Darwin & Ann Tsosie and family - on the Navajo Nation in Arizona

Please join Wesleyan Native Ministries to build a new home for Navajo pastor Darwin Tsosie, whose teenage son, Titus, was paralyzed in a car accident.

Rev. Darwin and Ann Tsosie, along with their children, have ministered among their people on the Navajo Nation in Arizona for over 20 years now.

Darwin is the pastor of Red Rock Community Wesleyan Church, located near Jeddito, Arizona, about a six hour drive northeast of Phoenix.

In 2010, the family was involved in a serious car accident and their teenage son, Titus, became paralyzed from the waist down.

Titus Tsosie

This has created a tremendous hardship for the family due to the already difficult living conditions in their current home, space limitations, and lack of handicapped accessible restroom for Titus, who is now wheelchair-bound.

Today, the need for a new handicapped accessible home is great, and the Lord is bringing people together to make it a reality.

Please watch this five-minute video to learn how we’re working to build hope, and a new home, for the Tsosie Family:

How You Can Help

Total cost for the home, including the site and foundation work, water cistern and septic system, and handicapped modifications, is estimated at $125,000.

That’s about $65.00 per square foot. Our goal is to raise the needed funds, and have the home installed, by May of 2012.

Here is a listing of the range of gifts needed to accomplish our goal:

Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us to meet this need? A gift of $65 will pay for one square foot. A gift of any amount will help build hope – and a new home – for Pastor Darwin Tsosie’s family.

Thank you, and God bless you for whatever you can do to help. Click here to Donate Now.

Want More Information?

Go inside the Tsosie Family’s current home with Rich Avery, WNM’s director, and learn about their day-to-day living challenges:

Meet Titus Tsosie and learn what a new home would mean for him:

Visit the Tsosie Family’s new home site with Rich Avery, WNM’s director, and learn how this new home will bless their family, church, and community:

To learn more, please contact us at 616-456-0097 or send us an email.

Children re-enact the birth of Christ, Lakota-style

Rev. Larry Salway, pastor of He Sapa New Life Wesleyan Church in Rapid City, SD

Cheryl Arguello, pastor of Lakota Chapel in Pierre, SD

Every child received a gift

A Native American entrepreneur in the making?

Thousands of Native Americans heard the Christmas story and gospel message presented in a culturally relevant way through eight “Native Nativity” Christmas outreach events sponsored by Wesleyan Native Ministries and Native-led Wesleyan churches in South Dakota.

These events, organized by Rev. Larry & Dale Salway, co-pastors of He Sapa New Life Wesleyan Church in Rapid City, SD, were held in both urban and reservation communities (some located in the poorest counties in America), including Rapid City, Mission, Martin, Pierre, White River, Cherry Creek and Eagle Butte in South Dakota, and Crow Agency, Montana.

The centerpiece of the Native Nativity program was a series of film clips from the movie  Miracle in the Wilderness (starring Kris Kristofferson).

It’s a western Christmas story about a kidnapped frontier family which shares the story of Christ’s birth with an angry Blackfoot chief and his tribe.

Interspersed between the film clips were Christmas carols sung in both English and Lakota and children re-enacting the birth of Christ, Lakota-style. Then the gospel was presented very clearly in a culturally relevant way, and a brief invitation was given.

More than 150 responded by taking new steps of faith in Christ. They were given New Believers Bibles, and everyone else received a Native adaptation of the Gospel of John.

After the Christmas program, everyone enjoyed a traditional Lakota meal of buffalo stew, frybread and wojape (a berry pudding).

Following the meal, all of the elders were honored and given blankets, then each child received a wrapped gift.

We’re grateful for hundreds of individuals and churches that donated time, money and Christmas gifts to help make these events a success.

Your support is having an unprecedented impact, as more Native people are responding to the gospel than ever before!

But, many more laborers are needed to help bring in the harvest and also disciple new Native believers.

Would you please join us in praying that God will raise up more Native men and women as pastors and leaders who will reach their people for Christ in culturally relevant ways?

And would you prayerfully consider a generous gift to help resource what God is doing?  Your gift of $25, $50, $100 or more will help equip and empower Native men and women to take the lead in reaching their people for Christ, all across North America.

–>>Give to Wesleyan Native Ministries at our secure online donation page

Lakota pastor Rev. Larry Salway and team traveled hundreds of miles last week on a ministry tour that impacted several Native communities across South Dakota, including Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and Cheyenne River Reservations and the city of Pierre.

We praise God for 11 people who gave their hearts to Christ at one of those events last Thursday night!

And we celebrate Pastor Larry (pictured here on the far left, at the Crazy Horse Memorial) and other Native ministry leaders for their dedication and faithfulness in taking the lead in reaching Native people for Christ across South Dakota and beyond.

Pastor Larry and his wife and co-pastor Dale Salway, along with other ministry team leaders, are gearing up now for special Christmas outreach events in seven low-income Native communities across South Dakota, expected to reach 3,500 people.

They still need donations of buffalo meat for the free meals that will be served at each event, plus gifts for all the children in attendance.

Will you help us reach Native Americans for Christ this Christmas by giving a special gift today?  Your gift will help provide the food and gifts for each event.  You can give at our secure online donation page, and please be sure to designate that your gift is for “Christmas.”  Thank you!

Please help us share the love of Christ and the joy of Christmas with Native children and teens this Christmas.

Your donation of new toys, games, sports balls, or cologne/perfume sets (with approximate value of $10.00), will bless Native children and teens who attend special Christmas outreach events hosted by Native Wesleyan churches.

