All because two boys…

Happy New Year everyone! I just returned from the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation in Wisconsin where I encountered PLENTY of snow!

We were all freezing but we still loved it!

The lakes were already frozen so there was even some “walking on water”.

Let me introduce these two to you. They are John Phillips and Zeb Mathews. John is a 17 year old Junior at Pineville High School and Zeb is an 18 year old senior, also at Pineville High School. They are members of Twin Bridges Baptist Church in Alexandria and they were part of the group that joined me at the Ft. Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana this past summer. These are two outstanding young men. While at Ft. Belknap both of these boys asked me to do a mission project with them during the Christmas holidays.

That is what started a very successful ministry to the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation.

Twin Bridges Baptist Church in Alexandria, New Hope Baptist Church in Monroe and Harmony Baptist Church in Glenmora all contributed gifts in shoeboxes.

The Lac du Flambeau Bible Baptist Church advertised an after Christmas luncheon and Christmas party for the people of the reservation. The pastor of the Lac du Flambeau Bible Baptist Church, Bill Earl (a Louisiana man!) and his wife, Bridget went above and beyond by preparing Chicken Sauce Pequante, Boudin and Chicken and Dumplings for the entire community.

We all helped with the dumplings!

Then, Sunday after church we headed to the community center and prayed that people would come. We were not dissapointed…the room was full!

The church got to visit with people they don’t normally get to visit with and the kids enjoyed playing while waiting for the presents.

The kids had a ball opening their gifts!

There were plenty of gifts left over so the boys and I loaded up my car and headed out to make deliveries.

I drove while the boys made their way through the snow to knock on doors and deliver gifts to any children in the home.

The few remaining gifts went to the local shelter.

The boys were cold, their feet were wet and everyone was tired but it was all worth it. So much happened here that may go unnoticed unless I mention it…you see, we so often think of a mission trip and we wonder “how many people got saved?” But, as Pastor Bill Earl said, before you find any evidence of salvation you have to plow the ground and till the soil and plant and water and fertilize…especially amongst the Native American communities.

What happened here is that the church went outside it’s walls. They didn’t ask the people to come to them, they went to the people. They didn’t approach the people with messages and sermons and man made revivals…they offered food and friendship and gifts. They didn’t hit anyone over the head with a Bible…they included a Bible in the shoeboxes as a gift.

God is at work on this reservation. He was before this ministry and He still is. This particular mission was just one of many doors God is opening for fellowship amongst His Native American people and the Body of Christ. It just so happens that this door opened all because two boys expressed a desire to serve.