As you may have heard, our 2025 holiday drive for Hard Rock is officially underway, and we are partnering up with the leadership of the Hard Rock Senior Center to help them put on a festive community dinner for the Christmas season! Below, you’ll see three categories of requested items.
 
The first list consists of food items for the holiday meal. Next, leaders have asked us if we could help to put together Christmas stockings for the Elders of the community, so we have listed some items we can put together as a gift for them. Lastly, due to budget cuts, there are items that their kitchen is in need of for day-to-day operations.

Senior Center Holiday Meal:

• Turkey or ham (4)
• Boxed potatoes or bags of potatoes (We've received enough)
• Canned green beans
• Canned cranberry sauce
• Canned gravy (We've received enough)
• Frozen bread rolls
• Boxed stuffing
• Boxed brownie or cake mix (We've received enough)
• Canned corn
• Sparkling water, juice, soda, or bottled water

Special Seasonal Items

• Stocking stuffers (for 70 seniors): Gloves, socks, slippers, soft candies, chocolates, lip balm, lotion, herbal tea, flashlights
• Blankets
• Strike anywhere matches

Senior Center: Other needed items:

• #10 cans of fruits and vegetables (Available at Smart and Final)
• Cooking oil and spray
• Paper plates
• Plastic silverware
• Paper towels
• Kleenex
• Pine Sol
• Bottled water
• Salad dressings
• Egg noodles/Pasta

Monetary donations will go towards:

• Gas for the drive to the reservation 
• Christmas stockings
• Garden hose for the Senior Center
• Produce we will purchase the day before the trip (onions, garlic, potatoes, apples)
• Tablecloths for their holiday dinner
• Any other missing items that were not donated

You can drop off donations in the church lobby on Sunday mornings or during the week during office hours. You can also donate monetarily here.

November is recognized as Native American Heritage Month, a time to learn about the history and celebrate the culture of Native American communities.

“Unsettling Truths” by Mark Charles & Soong-Chan Rah | Purchase

“Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way” by Richard Twiss | Purchase

“First Nations Version: An Indigenous Bible Translation of the New Testament” by Terry M. Wildman (Consulting Editor First Nations Version Translation Council) | Purchase

“First Nations Version Psalms and Proverbs: An Indigenous Bible Translation” by Terry M. Wildman (Consulting Editor First Nations Version Translation Council) | Purchase

[VIDEO] Christianity Today | Heritage and Hope: Listening to Native American Christian Voices: A conversation with indigenous leaders on the power of faith, history, and culture. | Watch

[VIDEO] Check out the recent Vineyard Gilbert service with Terry & Darlene Wildman and Brian Doerksen | Watch

Matthew 5:3-12
(First Nations Version)

Creator’s blessing rests on the poor, the ones with broken spirits. The good road from above is theirs to walk.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk a trail of tears, for he will wipe the tears from their eyes and comfort them.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk softly and in a humble manner. The earth, land, and sky will welcome them and always be their home.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who hunger and thirst for wrongs to be made right again. They will eat and drink until they are full.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are merciful and kind to others. Their kindness will find its way back to them-full circle.
Creator’s blessing rests on the pure of heart. They are the ones who will see the Great Spirit.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who make peace. It will be said of them, “They are the children of the Great Spirit!”
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are hunted down, and mistreated for doing what is right, for they are walking the good road from above.
Others will lie about you, speak against you, and look down on you with scorn and contempt, all because you walk the road with me. This is a sign that Creator’s blessing is resting on you. So let your hearts be glad and jump for joy for you will be honored in the spirit-world above. You are like the prophets of old, who were treated in the same way by your ancestors.

The next Helping Hard Rock drive is underway, and we are partnering up with the leadership of the Hard Rock Senior Center to help them put on a festive community dinner for the Christmas season. Here are the items needed for this drive. You can drop off donations in the church lobby on Sunday mornings or during the week during office hours. You can also donate, HERE.

Senior Center Holiday Meal:
Turkey or ham (4)
Boxed potatoes or bags of potatoes
Canned green beans
Canned cranberry sauce
Canned gravy
Frozen bread rolls
Boxed stuffing
Boxed brownie or cake mix
Canned corn 
Sparkling water, juice, soda, or bottled water

Special Seasonal Items:
Stocking stuffers (for 70 seniors): Gloves, socks, slippers, soft candies, chocolates, lip balm, lotion, herbal tea, flashlights
Blankets
Strike anywhere matches

Senior Center: Other needed items:
#10 cans
Cooking spray
Paper plates
Plastic silverware
Paper towels
Kleenex
Pine Sol
Bottled water
Salad dressings

This year our annual school supply drive opened up from partnering with just the Rocky Ridge Boarding School, to the rest of the Hard rock community. Leadership had asked for clear backpacks specifically, due to changes in security requirements in their schools. We were able to raise 100 clear backpacks, as well as lots of school supplies. High school and college-aged kids from the Youth Summer Program, led by Eugenia, met us to unload the van. They were then planning to sort through the supplies later that day to be distributed to the community.

For the Hard Rock Senior Center, we brought up large racks of ribs from our food pantry, serving trays, nonperishable food items such as flour, and appliances that they had requested in the past (slow cooker and coffee bean grinder), as well as a fan for an elder in the community who is living alone and when the Senior Center driver visited him, they found him covered in sweat because he had no means of cooling. We met with Sherlinda (driver) and Vernon (manager), and they shared that they were back to serving meals in the Chapter House instead of the Senior Center, as their water heater was broken. They were hoping to get it up and running in August. They also shared that since funds were still sparse, they hadn’t been able to go grocery shopping for two weeks, and were depending on the supplies we had brought up during the last trip.
 
While we were at the Chapter House, we were invited by Eugenia to visit the nearby church (Navajo Gospel Mission), where the Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM) were currently there for the week. CVM is an organization that sends voluntary veterinary professionals and students on short and long term missions to provide veterinary medicine to communities most in need. A group of about 35 volunteers were at Hard Rock for the week, providing mostly preventative care to the animals of the people in the community. We met Donna, the pastor’s wife of the mission, and she gave us a little history of the buildings of that property, some dating back to the 1920s. She invited us to lunch, where we connected with some of the volunteers, including a veterinarian friend of Pastor Joel who he hadn’t seen in about 10 years! She showed us around the property, where they were performing surgeries on animals in a trailer that did not have electricity or running water. We also met with the CEO of CVM, who also happened to be part of a Vineyard! He prayed for our team before we headed back on our four-hour drive back to Gilbert. It was truly a trip filled with divine meetings and connections!

We are hoping to have our next load focus on the Senior Center again in September, where we hope to bring up as many nonperishible food items as we can! They are requesting:

• #10 cans of fruits and vegetables
• Aluminum foil
• Paper towels
• Face masks
• Trash bags (33 gallon and 13 gallon)
• Coffee creamer
• Sweet n low
• Bottled water
• Paper plates
• Plasticware
• Flour
• Egg noodles
• Cream of mushroom soup
• Alfredo sauce  

Drop off items in our new Hard Rock room off the church lobby, during our office hours or Sunday morning service. You can make monetary donations via the link below:

Founded by one of our own, Lynette Greybull, Not Our Native Daughters is an organization created to address the Missing, Murdered, and Exploited Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) crisis. We have been meeting with their leadership team regularly through zoom to connect and pray for each other. We would like to raise money to buy First Nation Version Bibles for the organization to be able to gift to their community. If you’d like to donate to our fund drive for bibles, click below:

Here's an updated list of needs for our next trip up to Hard Rock, and some links to school supply deals at the bottom!

Senior Center:

Bottled Water
Paper plates
Plasticware
(A lot of) Flour
Egg noodles
Cream of Mushroom
Alfredo Sauce
Canned fruits and vegetables
A large box fan (for an Elder’s home)

School Supplies:

notebooks
lined paper
pencils with erasers
pencil sharpeners
markers/crayons/coloring pencils
staplers
rulers
calculators
glue sticks or bottles

Other classroom supplies: disinfecting wipes, kleenex, copy paper, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, construction paper

We are also hoping to purchase clear backpacks for students in the community, so we could use monetary donations!

If you’d like to donate monetarily to the cause, you can do so here:

Our School Supply Drive for the Hard Rock Chapter is coming up and we’ll be making our trip in mid-July, and talking with the leaders in Hard Rock, there is a specific way that our drive will look this year.

The school on the reservation is moving toward students having clear plastic backpacks (for school security and safety reasons), so our goal is to purchase enough clear plastic backpacks for every student. We also hope to gather enough school supplies for each student. Then, we’ll be taking the supplies to the Chapter House where high school and college aged interns will be assembling the backpacks for the Elementary school.