This year, we’re expecting to reach 3,500 people in seven low-income Native communities across South Dakota

At each event, attendees will enjoy a free dinner and watch a Christmas program with a clear Gospel message, and the children and teens will receive a gift.

Here’s How to Give Your Gift

Each gift needs to be new, gift-wrapped, and marked with a gift tag indicating gender and age.

You can click for a downloadable flyer (shown here), which has all the details and includes a tag you can use to label your gift.

Please send your gift by December 1, 2011 to:

He Sapa New Life Wesleyan Church
c/o Rev. Larry Salway
10005 Castlewood Ct.
Black Hawk, SD 57718

Donate Online

You can also donate a monetary gift online, which will be used to buy buffalo meat for the free meals that will be served at each event, buy children’s gifts that may still be needed, and cover the costs to host each event.

You can give today at our secure online donation page. Please be sure to designate that your gift is for “Christmas.”  Thank you!

Questions? Please call us Wesleyan Native Ministries at 616-456-0097 or use the contact form to email us.

Dr. Steve Babby honors the Tsosies (center) and Yazzies (left) as Pastors of the Year.

Rev. Darwin & Anne Tsosie and Rev. Ben & Bettie Yazzie were awarded the Dr. Orval C. Butcher Pastor of the Year Award by the Pacific Southwest District of The Wesleyan Church at its district conference on July 5, 2011.

The award was given in appreciation for their more than 20 years of faithful ministry on the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

We praise God for these pastor couples and their ministry among their own people over so many years, and often under challenging situations. situations.

And we’re grateful to our supporting churches and friends whose financial gifts help give the Tsosies and Yazzies the resources they need to help reach their people for Christ.

Navajo pastor Darwin Tsosie ordained in The Wesleyan Church

Navajo pastor Rev. Darwin Tsosie was ordained in the Pacific Southwest District of The Wesleyan Church on July 5, 2011.  The ordination was presided over by Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church, and Dr. Steve Babby, the District Superintendent.

Pastor Darwin and his wife Anne have ministered among their people on the Navajo Nation in Arizona for 20 years.

Darwin is the pastor of Red Rock Community Church, located in a remote community near Keams Canyon, Arizona.

We’re grateful for the many churches and people who have supported Pastor Darwin’s ministry over the years, and encouraged him throughout the course of his ministerial training.

Click on the video above to meet Larry and Dale Salway from He Sapa New Life Wesleyan Church in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Cheryl and Tito Arguello from the Lakota Chapel in Pierre, South Dakota, and hear how God is blessing their outreach among Native Americans in South Dakota, and beyond…thanks to your support of Wesleyan Native Ministries!

Rev. Todd Leach (2nd from left) and a few of the Houghton students who served with Wesleyan Native Ministries over spring break.

A team of students from Houghton College, in Houghton, NY, partnered with Wesleyan Native Ministries during their spring break to minister in Native churches and communities in South Dakota.

Rev. Todd Leach, a pastor at Houghton Wesleyan Church, led the team, which served alongside Rev. Larry Salway and He Sapa New Life Wesleyan Church in Rapid City, SD.

The Houghton team ministered in Rapid City and several other communities, including Cherry Creek on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

Pictured from left to right: Francis Kakazu, Kathy Esperson, Daniel Pearson and Jason Blank.

Charlene Roehr (left)

In February, Wesleyan Native Ministries awarded ministerial training scholarships to five Native ministry leaders from Wisconsin.

Francis Kakazu, Kathy Esperson, Daniel Pearson, Jason Blink, and Charlene Roehr all serve in Native ministry with Hayward Wesleyan Church on the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation near Hayward, Wisconsin.

They are pictured here inside The Shack, which is a community center on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation that was built by volunteers from Hayward Wesleyan Church.

We praise God for his work in the lives of these new leaders, and for their response to God’s call in their lives!

It costs $15,000 to equip one Native leader for ordained pastoral ministry.  This includes the cost of tuition, books, travel, lodging, meals, and mentoring/supervision.

Your support makes it possible for us to provide scholarships to these and other Native leaders to help equip them to reach their people for Christ in the context of their culture.

Here’s how your gift today will make a difference:

• A gift of $15,000 will fund the entire ministry training program for one future Native pastor.
• A gift of $3,600 will sponsor a year’s worth of classes for a future Native pastor.
• A gift of $650 will provide one ministry training class for a future Native pastor.
• A gift of any amount will help us equip a Native leader for pastoral ministry.

Click to invest in a Native leader today and make your gift to our Native Leadership Development Fund.

12 responded to an altar call at the Christmas outreach in Rapid City, SD.

During the 2010 Christmas season, more than 1,500 people in several Native communities in South Dakota and Arizona attended special Native Christmas outreach events held by Native churches sponsored by Wesleyan Native Ministries.

At each event, everyone in attendance enjoyed a meal, received a gift, and heard the Christmas story and gospel message presented in a culturally relevant way.

We are thankful for the many individuals and churches that donated money and Christmas gifts to help make these events a reality! And we celebrate the lives that were impacted, thanks to your support.

Singing Christmas Carols in Lakota and English

Everyone received a gift

Here are some pictures from the events, which were held in Pierre, White River, Cherry Creek, Eagle Butte, and Rapid City, South Dakota, and Low Mountain and Red Rock, Arizona.

The team prepares for the gift giveaway in AZ

Christmas Outreach in Low Mountain, AZ