It takes a lot of prayer and planning for a 15-member mission team to get ready for a 2,000 mile trip from Georgia to Montana. “I went over with them what conditions would be, which meant 100-degrees during the day, down to 40-degrees at night,” explains Richie Howard, who is on the Mission Staff at First Baptist Jonesboro, just south of Atlanta. Each team member understood they’d be sleeping in teepees that they had to build first, “no air, no heat, no running water.” On the spiritual level, Richie shared that the pow-wow they were attending as volunteer workers, was not particularly warm toward the Christian faith.
Upon arrival at the Fort Belknap Reservation, home to members of the Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes, the church team assembled their teepees in strict accordance with Native American tradition. (Our podcast explains this in detail)
The team understood well in advance there would be a major obstacle facing them. It’s a legacy handed down in tribal oral history of what previous Christians had done to them decades in the past. “They took their kids and put them in boarding schools, told them to cut their hair – and they couldn’t use their native language. It’s just a really bad history on these reservations of people doing things in the Name of Jesus that wasn’t necessarily Christian.”
At the pow-wow, the Georgia church crew had volunteered for clean-up duty and providing cold water for participants. They were not permitted to directly reach out to those attending to share faith, but could share if they were asked a question. To help those questions to come, the missions team displayed EvangeCubes, pictured below, which clearly explains the message of Christ using images only, with the person sharing the cube explaining what the pictures portray.
In all 33 people heard and accepted the message of the Gospel. Many were children – and the reason for that is 10-year-old Billy who first asked about the EvangeCube. “I went through the Gospel with Billy and Billy’s eyes just lit up. And that happened with a lot of the children,” but for Billy the reaction was “instantaneous.” Billie said, “Well, it’s like a no brainer…He’s the Creator Sets Free” (a Native term for who Jesus is) and Billy welcomed God into his heart. Richie is certain that the Holy Spirit chose Billy to come to faith and lead others to Jesus that day. Billy’s bold faith decision had a domino-effect on others coming to Christ, especially the many children.
In our complete interview podcast, just below, Richie explains “just like any mission trip, you think you’re going to minister to them… and it ends up the other way around.” There were many special moments and hearts blessed during the short-term mission trip. Give a listen and be encouraged! We also asked about Billy’s future. Being a ‘res kid’ has many challenges. But Richie makes it a point to remind us Billy has God now and “the sky’s the limit.” And there is a way Billy can be discipled and grow. Hear all about it. And please pray for the future of the tribes.