Needed School Supplies:

• notebooks
• lined paper
• pencils with erasers
• pencil sharpeners
• markers/crayons/coloring pencils
• staplers
• rulers
• calculators
• glue sticks or bottles

Other classroom supplies: disinfecting wipes, kleenex, copy paper, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, construction paper

In our church lobby you’ll notice bins labeled for each item (i.e. notebooks, lined paper, etc.), and we invite you to bring your donations and help us to organize by putting your donations in their assigned bins :-). Feel free to drop off donations during our Sunday morning gathering, or during the week during office hours.

The clear backpacks that we’ll be purchasing are on Amazon, here: https://a.co/d/6Jceg2t 
If you would like to donate toward the purchase of backpacks, you can donate at https://vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica

We hope that you’ll join us in serving Hard Rock in this way!

A Special Need for the Senior Center

The leaders at the Senior Center reached out and let us know that there is an Elder who lives alone, and in the past month his niece (who would care for him) passed away. The Senior Center driver took food to him and found him covered in sweat due to the summer heat. They have requested a fan (and any resources that can help with cooling) for this elder.

Please reach out to us and let us know if you can help out with this need!

How can one begin to describe and share with others the ‘indescribable gift’ of the ‘surpassing grace of God’ given to us?  After almost thirty years of involvement with prison ministry, the reality of God’s generous love and the clarion call remains the same:  ‘Whosoever will, let him come’…!  As I have witnessed hearts respond to the Good News of the Gift of Jesus, I have been blessed to see hearts, lives and families healed and transformed by God’s abundant mercy and grace.  I’ve watched as prisoners of the state of Arizona become ‘prisoners of the Lord’ and ‘oaks of righteousness’ in the midst of their very challenging and difficult surroundings and an unknown future.    

Having come to Christ and surrendered to His Lordship, they begin to partake of Him, grow up into Him and drink freely from the water of life.  Their hearts learn to trust and to surrender more fully to His Spirit and they desire to see His kingdom come, not just in their own lives, but in their world.  As the Holy Spirit is given His place and the Bible becomes the ‘living word’, the testimony of Jesus, the Truth, they realize there is no limit to God’s love, even if it comes in the form of correction.  Even for those few who find themselves back in prison, they understand that He has not changed; He is still holding forth to them the Word of Life and they know where to find hope and healing.  

The changed lives of these ‘captives’ are signs to those around them.  When they live in unity and love, they amaze others.  When they forgive as God forgives, those around them know something is different.  When they determine to follow God’s truth and ways despite the practices and beliefs of those around them, they are a testimony that there is a different way to live.  Without even speaking a word, they are holding forth the Word of Life and extending the invitation to ‘whosoever will’.  

It is pure joy to witness the growth of these believers as they understand and embrace the love and acceptance of God in truth, not just in doctrine.  With heartfelt repentance, they begin to worship God in spirit and in truth.  Their relationship with God through Christ, Christ as their new and true life, becomes personal — and it is transformative!  They find freedom from addictions, attitudes and the lies they have believed.  They begin to share with others what has become life IN them!  Leaders begin to emerge as evidenced by their servant hearts and desire to share Christ’s love with others.  They begin to care for those around them with the patience and care of Christ, knowing they have freely received forgiveness, mercy and grace, even as they themselves have struggled with surrendering fully to their heavenly Father.  As they come to Him, to the throne of grace, there is an awareness of the depth of His love and mercy.  The realization that they have access to the well of living waters that is in them is acted upon; they know all they have to do is ‘lower the bucket’ and drink freely from the water of life for themselves, and receive an abundant supply to offer to others; and this they do by manifesting Jesus’ love and kindness.  They KNOW it’s ‘not I, but Christ’.      

Over the years we have been blessed to baptize many of these women and the reality of the moment never, never fails to amaze and astound us!  It is such a privilege to witness these hearts surrendering to the Lord in this way, trusting and publicly declaring that they are no longer their own, they have been bought with a price.  Their hearts are truly overflowing with gratitude and hope as they look for the new Life to spring forth from the Seed of Christ.  In their hearts there is a surrendering of their past, their present and their future.  They are trusting in and surrendering to His Life in them and to God’s plans and purposes.  There is a renewed trust in His provision and His power to accomplish all His good will.  

Words fail to express the joy that continues when we’ve been blessed to stay in contact with these women and to see them grow and thrive in their respective communities.  The faithfulness of God abounds in their lives as they enter the workforce, serve in churches and ministries, and become salt and light in their families and neighborhoods.  Some have gone on to become mentors, others have become ministers in the prisons, and others were given the opportunity to advise leaders in government on ways to improve the prison’s rehabilitation efforts and the successful re-entry of those leaving confinement.

The reality of their changed lives is undeniable; because of the generous heart of God, there is a new Resident Boss, and His Name is Jesus.  Deep in their hearts, the new heart freely given and received, there is the cry:  
Worthy is Lamb to receive…

Toward the end of May, we’ll  be taking a load to the Hard Rock Chapter in the Navajo Nation. The focus of this load will be the Senior Center. The Senior Center provides meals for elders in their community every day. Due to budget cuts, the workers have to scrape by to provide for the elders in the community, and very often the manager has to purchase supplies out of her own resources. Our goal is to take a big load to answer a lot of the current needs that the Senior Center has. 

You can drop off donations in the worship center lobby on Sunday mornings or during the week during office hours. You can make monetary donations HERE.

We’re excited to share some of the ways we are continuing to partner with the leadership at Hard Rock as we go into this new year. It looks that there are some pressing needs to be met, so we are looking into doing a trip at the end of February or beginning of March with as big of a load as we can. This includes helping a student in need of some clothing.

STUDENT IN NEED OF CLOTHING (please donate new or gently used items only):

• Shirts - mens size L
• Jeans - 34 x 34
• Underwear - mens medium
• Socks - size 11
• Jacket - size large 

ROCKY RIDGE BOARDING SCHOOL DORMS

• Plastic forks, spoons, bowls, and plates
• Laundry detergent
• Body soap
• Shampoo
• Conditioner 
• Foot powder
• $ towards gas cards for parents of athletes 

SENIOR CENTER

• Aluminum foil
• Bottled water
• #10 canned vegetables
• #10 canned fruit
• Sweet and low sugar
• Sugar
• Brown rice
• Salt
• Dry beans
• White flour
• Napkins
• Paper towels
• Dish soap
• Toilet paper
• Paper towels
• Paper plates
• Gallon zip lock bags
• Sandwich bags
• Plastic spoons and plastic forks
• Saran wrap
• Coffee
• Creamer
• Ranch dressing

Thank you for considering to donate, and we would appreciate prayers too as we look to continue to develop this relationship with Hard Rock. Drop off items in the labeled box in the lobby at Vineyard Gilbert during office hours or Sunday morning service.  You can also make monetary donations at vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica. 

Pastor Joel has been reaching out to Lynette Greybull, Founder and Executive Director of Not Our Native Daughters and Indigenous Youth Voices, for practical ways that Vineyard Gilbert can partner with her organization. Lynette and her family have been members of our church in the past and now work and live in the Colorado/Wyoming area. One of the practical ways that have presented itself is offering prayer support to Lynette as she leads, so over Zoom Joel (and Terry and Darlene Wildman) have had a chance to pray and minister to Lynette as she leads in some challenging ways, and Joel was invited to pray for Lynette’s team during a planning meeting for a youth trip coming up. We’re thankful for these opportunities, and look forward to more doors that may open with NOND.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (First Nations Version)
Love is patient and kind. Love is never jealous. It does not brag or boast. It is not puffed up or big-headed. Love does not act in shameful ways, nor does it care only about itself. It is not hot-headed, nor does it keep track of wrongs done to it. Love is not happy with lies and injustice, but truth makes its heart glad. Love keeps walking even when carrying a heavy load. Love keeps trusting, never loses hope, and stands firm in hard times. The road of love has no end.

We plan to make a trip to Hard Rock in the beginning of November. For this trip, we would like to focus on getting items for the dorms and athletic department at Rocky Ridge Boarding School as well as the chapter’s Senior Center holiday dinner. Below is a list of needed items.

