leadership Center,” Hutchcraft says.

“There will be new Native leaders launched from here to Native America.”

Header image depicts the 2024 On Eagles’ Wings Summer of Hope team. Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries/On Eagles’ Wings.

“We went to six different reservations. It was, in essence, six mission trips in a month, and on those six reservations, we encountered tremendous need and wonderful breakthroughs,” Hutchcraft Ministries founder Ron Hutchcraft says.

“Thirty-eight young men and women from over 20 different tribes in this country and Canada conducted 17 outreach rescue events, [and had] hundreds of Gospel conversations.”

Read the Summer of Hope 2024 summary reports here.

On one reservation, a team member we’ll call Amy saw a 12-year-old girl crying, so she asked the little girl what was wrong.

The girl told Amy, “She lost 12 people in less than a year, half of them to suicide, and she saw them all die. Her grandmother and her brother are all she has left,” Hutchcraft says.

“Her brother is suicidal. She said if he commits suicide, she will too.”

Amy hugged the little girl and gave her reason to hope. Amy later told Hutchcraft, “We both cried a lot. I talked to Jesus with her and about her, and she gave her life to Jesus that night.”

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles Wings/Hutchcraft Ministries)

The little girl carries a notebook with her in which she writes people’s names. “Amy said, ‘She wrote my name in her book, and it said, Amy, my best friend led me to Jesus,’” Hutchcraft says.

“That night in heaven, there was another book with that little girl’s name in it. It’s the Book of Life.”

Conversations like this one happened every night during the Summer of Hope.

“I’m happy to report that God used these dear young men and women to help 368 Native American young people move from hopelessness to hope as they began a personal relationship with Jesus,” Hutchcraft says.

“God was with this team all summer long. Zephaniah 3:17 says, ‘The LORD your God is with you. He is the mighty warrior that saves,’ and He moved among the first people of our land this summer.”

Header and story images courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings/Hutchcraft Ministries.

For example, “We have some beautiful flowers in our front yard. Karen’s grandmother first planted those about 100 years ago. They moved to this state because of the Dust Bowl; she dug them up, brought them with her, [and] replanted them,” Ron Hutchcraft of Hutchcraft Ministries says.

“Grandma’s been gone a long time. But the seeds she planted are still beautifying our life.”

(Photo courtesy of Hutchcraft Ministries)

The hope of Christ shining through young Native believers is changing lives this summer. Graduates from the On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center are among the ambassadors for Christ on this outreach, bringing His hope to a darkened landscape.

Hutchcraft hopes their efforts will catalyze Gospel growth that will bless generations – just like grandma’s flowers. “Isn’t that what we hope for our lives? That somehow, there will be some beauty and fragrance left behind from the seeds we sow,” Hutchcraft says.

Using another analogy, Hutchcraft compares the hoped-for movement to a scene from the film version of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: “One of the characters in the movie climbs to the top of this high tower and lights a beacon. The guy at the next mountaintop is waiting for that signal, and he lights a fire there,” he begins.

“You may remember the dramatic scene: sweeping panoramic light over those mountains, with the fires being lit and burning, representing the beginning of the end of the Dark Reign,” Hutchcraft says.

“That’s what I would ask people to pray for: that the beacon can be lit here that will spread the flame of Christ’s hope across all of Native America and [the] First Nations in Canada.”

On Eagles’ Wings, a division of Hutchcraft Ministries, equips Native believers to share their hope stories on U.S. reservations during the Summer of Hope outreach. More about that here.

“Hope is just a word on the reservation and hardly even a word,” Hutchcraft says. “We can’t change the awful past, but together, I think we can change the future.”

The Summer of Hope is nearing completion, but God isn’t done rescuing desperate people. Read the latest updates here. Ask Jesus to give local disciple-makers His strength and new zeal so the Summer of Hope can become an ongoing movement.

Header image depicts a field of wildflowers. Photo courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels.