Many Nations One Voice Celebration, Lawton Oklahoma
 In September the day we had been praying in for years, planning for a year, and laboring for several months final came. What a glorious time it was in Lawton Oklahoma. Howard and I could hardly stand the anticipation. Having a MN1V come to Lawton was high on our list of what we desired to see happen in Oklahoma. We believe it was high on God’s priority list as well. The theme was Unity in the Midst of Diversity. The theme was fitting for this area, there is much diversity in this city not just because of Native and Whites but there are many different ethnic groups planted in Lawton as a result of the Fort Sill Army base. We were so encouraged to have seven different churches of different denomination, including a Samoan Church come together to make the MN1V possible. |
During the meetings Pastor Curt Alderton who pastors in
 Ignacio,
CO. on the Southern Ute Reservation came for a special presentation. Geronimo’s
walking stick came into his possession two years ago and he has been praying for
the right time and situation to return it. The Holy Spirit opened the doors for
it to be re-turned during the MN1V meetings. This is a small but significant
step toward healing the hearts of the people of this area. The Fort Sill Apache
leaders honored us with some traditional songs as Curt (an Anglo brother)
returned the stick and the leaders were gifted with Pendleton Blankets, from
Wiconi. Richard shared he believed this was a prophet act from the Father’s
heart, “doing what was right.”
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Pastor Francis Frangipane was our Friday night speaker and he did an
excellent job of sharing about it being a time where Christians were being
called to holiness, time to be real Christians with each other. How we need each
other in the body. We heard many excellent speakers share about unity in the mist of diversity.
We enjoyed Native Style worship with Jonathan Maracle and Broken Walls. Saturday
there was a round table discussion at which many of the speakers sat as a panel
to answer the tough questions about culture as it pertains to Christianity and
how it is relative in ministering to native people. That evening we saw an
example of Revelation chapter seven when we worshiped with Samoan, Native
American, African American and Euro American worship and dance teams.
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Some of the Native Americans who attended the MN1V have been inspired by the
messages and are ex-cited to carry the message through. During one of the
several months of prayer meetings prior to the MN1V the Lord impressed upon our
hearts that this
message needed to be carried through, it was not about the event it was about
carrying the message on.Jonathan Maracle stayed through the week and performed at Lawton’s
International Festival. During that time an Apache young lady who had attended
the MN1V shared with me that God had ministered to her greatly during the
meetings and she now had some direction in ministry. She plans on going to Bible
College and then going to minister to Native Americans on reservations. As I
listed to her I could not stop thinking about the many times Howard had shared
that he longed to see the Indian people from Oklahoma preparing to go and
minister on the reservations. We see how God is beginning to answer that prayer
and many others for Oklahoma. The
spiritual climate of this land is changing, thank you to all of you who have
faithfully labored with us over the past seven years that we have been here. You
truly have taken part in changing the destinies of many Native Americans.
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 I must let you all know that the budget for the MN1V was met and Wiconi has no outstanding debt for the event. Through your prayers God moved on the hearts of churches and individuals to give to his work. Most of the funds were raised before the conference started, which was our hearts desire. |
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