Senior Center (for Thanksgiving meal):
Turkey or ham (4)
Boxed potatoes or bags of potatoes
Canned green beans
Canned cranberry sauce
Canned gravy
Frozen bread rolls
Boxed stuffing
Boxed brownie or cake mix
Canned corn
Sparkling water, juice, soda, or bottled water

Other Senior Center items
Paper products
Canned fruit and vegetables
Cleaning supplies
Dish soap
Plastic utensils
Bottled water

Rocky Ridge Boarding School Athletics
Money donations for gas cards for parents (we will purchase from a local gas station)
Net laundry bags for sports uniforms
Spalding leather basketball
Reusable water bottles
Gatorade
Water with electrolytes

Rocky Ridge Boarding School Dorms
Laundry Detergent
Dryer sheets
Legos (ages 11-13)
Posters to decorate dorm walls (NBA, WNBA, universities)
Bottled water
You can drop off donations in the church lobby during the week or during Sunday morning services, and make monetary donations at: vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica.

Hi everyone,
We wanted to share about our past trip, as well as how you can help with a current partnership effort in our work with the Hard Rock Chapter.

On May 6, a team dropped off a load for the Senior Center and the Rocky Ridge Boarding School. This trip, we focused on items that would make the dorms feel more like a home away from home. We brought up items such as floor lamps, area rugs, posters to decorate walls, shoe racks, bath towels, bedding sets, board games, and large storage bins. For the Senior Center, they requested large metal shelving, which we were able to purchase through money donations, as well as a lot of bulk rice and other non-perishable items. While there, we chatted with Verna, who is one of the supervisors of the Senior Center. She shared that the Senior Center is still not open for meals, due to some continued repairs that they are having done.  Verna was very thankful for the donations, reiterating that they use everything that we bring up to them!

It’s that time of the year again! Time for our school supply drive! This will be our fourth year that we will be partnering with Rock Ridge Boarding School to help out with school supplies for the students and teachers. Last year, we were able to raise 91 backpacks, which allowed for a new backpack for every student. This year, our goal is for 75 backpacks, which is how many students they are anticipating for the next school year! Here are the school supply items that we are requesting:

• backpacks
• notebooks
• lined paper
• pencils with erasers
• pencil sharpeners
• markers/crayons/coloring pencils
• staplers
• rulers
• calculators
• glue sticks or bottles
• Other classroom supplies: disinfecting wipes, kleenex, copy paper, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, construction paper

The next trip is planned for the end of July. Please drop off all donations by Sunday, July 21! You can drop off donations in the church lobby during the week or during Sunday morning services, and make monetary donations at: vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica. 

On June 23, Terry Wildman shared an update about their ministry, and he also kicked off our sermon series on the Psalms of Ascent. LISTEN HERE

My much-loved friends, love each other, for love comes from the Great Spirit. All who love have been born of him and know him. Those who do not love do not know him, for the Great Spirit is love. Creator showed his love for us by sending the only Son who fully represents him into this world, so that we could live through him. This is love, not that we loved Creator, but that he loved us and proved his love by sending his Son to take on himself the burden of our broken ways.
My much-loved friends, if Creator loved us like that, then we should also love each other. No one has ever seen the Great Spirit, but as long as we love each other, he remains in us, and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he lives in us because Creator has shared his Spirit with us. We have seen and now tell you the truth about what our Father the Great Spirit has done. He sent his Son to be the Sacred Deliverer of the world. Those who tell others that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) is the Son of the Great Spirit are the ones Creator lives in, and they live in him.
1 John 4:7-15 (First Nations Version)

Psalm 120 (NLT)
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

I took my troubles to the Lord;
I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.
Rescue me, O Lord, from liars
and from all deceitful people.
O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you?
How will he increase your punishment?
You will be pierced with sharp arrows
and burned with glowing coals.
How I suffer in far-off Meshech.
It pains me to live in distant Kedar.
I am tired of living
among people who hate peace.
I search for peace;
but when I speak of peace, they want war!

Can you resonate with this Psalm? It reads like a poetic prayer of a culture-worn sojourner. This psalm, thought to be a poem recited or possibly sung by people making the journey to Jerusalem for festivals and worship, carries with it a longing for peace among people who are deceptive and violent. The reference to the lands of Meshech and Kedar, is a reference to two regions where the people were known for their barbarianism. As a traveler making the nomadic journey to worship God, one could imagine passing through regions such as these to be a fatiguing experience. Not only would you be making a long journey, but it seems that it would also involve ‘keeping your head down,’ seeking to get through regions where people may be aggressive, antagonistic, and even violent. But the cry of the worshiper is a petition for deliverance - trusting that God will act on our behalf, as well as the lament of weariness: “I am tired of living among people who hate peace.”

Questions to consider:
In what ways does this Psalm resonate with you?

What thoughts, images, or questions does this Psalm bring up in your heart and mind?

What might the Lord be inviting you to as you meditate on this Psalm?

Join Vineyard Gilbert this summer as we spend time in the Psalms of Ascent: https://vineyardgilbert.com/psalms-of-ascent

On 1/23, a team brought a load to Rocky Ridge Boarding School and the Senior Center at the Hard Rock Chapter. One of the Vineyard’s community groups, I-61, hosted a service day a couple days before where a group gathered to put together 60 Bobcat cheer kits filled with snacks and beverages, to be handed out with gas gift cards to families attending the games. We also made use of strong backs to help load up the church van for the trip (that helped to save us a lot of time!). Thanks to our community’s generous donations, we were able to give the Rocky Ridge athletic department 16 gas gift cards (exceeding our goal of 12) to hand out to families. 

Our first stop on the trip was the school, where along with the cheer kits and gift cards, we also dropped off laundry supplies and toiletries for the dorm. Jay, the president of Hard Rock, met us there and showed us around the dorms, where we saw the sleeping quarters. About 5 students shared a large room, with their individual bed/sleeping areas divided by half walls. Jay shared that a need would be items that would make the rooms feel more like home, such as rugs, lamps, and art work (see below for pictures of the dorms). Jay thanked us for the cheer kits and shared that they would be able to use them that day, during the basketball team’s away game. 

Next, we went to the senior center, where we were met by Vernon, the senior center supervisor. There, we dropped off cleaning supplies from Ace, fruit from the food pantry, storage containers, and non-perishable food items. Vernon showed us the newly renovated kitchen, and shared that they would be having a code inspection the next week, and hopefully open the dining room up for eating by the beginning of February. The seniors had been temporarily using the chapter house next door for their meals. 

Before heading back to the valley, we made a stop at Hopi Grounds Coffee, a small stand-alone building we drive past every trip to the Hard Rock Chapter, where we ordered coffee and chatted with Gary, the owner who was also what was seemingly the only employee of the coffee shop. He told us how he opened his coffee shop in 2021 as there were no other coffee shops nearby. We enjoyed his coffee as we made the 286-mile rainy and snowy trek back to Vineyard Gilbert.

We plan to do 4 more trips during this calendar year, with the next one scheduled for the beginning of May. For that trip, we would like to focus on getting items for both the dorms and the Senior Center. Below is a list of needed items. Check out our sign up genius to sign up to donate items, and to keep track of still needed items!

Dorm items:
Large reusable tote boxes
Loofahs
Legos (for around ages 11-13)
Towels
Bedding 
Board games (for Elementary and Middle School ages)
Shoes racks 
Floor lamps
Rugs

Senior Center:
Paper products
Canned fruit and vegetables
Cleaning supplies
Dish soap
Plastic utensils 

You can drop off donations in the church lobby during the week or during Sunday morning services, and make monetary donations at: vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica. Feel free to use our sign up genius link above to sign up for what you want to donate, and to see items that are still needed.

The Native American Basketball Invitational (NABI) is a yearly tournament that involves 144 boys and girls high school teams representing over 150 tribes. This year, Grand Canyon University will be the host of the 20th annual tournament from July 22 to July 27. Athletes flying in from all around the United States, Canada, and as far as New Zealand, will be able to explore Phoenix and participate in other events such as a career fair. Games are opened to the public with the championship games to be televised. To learn more, visit https://nativenewsonline.net/arts-entertainment/native-american-basketball-invitational-to-be-held-at-grand-canyon-university-in-july
or
https://www.azscience.org/about/news-room/2023/native-american-basketball-invitational-celebrates-its-20th-year-with-the-annual-tournament-scheduled-for-july-18-22/.

For more information on past conversation nights and blog posts, or to make a monetary donation toward our partnerships in the Navajo Nation or the White Mountain Apache Reservation, check out our page: https://vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica.

When the Father calls you by name, there is always a threefold challenge that follows—a challenge to your identity, a challenge to your belovedness, and a challenge to your purpose.

That challenge comes from somewhere, from a spiritual foe who is the embodiment of evil, an enemy whose singular goal is to get you lost in the wilderness—lost about who you are (your identity), whose you are (your belovedness), and what you are for (your
purpose).

I began to follow Christ during my high school years, spurred on by the encouragement and prayers of family members, a few faithful teachers, and some precious and discerning Christian friends.

