Reaching Native Americans

We are excited about what God is doing among Native American communities and want to enourage Southern Baptists to understand, pray for and support this work. Below you can learn more about our pastors serving with Native Americans, their testimonies and prayer requests, and how you may join them in their work.

Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Browning, Montana

Meet Phil and Helen Beffort My wife Helen and I have been ministering at Glacier View Baptist Chapel for six years. Helen is a native of Montana and is one quarter Chippewa Indian, which has opened many doors among Native Americans. She teaches Sunday School children from 2nd to 6th grade. I was born in California, spent 20 years in the military during which time my wife and I both were saved. We have been in the pastoral ministry now for 22 years, sixteen of which have been in Native American work. We are involved in minstering to the Blackfeet people with Sunday School and Sunday morning and Wednesday evening services. We also are trying to minister to the needy with a Food Pantry Ministry.

Prayer Requests: Pray for spiritually qualified adult and children's Sunday School teachers. Pray for budget help for our Food Pantry Ministry. We are currently unable to budget for the food pantry and are reliant on outside sources.

Testimony of God at Work: Although we have lost serving and tithing people who were very involved in our ministry, God has continued to use individual members to keep our Sunday School functioning, and He is providing for our financial stability, enabling us to meet our most crucial needs.

Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Harlem, Montana

Meet Billy and Lucy Byrd I (Billy) am from Oklahoma from the Cherokee Nation Tribe. My wife, Lucy, is a Mexican-American from Lubbock, Texas. We have three children and two grandchildren. We serve the GrosVenture and Assiniboine Tribes. We hold church services on Sunday mornings and use Sunday night as Sunday School time for the kids. Wednesday nights are set aside for Youth Ministry. We also do street ministry in Havre, Montana working towards one day of having a Native American Christian Center in Havre.

Prayer Requests: Pray for the work on the Ft. Belknap Indian Reservation, it is a new work. Pray for people to come to know Jesus. Pray for the work in Havre, that God will open doors to have a Native American Christian Center there.

Testimony of God at Work: The tribes gave us 4 1/2 acres of land to build our church building, and God has been providing everything for the ministry. God is bringing churches out of the south to do the work. The people in the surrounding community are noticing God at work and they are beginning to ask questions.

Crow Indian Reservation, Crow Agency, Montana

Meet Jonathan and Terry Lawton

Prayer Requests:

Testimony of God at Work:

Rocky Boy Indian Reservation, Big Sandy, Montana

Meet Carl and Rose McElreath

Prayer Requests:

Testimony of God at Work:

Flathead Indian Reservation, Arlee & Pablo, Montana

Meet Kenneth and Merrie Prewett Merrie and I have been in full-time ministry for 23 years. We have served on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, the Navajo Reservation in Utah and in Chinle, Arizona. We have been serving on the Flathead Reservation in Montana for 15 years. We have Sunday School and worship services as well as Wednesday night youth services that include dinner at Pablo. We have worship services in Arlee. Pablo has a completed building and we are working to complete the main building in Arlee.

Prayer Requests: Pray that the eyes and hearts of the Native peoples will be opened to the truth without letting prejudice stand in the way. Pray for the completion of the new building in Arlee.

Testimony of God at Work: We started our Wednesday evening services last year and consistently have over 50 school-aged children every week. Our Sunday School is beginning to grow now that we have the new education building addition that we completed in 2004.

Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Lame Deer, Montana

Meet Dean and Keli Smith Keli and I were led here from our home state of Florida four years ago. We have three duaghters. I am the pastor of Morning Star Baptist Church in Lame Deer and in charge of a Christian school here.  We have homeschooled our daughters, so now that has extended to Inidan students as well. Liberty Christian School is now five years old and has become established within the tribe. With our educational buidling up and running this year, we will be able to enroll up to 60 students and can add kindergarten. The ministry here is slow, but very rewarding. We have activities daily.

Prayer Requests: Our community is such that inactivity abounds, so drug and alcohol abuse are commonplace. Pray for Lenray, our youth leader's husband who is completing time in federal prison. Lenray is now a Christian and is a witness as a prisoner to his fellow inmates. He will be released this May. Please pray for Lenray and Danielle. Pray for God to continue to transform lives from defeat to victory as members of the community hear the Gospel message. Pray that their hearts will not harden and they will accept Jesus as Savior. Some families are torn apart as soon as they receive Christ. Pray for stamina and encouragement as we help families through their personal struggles.

Testimony of God at Work: Virginia, an older Indian woman has been addicted to meth for 28 years. She has five children and received Christ 14 months ago. I recently baptized her and her 10 year old son. She has been off drugs now for about 6 months and calls  Morning Star Baptist HER church. She regularly comes in and cleans. There is still much to do with her and her family, but God is working actively on that.

Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Poplar, Montana

Meet Vance and Cathy Thomas

Prayer Requests:

Testimony of God at Work:

Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Glasgow/Hinsdale/Frazer, Montana

Meet Bruce and Sande Plummer My name is Bruce Plummer and I am one of two indigenous Indian pastors in Montana. My Indian name is Big Spotted Eagle. I am Sioux, Nakonia (Assiniboine) and Cree and was born on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. My wife, Sande, is also a native Montanan who grew up in northeastern Montana in the area in which we serve. We have eight children and nine grandchildren. I have been in the ministry for 30 years. I presently serve as pastor to three churches in northeastern Montana: Calvary Baptist Church in Glasgow, Grace Baptist Church in Hinsdale and Pahin Wakpah (Little Porcupine) Baptist Mission in Frazer. Sande serves as pastor's wife, adult Sunday School teacher, preschool children's TeamKid teacher, church secretary, women on mission president and in many other capacities. We currently minister to Indian and non-Indian people in both an urban (small town) setting and in a rural reservation setting. We presently have three Sunday worship services, one in each of the churches we serve. We have a children's TeamKid program on Wednesday in Glasgow. We both teach Bible studies during the week.

Prayer Requests: We are beginning a competely new approach to working with our Indian people. At the Pahin Wakpah, we are starting a ministry model referred to as Chronological Bible Storying. Pray that this model will be effective and help us to reach a great host of Indian people who are lost and will not go to heaven unless we can effectively reach them with the Gospel Message. Pray that I will be able to go into full-time ministry. I currently am bi-vocational as all three churches together cannot support our family. I have a great deal of travel involved in our ministry at great expense. Pray for a laptop computer that I can use in our ministry. Our current desktop is out of date.

Testimony of God at Work: I have earnestly prayed and sought the will of God in the area of reaching my fellow tribal people with the gospel message of Jesus Christ. In the past few months I have had numerous planned and unplanned discussions with Indians in this area who are looking for a way to find God and develop a relationship with Him. God continues to open doors to relationships that are needed to reach my fellow Indians in the area. Praise God!

Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Wolf Point, Montana

Meet Raymond and Ruby White Tail Feather Ruby and I have ministered on the Fort Peck Reservation for 27 years. Ruby is a full-blooded Choctaw originally from Oklahoma. I am an enrolled Dakota (Sioux) from Fort Peck Reservation. My wife and I were appointed missionaries to Wolf Point Indian Mission in 1980. We served 20 years in Wolf Point until 2000 and were called back in September 2004. I am the pastor of Morning Star Baptist Church. We have worship services and restarted Sunday School classes as well as Wednesday night prayer services and Bible Study. We are planning to begin a Sunday night service soon.

Prayer Requests:

Testimony of God at Work: Since we started the prayer and Bible studies on Wednesday evenings, we have had many prayers answered and evidence of spiritual growth in the faithful members. This is a great testimony of God's work.