Wiconi -- Smoke Signals

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from Richard Twiss Hau Kola "hello friend", You have experienced, like me, being at the divine intersections of time and space where amazing new realities appear. This year tremendous opportunities have come to me as well as the fulfillment of long-held dreams in my heart. It is also a year of paradox and challenge, as the financial resources to fulfill the opportunities remain a constant obstacle. Three opportunities in particular are before me. Firstly, I will host a conversation with global leaders and scholars at the "Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism" in Cape Town, South Africa. We will discuss the pivotal role indigenous theologians have in shaping this new era of post-colonial Christianity in the world. Secondly, I will organize and host our annual tribal leaders prayer breakfast for the National Congress of American Indians Annual Conference. I seek to build relationships among tribal leaders to assist them in better serving their people in the spirit of Jesus. Thirdly, I have agreed to join the board of the Christian Community Development Association, founded by John Perkins. They very effectively work for biblical justice in urban African-American and Hispanic communities, but not yet to our urban or reservation Native communities and I will help raise awareness and focus efforts to address this lack. I must pay-my-way in fulfilling these opportunities. I am asking you to join me and help make these "God-given" opportunities a reality by contributing financially and praying. Part of making these opportunities a reality means keeping my office and staff going strong to enable me to do the other. Sadly, Native ministry is one of the most under-resourced areas there is and Wiconi is feeling it. Thank you for your prayers and partnership! May our Creator bring to pass all that is in your heart for the common good and to the blessing and honor of Jesus, our Chief Shepherd.  Your Lakota brother, friend and follower of the Jesus Way, Richard Twiss Wiconi International www.wiconi.com Just click on this link to make a safe and secure online donation.   A Historic Opportunity for Native People As a Native believer from North America I have been given a great opportunity to "represent." Cape Town 2010, held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, will bring together 4,000 leaders from more than 200 countries to confront the critical issues of our time - other world faiths, poverty, HIV/AIDS, persecution, among others - as they relate to the future of the Church and world evangelization. I will be leading a dialogue group to discuss developing indigenous theologies with the goal of creating an international network of contextual thinkers, practitioners and scholars.To read more click here. Making Jesus Known in Knowable Ways I served as editorial advisor, wrote the lead article and invited five other native leaders to write articles for the current issue of Mission Frontiers Magazine that is dedicated to describing how ministry among Native North American people is moving away from a paternalistic model to a new contextual one. With a circulation of over 80,000 subscribers in over 160 countries, Mission Frontiers is the most widely circulated publication of its kind and I asked for an additional 10,000 copies to distribute all across North America, which they graciously and generously agreed to supply. You can read the issue on the Internet by clicking here.