I was loved to life in those early years of walking with Jesus. I vibrantly felt my faith, fresh and growing, at work in my bones. The Spirit was conforming me to Jesus, even while I slept. I experienced sonship, an abiding and quieting awareness of my identity as a child of God, and my purpose that flowed from that relationship of love. In those days, I experienced the heart-conquering and winsome affection of God, and a strange lifting of heavy weights that had been oppressing my spirit.

I gave everything I had to follow Jesus; it seemed the only fitting response to such great love. There have been many delightful days and dark nights since then. One would think, having experienced such astounding acceptance, affirmation, and blessing—in such a profound way, for so many decades—that I would never look back. But in the wilderness seasons of life, when we feel lost and abandoned, we sometimes look back.

I looked back, many times over the decades of my life. I looked back when the going got tough, when the emotions ran dry, or when a whisper—a beautiful but evil whisper—asked me “if” I was actually precious to God.

It goes something like this: If you are precious to God, then why is this happening to you? 

When one is in the midst of a protracted season of suffering, despair over our situation, or affliction with a chronic illness, that “if” seems to ring louder than all the worship songs one has ever sung.

If.

The battle to get us to look back begins the day we first embrace our identity, our belovedness, our purpose, our vocation—spoken to us intimately by the Father. As soon as that happens, as soon as love floods our soul and we say yes to the name God gives us, there is a satanic presence lurking in the background, waiting for an “opportune time” (Luke 4:13) to woo us away.

When and what are those opportune times? Moments of vulnerability, insecurity, pain, success, failure, insufficiency, pride, unbelief, confusion, despair, lust, greed, or revenge. And, if we let our enemy, our adversary, the one the Bible calls “the satan”—meaning “the adversary”—(I will refer to our enemy that biblical way throughout this book) draw us away from our true name before God, we will go down a slow track of confusion, disorientation, and even self-hatred and self-destruction. The ancients spoke of the two ways, the path to life and the path to death (Deut. 30:19; Ps. 16:11). For every person, that path to death begins the day we believe even a single word the devil speaks. It begins the day we listen to the enemy’s voice, without a heavenpowered refusal addressing the voice immediately and head-on. Listening to the evil one’s voice, both metaphorically and literally, is suicide. It all begins with one temptation left unanswered.

Since the time of my conversion, more than forty years ago now, I have been fascinated by the story of Jesus in the wilderness in Luke 4:1–14.

I have always felt there was more to that story than met the eye. I’ve heard myriad messages on those verses, and I’ve preached on that passage many times throughout the decades. I’ve spent hours reflecting on not only the passage, but also on what it means for Jesus to have been the one to pass on this story to his disciples (and all who would follow them). After all, no one else was with Jesus in the desert to record it; Jesus must have shared this profound experience with his followers, most probably to equip them for their own challenges ahead.

All that time, I now humbly confess, I have been reading the story from a limited perspective—along with many in the body of Christ, I’m sure. I won’t say that my reading of the wilderness narrative had been completely wrong, but I will say that I usually missed the wider, all-important context of Luke 3 and 4 in which the story takes place.

The story of Jesus in the wilderness—or Jesus in the “wild,” as I like to call the untamed places where life tumbles into life along our journey—is all about vocation (from the Latin word
vocare, which means “to call”). Vocation is what we speak of as a “calling.” How to receive our calling, embrace our calling, and fulfill our calling is the vital truth that sits at the center of the
journey ahead of us.

What happened between when Jesus was blessed and called into his vocation at his baptism and when Jesus launched into the fullness of his ministry in Luke 4:14–21 (see Isa. 61:1–2)? What happened between the naming and the doing, the calling and the ministry?

What happened was the wild. And what happens in the wild is what determines the telos (end goal) of your life and mine.

For that reason, I’ve wanted to revisit the treasures in this story many times over the years. Now is the opportunity, and I am grateful you can join me on the journey of discovery before us.

We’re about to share a long revisitation, a lengthy and moving meditation, on Luke 4:1–14. In the spirit of the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina, a practice marked by the continued repetition of a passage so one begins to not only enter the truth of the passage, but also to allow the Spirit to have the passage enter us, we will proceed.

In other words, I’d like to invite you to meditate on this one story in the Gospels for an entire season. To enter this passage, to enter it deeply and with a view to receive understanding and revelation as to its meaning for the church and for each one of us, will be transforming. I believe this because the “Word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12) and will be used by the Spirit to trigger seismic soul shifts in us—shifts we may not be aware are happening along the way.

It bears noting that the Hebrew word for meditation (as in “meditates on his law day and night” in Psalm 1:2) is the word hagah. This rich word hosts within it the idea that it is by mulling over, repeating continually, chewing on (like a dog with a bone), and lingering in passages from the Word of God, the Scriptures give up their layered and thick truth to us as we savor their words and meaning.

That is what we will do together over the course of these pages with the story of Jesus in the wilderness.

We will plumb the depths of this passage by lingering in one word, or one phrase, for the space of a single entry. Then, as we explore other words and phrases in these fourteen powerful verses, they will compound into a multilayered, thick truth over time. We will return again and again to the ideas explored in the previous days as we add to our opening passage daily.

Mulling, repeating, chewing, lingering—these are fitting verbs for how we must handle the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15) and its Spirit-revealed implications for walking on the path of life (Ps. 16:11).

Our meditation will center on the powerful biblical idea of vocation—what it means to be called by God to a purpose—and then to stay with that purpose through the hard days and deep nights we call a lifetime.

Jesus had to do this. So do we.

I will use the terms vocation and calling interchangeably throughout the book, but the term vocation will take the lead.

From my perspective, our vocation is a powerful way of expressing the idea of calling in our lives. However, when Christ-followers speak of calling with other Christ-followers, we often talk about the idea as a vague sense of purpose to do something, accomplish something, or get something done in the world.

Putting doing before being or, more accurately, making doing our foundation and being an optional add-on, we can create a monster. An affirmation-addiction monster. An applause-seeking monster. A misuse-of-power monster. A self-preservation monster. Monsters beget monsters, and our work, with Jesus as our leader, is to undo the hellish effects of the leading monster at work in the world (1 John 3:8).

Our vocation, a divine treasure given to each one of us from birth and originating in creation itself, is an invitation to be someone who then does something in the world.

Your vocation is to be someone who does something in the world.

Let that sink in.

If I don’t know who I am, who I am to become—then I will endlessly wander, trying to figure out what I am to do in the world.

Being leads to becoming leads to doing—a progression which leads to further awareness of who we are, who we are becoming, and what we are to do.

Jesus knew who he was (being), who he was being formed to be for the future of humankind (becoming), and what he was to accomplish in the world his Father loves (doing).

And that leads us to the story of Jesus in the wild and what happened there.

The wilderness, according to the Bible, is the eremos—it speaks of a place of isolation, separation, and encounter. We’ll explore this word later.

And just what was that experience that Jesus had?

Jesus was tested, and that test came by way of three temptations from the devil. If you struggle with the idea that the Father allows us to be tested, then read through the Old Testament and consider how many tests of faith, devotion, courage, and obedience were presented for those who loved God and were “called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

God allows us to be tested for our good. The enemy, however, tempts us for our destruction. The two experiences can look similar, but the purposes and outcomes of each are very, very different. God’s testing is intended to build us up. The enemy’s tempting is intended to tear us down.

In between our profound encounters with the God who is love (Jesus will encounter his Father in this way in his baptism in Luke 3) and some of the most profound vocational ministry activity of our lives (Jesus will leave the wilderness to minister in the “power of the [Holy] Spirit” in Luke 4:14), there will be a test.

Biblical scholar Tim Mackie (of Bible Project) illuminates what a test is for us. The Greek word is periazo—a test that reveals the truth of something—and that test will somehow involve both
God’s divine purpose and the enemy’s destructive challenge. Like tests in school, a test reveals what is, what we know, what is true and behind the veil of impressions. Tests reveal truth about our character, and are meant for our good. Temptations (another way the word is translated) have the goal of leading us to do evil.

Abraham was tested. Israel was tested. And Jesus was tested by the Pharisees to reveal the truth about who he was. Mackie suggests that we must welcome the idea that God tests people in ways that reveal what is happening inside us. I have come to agree.

How we handle those tests, and who we see those tests coming from, means everything; our heart is being proved true and our faith revealed as genuine (1 Peter 1:7) in such times of difficulty.

When our soul has been tested and we pass, we internally become convinced that something has actually become real within. In those moments, God has used the challenge to show us our own hearts and to convince us that we are indeed living truly according to what we believe. With such a self-convincing revelation pounding at our core, we can become an unstoppable force of life and love in the world.

