(January 14, 2001)

It’s not uncommon for medicine men to perform their rituals for students at the Riverside Indian Boarding School in Anadarko, Okla. However, for the first time in history, the school’s principal also decided a group of Native American Christians could share their beliefs during a school assembly.

American Indian College Riverside Boarding School outreach team.

As a result, eight American Indian College students and a graduate sponsor traveled from Phoenix, Ariz., to Oklahoma to conduct an outreach at the 500-student boarding school that represents more than 50 Native American tribes.

"We were invited to hold an assembly for junior high and senior high students at the school," Sandy Ticeahkie, a graduate of AIC who served as a sponsor on the trip, says. "There were no restrictions for us. I told them exactly what we would be doing — I told them we would be presenting the gospel."

Ticeahkie says that because the Native American religion contains many different practices, the principal wanted to give equal time to other religious beliefs. With an open invitation, the students from the Assemblies of God college shared the gospel through human videos, special music and speaking the Word of God. At the conclusion of the assembly, each student was handed a Bible and invited to a youth rally that evening.

The college students were scheduled to hold youth services for two nights at Victory Assembly of God in Anadarko, but were asked to stay two additional nights because God was doing incredible things in the lives of the local young people, including many students from the boarding school.

"Many of these boarding school students come from all across the country trying to get out of their poverty-stricken homes and poor family conditions," Samuel Ware, an AIC sophomore who served as team leader on the trip, says. "By the end of the week the students knew there was hope in Jesus Christ."

Trusting in Jesus is not an easy thing for Native Americans. Ticeahkie says that it’s viewed as a "Christian white-man religion." However, because the AIC students participating in the outreach were Native American, the students at the boarding school heard other Native Americans tell them that Jesus Christ had died for their sins too.

"We told them that there were no more excuses and that our God was not just a white man’s God," Ticeahkie says. "We showed them that our God loved everyone, and that there were no racial boundaries."

Many students were saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit during the evening services. Some had never attended a Christian church before.

Since the AIC students visited Anadarko, the young people still have a hunger for God. "After we left we called back to see how things were going," Ware says. "We found out that they were still fired up and ready to make a difference in other people’s lives. Now they want to learn to play music and do human videos. They’re also praying more with one another and talking to their parents about God. There is a tremendous difference with the youth in the church."

— Travis Spencer