Trail of Healing Hearts in Oklahoma

21 November 2010

RELEASED:  Southern Cheyenne Dr. Jay Swallow, center facing left, and Choctaw the Rev. Frank Noah (behind Swallow,) pray for and bless the efforts of the Rev. Dr. Tom Schlueter and the Rev. Ken Bryan at the Trail of Healing meetings in Snyder, Okla. Nov. 13, 2010.  The three days of meetings at the Spirit of the Lord IMPACT Center in Snyder, helped "reverse the Trail of Tears," said Swallow.

Photo by Ginny Bryan

By PATRICK BUTLER

ResonateNews.com

    It was not your father’s Native American reconciliation meeting that was held in southern Oklahoma near Lawton last week. Instead of focusing on past pains, covenants broken and suffering endured, the three days of The Trail of Healing meetings honed in on, “The healing of hearts so people could fulfill their God-given potential,” said the event organizer.

  The  Trail of Healing’s ambitious goal was nothing less than to become a catharsis and  reverse the effects of the historic Trail of Tears – the forced and often fatal removal of Native Americans in the 19^th the century – said the Rev. Ken Bryan, who conceived the Trail of Healing event.

   And the meetings were largely led – and endorsed – by Native Americans who led in prayers for individuals coming to the “altars of healing,” and blessed the gathering itself, lending authenticity to the event's cultural relevancy,  Bryan said.

  “What you (organizers) are doing here at these meetings is the Trail of Healing,” said visiting Dr. Jay Swallow during Saturday night’s meeting in the tiny town of Snyder at the Holy Spirit IMPACT Center.  “They are speaking properly and significantly inot the issues of the land and what has happened here (on the Trail of Tears).”

  Swallow is a descendant of Southern Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle who was killed during a surprise U.S. Army raid  at Washita River 142 years ago, this Nov. 27. The raid was led by Col.  George Armstrong Custer.

   Swallow, accompanied by Choctaw Frank Noah, is an advisor to more than 250 Native American Tribes. Swallow is also an official ambassador of the Cheyenne nation and founded the Two Rivers Native American Training Center with Nigel Bigpond, pastor of Morning Star Evangelistic Center. Noah relates to about 40 tribes as well as an advisor.

    Swallow's endorsement and prayer for Bryan and the Rev. Dr. Tom Schlueter  of the Texas Apostolic Prayer Network, “were huge” said Bryan.

   “When someone so deeply involved in Native American ministry comes and recognizes Trail of Healing as legitimate," said Bryan,  "it just validates everything we’ve been feeling God has been telling us to do, and the ministry of healing he has been leading us in."

    "Moving on"  was a key thought to Trail of Healing, said Bryan.

   “Our desire was to see hearts healed from the wounds of the past, so any people of any culture could move on and claim their destinies in God,” said Bryan. “This wasn’t just for Native Americans but obviously, being in Oklahoma, in Kiowa County, you’re going to get a large number of them.”

The Trail of Healing

    The intimate meetings at the Trail of Healing consisted of more than 100 people at each session on average, Bryan said. Each session was marked by an  apparent passionate and joyful expressions of worship, song and dance without much motivation from leaders. Groups of intercessors sat on the side in front, praying over requests for healing sent by email to the Trail of Healing.

    Requests for healing can still be made to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , said Bryan.

   And there were tears. When invitations to prayer for healing were made, the front of the church was packed with respondents. Men with elbow-length hair, braids or feathers made their way forward to receive, and then to give, prayer to those behind them, in an unscripted move facilitated by Schlueter on-the-spot. 

  On Friday, the face of a Shoshone, Shade Large, was framed from underneath long black hair around a bowed head. Large held his palms out front as Mary Cardin of TXAPN prayed for him, lightly touching his fingers with hers.  Soon, Shade was praying for those coming after him and the entire gathering came alive with the sounds of prayers.

    One woman from Juarez, Mexico whose military-husband is stationed at nearby Fort Sill, fell into tears when prayers for her family and church friends living in fear in the murder capital of the world, were made for her strengthening and courage.

  “God did not make a mistake that you were born in Juarez for such a time as this,” she was told during the prayers.

     Schlueter said at Saturday’s meeting,  “What is unfolding here is that the Lord is healing destinies,” referring to the crowded “open altars” of prayer on Friday night that had seen almost everyone in the church coming to the front. “Dreams are never lost and just like Ezekiel 37:7, the bones come together. Death is destroyed and He brings forth new life and new harvest.”

  “We’re changing the script here,” Schlueter said, laughing. “We are going to let Native Americans lead out and pray for us. We will pray for them, and let them lead us because they are ready to bring (healing) to the nations.”

   Representatives from Comanche, Apache, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Caddo, Sioux, Shonshone, Kiowa and other tribes attended the largely unscripted meetings. Worship was driven by Enrique Morales of the San Francisco House of Prayer on keyboards and accompanied by  Native Buffalo Drum played by Jose Hobay of the Kiowa nation.

    Acts of nature could not deter the event organizers; the tent set up for meetings had been blown down by fierce winds the night before. The remote location of the town – not even on his GPS said Schlueter, – and the “where-ever-God-leads” approach to the event itself seemed only to kindle a spirit of dependence and determination.   God was invited through concentrated worship, to show up at the Snyder meetings.

  By most accounts, that's what happened. The Rev. David Rhodes opened his Spirit of the Lord IMPACT Center at 1401 E Street for the Kenshire Ministries and TXAPN event. He said he was not disappointed by difficulties in facilitating the meetings.

  “Not at all,” Rhodes said Sunday. “The whole Trail of Healing has been awesome, really. This has been a perfect example of putting Native Americans in authority. God has been among us."

   “Why did God choose Snyder?” said Schlueter with a big smile at Sunday’s final meeting. Shrugging his shoulders he said,  “I don’t know. Why did He choose Bethlehem?”

    Read reflections by Jay Swallow on Native American “resistance” to the gospel, a photo gallery of The Trail of Healing in Snyder, reactions from local pastors to the event and the next step in future Trail of Healing events, at ResonateNews.com on Wednesday.

For more information, visit the Web at www.Kenshire.org or www.txapn.org