But when our faith remains in the land of questions, the lands of ifs and maybes, and we wonder if we have what it takes to see this whole, strange faith thing through until the end, then we are impotent to press through the hell before us to see the heaven rising behind it.

I would encourage you to have a journal open and ready as you read each entry, to note words or phrases that are meaningful to you, as well as to answer the questions that are at the conclusion of each reading. It is widely known in Christian history that through journaling and writing, the Holy Spirit helps us to both document and remember words we are given to carry forward into our future.

As we consider this passage, we will be meditating on the story in the historic and prayerful spirit of contemplation, being with God in conversation as we read. Eugene Peterson speaks of contemplation this way: “Contemplation in the schema of lectio divina means living the read/meditated/prayed text in the everyday, ordinary world. It means getting the text into our muscles and bones, our oxygen-breathing lungs and blood-pumping heart.”  I agree with Peterson; we must eat this story, and it must become part of us.

Your journal will provide a lasting record that you invested your own heart into this season at the feet of Jesus, and that you addressed the demonic and satanic voices that were challenging you in your own vocation before God. Your journal will be a lasting record that you came out on the other side of this reading stronger in heart for the next season of life and ministry in the Holy Spirit.

Yours for the awakening,
Dan Wilt

This resource comes with an invitation.

The invitation is as simple as it is comprehensive. It is not an invitation to commit your life to this or that cause or to join an organization or to purchase another book. The invitation is this: to wake up to the life you always hoped was possible and the reason you were put on planet Earth.

It begins with following Jesus Christ. In case you are unaware, Jesus was born in the first century BCE into a poor family from Nazareth, a small village located in what is modern-day Israel. While his birth was associated with extraordinary phenomena, we know little about his childhood. At approximately thirty years of age, Jesus began a public mission of preaching, teaching, and healing throughout the region known as Galilee. His mission was characterized by miraculous signs and wonders; extravagant care of the poor and marginalized; and multiple unconventional claims about his own identity and purpose. In short, he claimed to be the incarnate Son of God with the mission and power to save people from sin, deliver them from death, and bring them into the now and eternal kingdom of God—on earth as it is in heaven.

In the spring of his thirty-third year, during the Jewish Passover celebration, Jesus was arrested by the religious authorities, put on trial in the middle of the night, and at their urging, sentenced to death by a Roman governor. On the day known to history as Good Friday, Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. On the following Sunday, according to multiple eyewitness accounts, he was physically raised from the dead. He appeared to hundreds of people, taught his disciples, and prepared for what was to come.

Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended bodily into the heavens where, according to the Bible, he sits at the right hand of God, as the Lord of heaven and earth. Ten days after his ascension, in a gathering of 120 people on the day of Pentecost, a Jewish day of celebration, something truly extraordinary happened. A loud and powerful wind swept over the people gathered. Pillars of what appeared to be fire descended upon the followers of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, the presence and power of God, filled the people, and the church was born. After this, the followers of Jesus went forth and began to do the very things Jesus did—preaching, teaching, and healing—planting churches and making disciples all over the world. Today, more than two thousand years later, the movement has reached us. This is the Great Awakening and it has never stopped.

Yes, two thousand years hence and more than two billion followers of Jesus later, this awakening movement of Jesus Christ and his church stands stronger than ever. Billions of ordinary people the world over have discovered in Jesus Christ an awakened life they never imagined possible. They have overcome challenges, defeated addictions, endured untenable hardships and suffering with unexplainable joy, and stared death in the face with the joyful confidence of eternal life. They have healed the sick, gathered the outcasts, embraced the oppressed, loved the poor, contended for justice, labored for peace, cared for the dying, and yes, even raised the dead.

We all face many challenges and problems. They are deeply personal, yet when joined together, they create enormous and complex chaos in the world, from our hearts to our homes to our
churches and our cities. All of this chaos traces to two originating problems: sin and death. Sin, far beyond mere moral failure, describes the fundamental broken condition of every human
being. Sin separates us from God and others, distorts and destroys our deepest identity as the image-bearers of God, and poses a fatal problem from which we cannot save ourselves. It results in an ever-diminishing quality of life and ultimately ends in eternal death. Because Jesus lived a life of sinless perfection, he is able to save us from sin and restore us to a right relationship with God, others, and ourselves. He did this through his sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf. Because Jesus rose from the dead, he is able to deliver us from death and bring us into a quality of life both eternal and unending.

This is the gospel of Jesus Christ: pardon from the penalty of sin, freedom from the power of sin, deliverance from the grip of death, and awakening to the supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit to live powerfully for the good of others and the glory of God. Jesus asks only that we acknowledge our broken selves as failed sinners, trust him as our Savior, and follow him as our Lord. Following Jesus does not mean an easy life; however, it does lead to a life of power and purpose, joy in the face of suffering, and profound, even world-changing, love for God and people.

All of this is admittedly a lot to take in. Remember, this is an invitation. Will you follow Jesus? Don’t let the failings of his followers deter you. Come and see for yourself. Here’s a prayer to get you started:

It would be our privilege to help you get started and grow deeper in this awakened life of following Jesus. For some next steps and encouragements, visit seedbed.com/Awaken.

January Trip
Our next trip to the Hard Rock Chapter is coming up and we are excited to be able to engage with the community in new ways this year. Our main focus this trip is to support the student athletes at the local school, Rocky Ridge Boarding School. You may remember that we highlighted in our last newsletter how important sports is in the Navajo Nation in bringing the community together. In conversations with Hard Rock Chapter President Jay Begay, we brainstormed ways to provide resources to families who have to travel a long way to watch their kids compete in games. We are putting together what we’re calling “Bobcat Cheer Kits” as the Bobcat is the Rocky Ridge School mascot. In these kits, which will be housed in a reusable drawstring bag, we will have snacks and other food items, as well as gas cards for the families who need to make the long journey to attend games. Items we are requesting are:

• Money donations for gas cards (we will purchase the gas cards from a local gas station) and for any additional needed supplies. Our goal is to purchase 12 gas cards with the value of $25 each, and we still have a long way to go!
• Chewing gum, mints
• Individually packaged snacks (chips, crackers, beef jerky, trail mix, etc.)

(We’ve already received enough water and sports drinks. Thank you to those who have already donated!)

Additionally, we’ll be taking a load of supplies for the Hard Rock Senior Center. The list of items needed include:

• Dry food and canned goods
• Dish detergent
• Plastic Silverware
• Napkins
• Paper towels
• Food containers
• Shampoo, conditioner, body wash
• Body lotion
• Laundry detergent
• Dryer Sheets

You can drop off donations in the church lobby during the week or during Sunday morning services, and make monetary donations at: vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica.

How Can I Get Involved?
Besides donating any of the listed items above (we could still use a lot of donations!), we will have a Service Day on Sunday, January 21, which will be held right before the trip. You are invited to join us to put together the Bobcat Cheer Kits and load up the church van. 

Who: Everyone’s invited!
When: Sunday 1/21 from 4:00pm-5:30pm
Where: Vineyard Gilbert 
What to Expect: Together with the I-61 group (one of the Vineyard community groups), we will be putting together the Bobcat Cheer Kits, organizing the donations, and loading up the vehicles that we will be driving to Hard Rock. 

Cultural Fact
History was made at the Golden Globes this year, with Lily Gladstone being the first indigenous person to win best actress for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In her acceptance speech, she said “This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories - by ourselves, in our own words - told with tremendous allies and tremendous trust with and from each other.” Read more here.

“But we must also find joy in our sufferings on his behalf. For we know that when the trail gets rough, we must walk with firm steps to reach the end. As we walk firmly in his footprints, we gain the strength of spirit that we need to stay true to the path. This gives us the hope we need to reach the end of the trail with honor. All of this is because of Creator’s great love that has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is his gift to us from above.”
Romans 5:3-5 (First Nations Version)

For more information on past conversation nights and blog posts, or to make a monetary donation toward our partnerships in the Navajo Nation or the White Mountain Apache Reservation, check out our page: https://vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica.

