July 14-21, 2007
The following is a report from Marcus Toole, Pastor, Jesus Church:
We call it Jesus Church because it is Jesus' Church." The mission of Jesus Church is to prayerfully live and proclaim the good news of the Creator Jesus Christ...
Vacation Bible School at Jesus Church 2007
Greetings in Christ: We just rapped up the 2007 summer mission project which started on July 14th, 2007 and ended on July 22, 2007. Churches participating in the summer mission project were Chattanooga Valley Presbyterian Church in Flintstone, GA; Lake Oconee Presbyterian Church in Eatonton, GA; Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Evans, GA; and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill, SC. The teams ran a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at the church and they renovated the Louis Bull Culture Center in Louis Bull, erected some new fencing around the Louis Bull Cemetery and painted a fence around an elder's home in Louis Bull.
Team Building a Fence around the Louis Bull Cemetery
All of the ministry projects were very successful. Thank you for your prayers. Over 50 kids were involved in the VBS program. On the third day of VBS one of the Junior High members of the mission team asked one of the little boys attending VBS if he was a Christian. The little boy said: "No!" When asked why, the little boy said because that Jesus was for white people and that he did not like white people. By the end of the day this junior high youth had befriended the little boy, and the little boy invited him over to his mussom's (grand father's) house for spaghetti dinner which the junior high school student did. On the last day of the VBS program the little boy asked Jesus into his heart. It was the seventh grader that led the little boy through the sinner's prayer. The folks who come to Hobbema to do summer missions projects get to do real missions work. I for one am very excited for both the little boy who prayed to receive Jesus and for the young man who lead him in the prayer.
Renovation of the Louis Bull Culture Center
The construction projects have gotten a lot of attention in the Louis Bull community. While attending a wake in Samson, I received lots of comments about the projects even there. A number of people are beginning to get curious about the church, who have never shown interest before. Another very positive development is that several Hobbema people participated in both the VBS project and the construction projects.
On Wednesday evening the Louis Bull Tribal Administration hosted an appreciation BBQ on behalf of the mission team at the ranch of Solomon Bull, one of the elders living in Louis Bull. In addition to getting treated to great food, some of the high school and Jr. high kids from the teams enjoyed horse back riding and horse drawn buggy riding with the Louis Bull kids.
The Grand Entry at the Samson Pow wow. Behind the eagle staffs and flags of the four nations making up Hobbema are the chiefs of the four Hobbema bands leading a procession of visiting chiefs.
This year's summer mission project happened to coincide with the Samson Pow wow. After church on Sunday evening the visiting mission team got to see the opening ceremonies of the Samson Pow wow. This was a very good experience for the teams. By getting to see the grand entry, the teams were able to really see the spiritual nature of the Pow wow movement. In addition to getting to see the Pow wow, I took the teams on a tour of the four nations which make up Hobbema. They got to see the areas of Hobbema which have been badly damaged through the gang wars and they got to see the sun dance grounds.
One of the Team Members Taking His Turn at Prayer
The teams also got to experience some of the spiritual warfare that takes place in Hobbema and both we and they learned some good lessons in prayer. In the morning hours when we had an excess of people helping with the construction project, Daniel organized a prayer visual where all the members of the team took turns in prayer so that there was someone praying the whole time. The teams working with the VBS kids had an opportunity to see first hand how the enemy fights the reading of the Word in Hobbema. They noticed how whenever the Bible is read, something happens to distract from the reading. One team member got a little taste of witchcraft after getting a little too close to a sun dance lodge to take pictures. He got a very bad headache from it and started having freaky visions that evening. This was a somewhat unpleasant experience for the gentleman, but it was a good object lesson for everyone connected with the mission project on the spiritual realities and dangers of Native religion and the things connected with it.
All of us at Jesus Church are very grateful for the hard work and dedication of the visiting mission teams. We very much hope and pray that the same teams will return next year. It may be months before we see all the fruit born by this year's summer project. But we know that the teams made a big impact in the whole community. The impact of what we are doing is being amplified by the tent revival meeting sponsored by Native Full Gospel Fellowship taking place right now, as well as by the prayer tent which some Christians in the community put up at the Samson Pow wow. In addition Northern Canada Evangelical Mission has just sent a new missionary to pastor at the Hobbema Fellowship Church where I used to minister. People in Hobbema are really noticing that the Christians in Hobbema are on the move. All of this gives the impression of growth and life in a community where people often see death.
The summer mission projects are growing and need to continue to grow. Many tribal programs and other government programs start big in Hobbema and then die. The summer mission projects started small four years ago, and hopefully will grow in the coming years. Please consider coming to next year's summer mission project and be part of that growth. It is not too early to start planning for it. Thanks and God bless.
Marcus Toole
Pastor, Jesus Church
