Prayer

Shiprock

It’s been about two years now since I first visited Victory Life Fellowship in Toko’i, New Mexico. This church is on the Navajo Reservation in the wide open desert just a few miles west of Shiprock, which is one of the largest two cities on the Rez. It sits just north of the massive rock formation for which the city gets its name. It is an arid yet beautiful place.

The Pastor of this church is Herman Harrison, a Navajo man who was once living a life of alcoholism and drugs but was transformed by a miraculous encounter with Christ. About ten years ago Herman planted the Church in Toko’i. He did not plant the church with a wildely impressive list of credenials. He did not have a sending church providing copious amounts of funding. He did not have a large core group of believers from which to launch a thriving ministry. He simply started the church in Toko’i with prayer. For the first time in his life, he began to ask the Lord for a prayer life. He began a ministry of intercession where he would devote a large amount of time to entering into the Lord’s presence and praying for his family, his church, and his community. This is when God told him to plant a church.

To this day, Victory Live Fellowship is a church that emphasizes prayer, and the presence of the Holy Spirit is evident. At Experience Mission, we organize short mission trips to Toko’i each year, so I visit regularly, and each time I am reminded of the need for prayer in my own life. I am reminded of the importance of spending time in the presence of the Lord.

Though we as believers desire God to change and transform us, the truth is that for most of us there are areas deep in the recesses of our hearts that we want to control. It is a scary and terrifying thing to allow God to have complete control in those areas. I know this is the case for me. The fact of the matter is that in the deepest corners of our hearts there are sinful inclinations that are so ingrained that we lack the ability to change. When we seek to transform on our own strength, we will only be confronted with the powerlessness of our own devices. It is only by the liberating yet sometimes agonizing work of the Holy Spirit that we truly surrender to God. We cannot change our own hearts only God can do that.

Herman will attest that when his prayer life began to increase God started dealing with the issues deep in his heart. One of the amazing things about the Christian life is that we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who has the power to change hearts. Our responsibility is to enter into his presence, to call on his name in humility and sincerity. It is then that the Holy Spirit will touch those parts of our hearts that we have previously guarded (whether wittingly or unwittingly), and then he can give us the life of peace, freedom, and joy that only comes through him.

I think this is one of the primary purposes of prayer, our own sanctification. It opens our hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit. My desire is to be more diligent to seek God in prayer so that I may experience the peace and freedom of being fully committed to him.

The Story of Many Waters Mission

The first time I rolled up to Many Waters Mission, I was intrigued. The old brick building, which was formerly a Catholic school was admittedly a bit spooky, and most of the missionaries serving there were old enough to be my grandparents. I couldn’t help but wonder what the story was behind this place and the people who continued to live in there. I would soon find out.

In the early 1980’s, Don and Lynn Cartwright and their three children left their comfortable life in Ohio and loaded up a blue bus and headed to the Navajo Reservation in the remote southwestern desert. They did not know where they would end up much less how they would make a living, but they were convinced that God had called them. At this time there were very few Christians among the Navajo, for most adhered to the traditional religion and were hostile to the “white man’s” faith. In fact, many Navajo at the time were afraid of white people because they believed if they were to touch one they would contract an evil spirit. To make matters worse, the few churches that did exist were comprised basically of young Christians who were still very concerned about these traditional fears. Even many pastors had very little understanding of the Christian faith. I can only imagine what a harrowing venture this must have been.

When they arrived, they first stayed at a church in Twin Pines, New Mexico, and then proceeded to a church on a mountaintop in Wheatfields, Arizona. It was here that they spent their first winter stranded in a blizzard among strange people of whom many did not even speak English, and all were unaccustomed to their presence. Accommodations were rustic; they stayed in the bus until it became too cold, and then were permitted to stay in the church which had a wood burning stove. This and the fire where they did all of their cooking was the only source of heat. Food was an issue, and on a few occasions even survival became a question. (As I learned this story, I couldn’t help, but think that this makes EM’s short-term mission trips seem pretty plush.) However, through the Lord’s provision and the assistance of the local Navajo, they did survive and built lasting relationships with the local church.

They lived out of the blue bus in Wheatfields, for about two years until it became clear that there ministry was to continue, but it would no longer be in the heart of the reservation. They moved to the edge of the reservation and eventually purchased the old school where they live to this day. This school is located in Waterflow, New Mexico where three rivers converge; hence the name “Many Waters Mission.” While it is not actually on the Reservation, it is definitely in Navajo country. When the Cartwrights moved here, there was a serious problem with alcoholism and homelessness in the area. Alcoholics were getting killed about every day because they would walk in front of cars at night. Many Waters Mission soon became a full-fledged rescue mission and alcoholics and homeless were consistently taken in off the street.

Today, Many Waters Mission does not serve as a rescue mission, but it continues to serve the area by distributing food and supplies. Each week Navajo pastors come from miles around to receive pastoral training. Don and Lynn are involved with nearly 30 churches across the Rez, many of which they’ve planted and assisted by recruiting teams to build churches.

In my recent trip to the Reservation, I stayed at the mission, and Don and Lynn and Steve and Rosalie, who work with the mission, took me to several of the churches with whom they partner. These churches continue to live amidst hostility from traditional Navajo, but it is evident that through Don and Lynn’s obedience to God’s call, the gospel has been advanced and many lives have been changed. For me, it was meaningful just to watch and learn about the work of God. I gleaned much from my conversations with Don and Lynn about their spiritual journey.

It is our goal to recruit several teams to serve on mission trips to the Navajo Reservation in the upcoming summer and in the future, and I can’t help but feel honored to have a part in continuing the work that God has doing here. While there are many more Christians than there were in the early 1980’s, traditional Navajo spirituality is still the dominant religion, and the local churches and pastors are faced with continued economic oppression and spiritual attack. It is my prayer that through our presence, we can encourage and undergird these brothers and sisters who are faithfully serving among their people.

To read further about Don and Lynn’s beginning among the Navajo you can read Lynn’s book entightled God Knows Where I AM.