We are excited to share some new ways we will be engaging with the Hard Rock community in these upcoming months. After the school supply drive, we were looking for more ways we could be involved with the students at Rocky Ridge Boarding School, especially in the area of athletics. Jay (the president of Hard Rock) shared what a huge role sports play in the lives of the students. For kids that live in a very isolated area like the Navajo Nation, sports are not just an extracurricular activity, but they give them something to look forward to, and to work hard toward. Sports are an opportunity to build skills, reach goals, and to take pride in achievement. With this in mind, the student athletes will often have the wrong shoes for sports (i.e., wearing basketball shoes for cross country), or worn down shoes, which can limit them or even cause injury. So, we will be doing a sort of shoe drive, specific to students identified by the teachers of the school that most need it. Sports offered during the Fall season for grades 5-8 are cross country and volleyball, and they run from August-October. This year, there are about 15 students on the volleyball team, and 20 students in cross country. So far, here are three students we would like to provide new running shoes for:

• Nalzasin, size 8.5 mens
• Wane, size 9 mens
• Leveah, size 8 womens
  
  

If you are interested in sponsoring shoes for one of these three students, please let us know ASAP by responding to this email! You can either make a monetary donation, purchase the shoes online to ship directly to the school, or buy the shoes and we will ship them for you. We are looking to try to have the shoes shipped to them by mid-end September so that the kids will be able to get some use for them before the end of their season.
 
Additionally, you can also choose to help with other athletic gear. For the Fall season, it would be:

• Socks
• Athletic shorts 
• Knee pads 
• Reusable water bottles

Another idea proposed was to create incentive kits for parents to either enroll their children in sports, or to hand out to parents during games to encourage attendance, as parents often have to travel a long distance to attend games at the school. This can include but is not limited to snack packs, sets of towels, hygiene kits for men, or gas cards.

You can start dropping off any of the above listed items during office hours (M-Th 10am-4pm) or during Sunday morning services in the lobby of the church. Again, if you’re able to provide shoes for one of the three students listed above, please reach out to us directly! Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support.

CULTURAL FACT:
As we’ve mentioned in this email, sports play a big part in community life in the Navajo Nation (as in many Native American reservations). Basketball or Nothing is a 2019 American documentarian non-scripted reality television series on Netflix filmed in Chinle, Arizona. The premise revolves around the lives of the Chinle High School boys’ basketball team based on the Navajo Nation reservation (Wikipedia). We encourage you to watch this six episode documentary for a look into life on the Rez. Stream on Netfix.

Always dance with joy before our Honored Chief! I will say it again: dance with joy! Let everyone see how kind and thoughtful you are. Our Honored Chief is close at hand. Do not let your hearts be weighed down with anything. Instead, with every step you take, send your voice to the Great Spirit, asking him for the things you need. And in all your prayers remember to give him thanks. Then the peace and harmony of the Great Spirit, which goes far beyond our small and weak ways of thinking, will watch over your hearts and minds through the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

Philippians 4:4-7
First Nations Version

Last month, a team made the drive up to the Hard Rock Chapter to make a delivery to the Rocky Ridge Boarding School, the Senior Center, and the Chapter House. We were so excited to be able to make our goal of raising 91 backpacks, and Jay (the Chapter president) was just as excited to receive them! Here’s a summary of our trip:

Rocky Ridge Boarding School
For the first time, we were invited to visit the school to drop off the items. In the past, we’ve dropped off the school supplies at the Chapter House, so we were thrilled when Jay asked us to drop off at the school, which was about 6 miles west of the Chapter House. As we pulled up to the school, we could see soccer goals set up in a large field, a basketball court, a playground, a mobile medical van, and several buildings spread out on campus. We were given instructions to drop off the items in one of the residential buildings, where Jay met us. The campus was mostly empty as the kids had not yet returned to school from Summer Break.

As we walked through the building, we saw many disassembled metal beds, new mattresses, and bedding. Jay shared that they were replacing the wooden beds with new metal beds because the wooden beds were more prone to bed bugs.

While at the school, we unloaded the backpacks, school supplies, laundry items, toiletries, and shower curtains that Jay had requested. As we chatted, we learned that around 20-30 students actually stay on campus year-round. These are the children that live in very rural areas that make it difficult to commute to school daily. We learned that a need was items to make the dorm rooms and residential buildings feel more like home, such as art work, lamps, and plants. In addition, the girls like having cosmetic holders and the boys like having shoe racks.
From the building, Jay pointed out the beginnings of what was going to be a community garden. In the fall, the students will be planting squash, corn, and beans (known as the Three Sisters…more about that below in the cultural fact section!), as well as Navajo tea, melons, and plants to dye wool. This is to teach the kids to farm traditional foods.

We also learned that athletics play a large role in engaging and motivating the students. Kids from grade 5-8 can enroll in cross country and volleyball in the Fall, basketball in the Winter, and softball and football in the Spring. With that, there is a need for athletic gear for the kids, mostly shoes and cleats. Jay shared that kids will often not have the proper footwear, and for example, will wear basketball shoes for cross country. As a result, the kids are more susceptible to injuries from poor fitting shoes.

Senior Center
From the school, we headed to the Senior Center, where Verna was eagerly awaiting our arrival. We were able to meet Vernon, a new supervisor for the Senior Center who started working there about 4 months ago. When introducing us to Vernon, Verna said “these are the people that pulled me through when I was by myself!”

Inside the Senior Center, we could see the water damage caused by a broken pipe from 3 months prior. Rebuilding had been slow, with the kitchen counters just recently replaced, and new flooring still needing to be laid. While the Senior Center is being fixed, Verna has had to cook out of the kitchen at the Chapter House, which is the next building over. In-person dining had recently resumed, with seniors temporarily dining at the Chapter House until the Senior Center is able to reopen. Verna shared that just that morning of our arrival, she cooked for 27 seniors, and that she provides food for about 40 seniors daily.
 
With the help of several high school interns, we unloaded food, water, and disposable trays that we had brought. Verna again expressed gratitude and shared that in the past, they have used every single food item that we’ve brought up during previous trips.

Chapter House
Our last stop was the Chapter House, where we dropped off the remaining items of cleaning supplies and a bike. The cleaning supplies were once again from Ace Hardware, as they donated to us a large amount of discontinued products.

We then made the long drive back to Gilbert, stopping at Winslow for a quick lunch near the famous Standin’ on the Corner Park. After driving about 580 miles round trip, we made it home safely. Attached to this email are some pictures of our trip. There’s one of the loaded church van and truck, the Rocky Ridge Boarding School campus, talking to Jay at the school, the view of the Chapter House from the Senior Center, the team unloading supplies at the Senior Center, and the Rocky Ridge students receiving their backpacks on the first day of school.

Next Steps
As we look to the Fall/Winter, we are planning to put a focus on the athletic program at Rocky Ridge, as Jay mentioned how important sports are to the children in that community.  In addition, we are considering another Holiday Food Drive like we did last year. More to come as we continue our discussions with leadership at Hard Rock!

OTHER EXCITING NEWS:
You may be familiar with YouVersion, a popular bible app. The First Nations Version was recently included in one of the versions you are able to access through that app! Additionally, IVP recently did a spotlight on the First Nations Version. Check it out here.

CULTURAL FACT
Corn, squash and beans, when grown together, are known as the Three Sisters, and is an intercropping practice first used by the Iroquois. The idea is that when planted together, each crop provides an enriched environment for the other two to thrive. The beans help in fertilizing the soil for the corn and squash, the corn stalk provides support for the other two to grow by allowing them to wind around the stalk, and the squash leaves cover the ground to prevent weed growth. Read more on the history of The Three Sisters here. The students at Rocky Ridge Boarding School will get a chance to learn about intercropping this Fall, when they plant The Three Sisters in their new garden, along with other plants.

Whenever you come into my thoughts I give thanks to my Creator. I always pray with a glad heart when I send up prayers for you, because from the first day until now we have walked side by side in the telling of the good story. I have no doubts that the one who set your feet on this good path will keep walking it with you until the day that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One appears.
Philippians 1:3-6
First Nations Version

Thank you to all who have donated towards this next trip so far! There is a little over a week left for our third annual school supply drive for Rocky Ridge Boarding School, the local residential school on the Hard Rock Chapter. Our goal this year is to collect 91 backpacks, which would be enough to supply a backpack for every student at Rocky Ridge. Last year, we were able to collect 60 backpacks. So far this year, we have collected 51 backpacks, so we need 40 more!

Other requested items include laundry supplies for the school because of a budget shortfall this year, as well as bottled water and to-go containers for the Senior Center. We are still in need of all items listed below! Our trip is planned for July 18, so donations should be dropped off by Sunday, July 16!

School supplies needed:
backpacks
notebooks
lined paper
pencils with erasers
pencil sharpeners
markers/crayons/coloring pencils
staplers
rulers
calculators
glue sticks or bottles
Other classroom supplies: disinfecting wipes, kleenex, copy paper, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, construction paper

Other needed items:
Liquid laundry detergent
Fabric softener
Dryer sheets
Girls body wash
Opaque shower curtains
Bottled water

Keep an eye out on our social media outlets! We will be providing weekly updates on how close we are to meeting our goals. Feel free to like and share our posts to spread the word!

There is a large wooden donation bin labeled “Helping Hard Rock School Supply Drive” in the lobby to drop off all your items! Drop off during office hours (M-Th 10am-4pm) or during Sunday morning services.

Water is essential to life and a crucial resource on the reservations. Because of that, things like water rights are an ongoing battle in litigation. This issue is not just about the resource of water, but about tribal sovereignty (the right to govern one’s community, the ability to preserve one’s culture, and the right to control one’s own economy). (Federal Bar Association, “Understanding Tribal Sovereignty”) One of those cases that has recently been in the Supreme Court has been the case: Arizona v. Navajo Nation. You can read more about the case and ruling HERE.

“Water is necessary for all life, and when our ancestors negotiated agreements with the United States to secure our lands and our protection, water was understood and still is understood to be inseparable from the land and from our peoples. Today, the Supreme Court has once again assisted in the United States’ centuries-long attempts to try to get out of the promises they have made to Tribal Nations by stating that treaties only secure access to water, but do not require the United States to take any steps to protect or provide that water to our people,” - National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) President Fawn Sharp.

But you, my sacred family members, have been called to walk in freedom. Do not use this freedom to walk in weak and broken human ways. Instead, walk in love and serve each other. For all of our tribal law finds its full meaning and purpose in one instruction. “Love your fellow human beings in the same way you love yourself. If you keep on acting like wild animals, biting and snapping at each other, watch out! You may end up wiping each other out!

Galatians 5:13-15
First Nations Version

For more information on past conversation nights and blog posts, or to make a monetary donation toward our partnerships in the Navajo Nation or the White Mountain Apache Reservation, check out our page: https://vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica.

The School Supply Drive for the Hard Rock Chapter is underway and we have just three more weeks to gather all the needed items! We have a goal of 91 backpacks (which would provide one for every student at Rocky Ridge Boarding School) and we have 32 so far! Drop off donations at the church worship center lobby on Monday - Thursday or Sunday morning. There is a full list of needs below! All items are still needed! Please note, we are looking to bring new, unused items. 

Looking for some school supply deals? Here are some ideas.

Check weekly deals from:

• Staples
• Walmart
• Amazon

Some good backpack deals we found:

• 99 cent store had some for as low as $8
• Ross had some name brand backpacks for as low as $9
• Walmart has some for as low as $15
• Amazon has some for about $15

School supplies needed:
backpacks
notebooks
Lined paper
pencils with erasers
pencil sharpeners
markers/crayons/coloring pencils
staplers
rulers
calculators
glue sticks or bottles
Other classroom supplies for teachers: disinfecting wipes, kleenex, copy paper, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, construction paper

Other needed items:
Liquid laundry detergent
Fabric softener
Dryer sheets
Girls body wash
Opaque shower curtains
Bottled water 

Looking for some school supply deals to help our partnership with the Hard Rock Chapter? Here are some ideas.

Check weekly deals from:

• Target  https://weeklyad.target.com/promotions?code=Target-20230611&page=18 
• Walmart https://www.walmart.com/cp/school-supplies/1086045?povid=BTSHardlines_Search_BTS 
• Staples https://www.staples.com/lp/weekly-ad
• Amazon https://www.amazon.com/s?k=school+supply+deals&crid=2GPHC0OHK6QD4&sprefix=school+supply+deals,aps,229&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
• Dollar Tree https://www.dollartree.com/weeklyad

Some good backpack deals we found:

• 99 cent store had some for as low as $8
• Ross had some name brand backpacks for as low as $9
• Walmart has some for as low as $15
• Amazon has some for about $15 (https://www.amazon.com/Ricky-H-Graffiti-Backpack-Lightweight-Compartment-Dark/dp/B079K963KG/ref=sr_1_4?crid=36KVCG2OQEFG1&keywords=backpacks&qid=1686683172&sprefix=backpacks,aps,176&sr=8-4&th=1)

Here are some updates from the Vineyard’s partnership with the Hard Rock Chapter in the Navajo Nation.

February Trip
On February 28, a team brought a load of supplies up to the Hard Rock Chapter and Senior Center, focused on cleaning supplies and to-go containers. Ace Hardware was discontinuing some of their products and wanted to donate a lot of those supplies to us, so we divided the items between the Hard Rock Chapter and the Food Pantry. From the cleaning supplies, staff members at the Hard Rock Chapter then put together cleaning kits to distribute to the community.The staff at the Chapter House expressed their gratitude, and in the near future we will be taking the remainder of the supplies that have been donated.

Upcoming Trip
Our next trip will focus on items for the local residential school on the Hard Rock Chapter, Rocky Ridge Boarding School. Jay, the president of the Chapter, let us know that the school has experienced a budget shortfall and is in need of laundry items, such as liquid laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets, as well as girls body wash and opaque shower curtains. In addition, we will be holding our annual school supply drive for the school as well. We have a goal this year of 91 backpacks! Our trip is planned for July 18, so donations should be dropped off by July 16!

We are also considering doing an additional trip prior to the July trip for the senior center who is in need of supplies. Verna, the senior center supervisor, shared with us that they have a broken water main and have had to travel to a nearby town to prepare food. They are in need of water and more to-go containers to better serve the seniors in their community. 

School supplies needed:
backpacks
notebooks
paper
pencils with erasers
pencil sharpeners
markers/crayons/coloring pencils
staplers
rulers
calculators
glue sticks or bottles
Other classroom supplies: disinfecting wipes, kleenex, copy paper, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, construction paper

Other supplies needed:
Liquid laundry detergent
Fabric softener
Dryer sheets
Girls body wash
Opaque shower curtains
Water 

Feel free to start dropping off donated items now! Drop off during office hours (M-Th 10am-4pm) or during Sunday morning services. 

Cultural Fact
Last year the Hardrock Chapter became an innovative voice in the Navajo Nation with the installation of a free solar + battery storage system after partnering with Sunnova Energy International Inc., Generac Power Systems, Inc. and San Francisco based non-profit, Empowered by Light. 

Chapter President Jay Begay (who we work with in our partnership) shared with the Navajo-Hopi Observer, “For many years now, our people have been opposed to coal mining on our lands and we still feel the effects of the mining today. With this new project, we can finally shift to renewables and show our entire community the benefits and resilience of nature by harnessing clean energy from the sun to power our daily activities at the Chapter House, while combating climate change. Our community relies on the essential services provided at the Chapter House because we live in a very remote area. The Chapter’s goal is to continuously develop these services, and with the extra bill savings from our new solar + storage system, we aim to do just that – expand and better our resources for the people we serve.”

Matthew 25:34-40 (First Nations Version)
“Then the Chief will say to the sheep on his right, ‘The blessing of my Father rests upon you. Come into the Land of Creator’s good road that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was hungry and you fed me. I was a stranger and you gave me lodging. When I needed clothes, you gave me something to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in prison, you visited me.’
        “‘When did we do all these things for you?’ the good-hearted ones asked.
        “‘I speak from my heart,’ he answered them, ‘whatever you did for the least important of my fellow human beings who needed help, you did for me.’”

The Hard Rock Chapter in the Navajo Nation hasn’t had a community Christmas dinner since before the pandemic and we were asked if we could help get them what they need to put that dinner on. We were asked to get 10 turkeys, which different Hard Rock staff members at the chapter house will take home and cook for the dinner. The other items we will be bringing are to help make the sides for this gathering. The president of the chapter house estimates there will be about 250 people that will be coming to that dinner. We invite you to be a part of blessing the Hard Rock Chapter to make this year special for their community! You can drop off items (including Turkeys) this Sunday and throughout the week during regular office hours! You can also donate monetarily to help with this trip at vineyardgilbert.com/nativeamerica

Here is a list of requested items!
- 10 turkeys/roasts/hams
- Frozen pies
- Boxed stuffing
- Potatoes or boxed mashed potatoes
- Canned green beans
- Frozen rolls 
- Canned cranberry sauce
- Canned gravy
- Sweet potatoes

Other items they requested to help Elders in the community through the winter months:
- Fire starter (most homes are heated by wood-burning stove)
- Propane cylinders (the kind you use for camping lamps and stoves)
- Strike anywhere matches
- Gloves for elders
- New or gently used warm blankets
- Dog food
- Water (bottles or gallons)
- Compartment trays and 16 oz soup bowls (We are able to buy these in bulk, so a great way to help is to donate funds for this expense!)

Happy October! Here is the Loving Native America October update.

October Trip
The next Hard Rock trip will focus on bringing firewood for the winter months and items for the senior center. Based on our conversations with the leadership at Hard Rock, these are some of the requested items:

• Firewood
• Water (water bottles and gallons)
• Canned fruit
• Non-perishable food items
• Compartment trays and 16 oz soup bowls (We are able to buy these in bulk, so a great way to help is to donate funds for this expense!)
• Disposable plates, bowls, utensils, and cups
• Sturdy wooden mops
• Cleaning solutions and spray
• Antibacterial hand soap

The trip is scheduled for Monday, October 24, so bring in all your donations by Sunday, October 23! As a reminder, you can drop off donated items in the Vineyard Gilbert lobby during our weekly office hours, as well as during Sunday morning services.
Donate funds: www.vineyardgilbert.com/give (Select the “Helping the Navajo Nation” fund from the dropdown.)

Cultural Fact
On September 30th, Canada recognizes the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This day, also known as Orange Shirt Day, was started in 2013 and became a federal holiday in 2021 to honor and remember the indiginous children taken away to boarding or “residential” schools and the horrific experiences many of them endured. This day was started by Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, who attended a residential school herself. She remembers being taken from her family at the age of 6, and bringing with her a beautiful orange shirt her grandmother had bought her for school. When she got to the school, all her belongings were taken from her, including her new orange shirt, which she never saw again. Wearing an orange shirt on this day is an act of solidarity with other residential school survivors. While this is a day observed in Canada, it is a good reminder to us of the history of injustice towards the indiginous people in North America as a whole, and the ongoing intergenerational impact and violence that our first nations communities continue to face.

On one of these Days of Resting, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) returned to his boyhood home in Seed Planter Village (Nazareth). As was his tradition, he entered the gathering house and stood up to read from the ancient Sacred Teachings. The headman handed him the scroll with the words from the prophet Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah). He opened the scroll and began to read.
He spoke with deep respect in his voice as he held the scroll in a sacred manner. His words were strong and clear, and his eyes were bright and full of life as he read.
“The Spirit of Creator has come to rest on me. He has chosen me to tell the good story to the ones who are poor. He has sent me to mend broken hearts, to tell prisoners they have been set free, to make the blind see again, and to lift up the ones who have been pushed down - to make it known that Creator’s Year of Setting Free has come at last!”
Luke 4:16-19
First Nations Version

T-minus one week before we drop off school supplies for the kids on the Hard Rock Chapter! Join us in supporting these children in having the materials needed for a successful 2022-2023 school year! Below are some of the best school supply deals for this week. Also, we know how much wear and tear goes into backpacks each year. We would love to be able to provide some new backpacks for the kids as well! At the bottom of this post are ideas of where to buy backpacks. Happy shopping!

Back to school deals: July 3-July 9

Staples:
24-pack crayola crayons  $0.50
Sharpener  $0.50
Elmer’s washable school glue  $0.50
Composition notebooks $0.50
3-pack pink erasers  $0.75
12-pack crayola colored pencils  $0.99
12-pack crayola markers  $0.99
Translucent pencil box  $0.99
5-pack sharpies  $4.49
3-pack Clorox disinfecting wipes  $5.29
12-pack pencil topper erasers  $0.50
8-pack elmer’s glue sticks  $2.99
1-subject notebooks $0.35

Walmart: (in-store and online offers):
12-count Pen+Gear No. 2 pencils  $0.47
2-pack pink erasers $0.47
27-count BIC mechanical pencils  $3.94
12-count Crayola colored pencils  $0.97
3-prong paper folder  $0.24
500 sheet copy paper  $5.27
10-count Cra-Z-Art broadline markers  $0.50
1-subject notebooks  $0.35
24-count Pen+Gear crayons  $0.25
24-count crayola crayons  $0.50
2-count Elmer’s purple glue sticks  $0.54
120-piece Crayola construction colored paper  $3.94
10-count crayola thin line markers  $0.97
150 pages filler paper  $0.84
25-count pencil topper erasers  $0.47
24-count Ticonderoga pencils  $3.97
2-pack Pen+Gear blunt scissors  $1.47
Pen+Gear washable school glue  $0.25
Elmer’s washable school glue  $0.54

Target:
24-pack Crayola crayons  $0.50
2-count Elmer’s purple glue sticks  $0.55
12-count Crayola colored pencils  $0.99
2-pocket folder prongs  $0.50
1-inch round ring binder  $0.99
175-sheet filler paper  $0.99
Fiskers kids’ blunt or pointed tip scissors  $1.49
Up & Up 2-count pink erasers  $0.49
12-inch wood ruler  $0.55

Amazon:
30-pack Elmer’s school glue sticks  $8.27
12-count sharpie highlighters  $5.47
12-count Expo dry erase markers  $8.97
150-count Amazon #2 pencils  $14.62


BACKPACKS
Ross (in-store): Starting from $14.99

Walmart: Starting from $14.99
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everest-Unisex-Classic-Backpack-Gray/15657922?athcpid=15657922&athpgid=AthenaHomepageDesktop__gm__-1.0&athcgid=null&athznid=SeasonalCampaigns_21f62f7f-528b-4b07-ae0e-22aa7117f1d9_items&athieid=null&athstid=CS020&athguid=l-mAvuJnMbUfKh-JDdjIZI-tTLFf_507DS9P&athancid=null&athena=true

Target: Starting from $18 (This deal is also buy 2 get 1 free right now):
https://www.target.com/p/kids-39-shark-printed-backpack-cat-38-jack-8482-navy/-/A-82114426#lnk=sametab

Amazon (online): starting from $15.29 https://www.amazon.com/Ricky-H-Graffiti-Backpack-Lightweight-Compartment-Dark/dp/B079K963KG/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3N03RAI2YWPLL&keywords=backpacks&qid=1656353724&sprefix=backpack,aps,136&sr=8-6&th=1

We only have two more weeks to collect school supplies for the kids on the Hard Rock Chapter. Join us in supporting these children in having the materials needed for a successful 2022-2023 school year! Below are some of the best school supply deals of this week. Also, we know how much wear and tear goes into backpacks each year. We would love to be able to provide some new backpacks for the kids as well! At the bottom of this post are ideas of where to buy backpacks. Happy shopping!

*You can also donate toward our Helping Hard Rock School Drive, by going to the Vineyard Gilbert give page and selecting "Helping the Navajo Nation" from the fund drop down menu.

Back to school deals: June 26-July 2

Staples:
24-pack crayola crayons  $0.50
Sharpener  $0.50
Elmer’s washable school glue  $0.50
Composition notebooks $0.50
3-pack pink erasers  $0.75
12-pack crayola colored pencils  $0.99
12-pack crayola markers  $0.99
Translucent pencil box  $0.99
5-pack sharpies  $4.49
3-pack Clorox disinfecting wipes  $5.29
12-pack pencil topper erasers  $0.50
8-pack elmer’s glue sticks  $2.99
1-subject notebooks $0.35

Walmart: (in-store and online offers):
12-count Pen+Gear No. 2 pencils  $0.47
2-pack pink erasers $0.47
27-count BIC mechanical pencils  $3.94
12-count crayons colored pencils  $0.97
3-prong paper folder  $0.24
500 sheet copy paper  $5.27
10-count Cra-Z-Art broadline markers  $0.50
1-subject notebooks  $0.35
24-count Cra-Z-Art School crayons  $0.35
24-count crayola crayons  $0.50
2-count Elmer’s purple glue sticks  $0.54
12-piece Crayola construction colored paper  $3.94
10-count crayola thin line markers  $0.97
150 pages filler paper  $0.87
25-count pencil topper erasers  $0.47
24-count Ticonderoga pencils  $3.97
2-pack Pen+Gear blunt scissors  $1.44
Pen+Gear washable school glue  $0.25

Target:
24-pack Crayola crayons  $0.50
2-count Elmer’s purple glue sticks  $0.55
12-count Crayola colored pencils  $0.99
2-pocket plastic folder with prongs  $0.50
12-count Mondo Llama colored pencils  $0.50

Amazon:
30-pack Elmer’s school glue sticks  $8.27
12-count sharpie highlighters  $5.47
8-count Expo dry erase markers  $6.49
120-count Amazon #2 pencils  $14.62


BACKPACK DEALS
Ross (in store): starting from $14.99

Target (online): starting from $18  https://www.target.com/p/kids-39-colorblock-backpack-cat-38-jack-8482/-/A-83801909#lnk=sametab

Walmart (online): starting from $12.96 https://www.walmart.com/ip/JanSport-Superbreak-Classic-Backpack-Navy-Blue/48322304?athbdg=L1600

Amazon (online): starting from $15.29 https://www.amazon.com/Ricky-H-Graffiti-Backpack-Lightweight-Compartment-Dark/dp/B079K963KG/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3N03RAI2YWPLL&keywords=backpacks&qid=1656353724&sprefix=backpack,aps,136&sr=8-6&th=1