Indigenous Faith

In today's final episode with our wonderful guest, Pastor Joel Van Hoogen, the Smiths draw out of brother Joel as much information as they could because of the importance of the message he brings.  Saving Evangelicals  is not just a ordinary book, but the subject matter is life and death!  In all these four sessions, Joel does a fantastic job in articulating his deep concern about helping all...

If you've been encouraged and challenged by the past two episodes the Smiths have had with Joel Van Hoogen as he unpackages his book, Saving Evangelicals , then you're in for a real treat today!  Joel continues to speak about the six encounters with God anyone who is truly saved can look back on in their lives when the Spirit of God led them to a genuine saving faith brought about by tru...

In this second episode on Saving Evangelicals, Craig and LaDonna Smith and Joel Van Hoogen continue to discuss the fascinating book Joel wrote that helps anybody who is questioning the reality of their faith in Christ do a self-examination to, as the scriptures say, determine whether or not you are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).  As the discussion ensues, brother Van Hoogen explains what salva...

Today, Craig and LaDonna Smith start a new and fascinating series with Pastor Joel Van Hoogen of Boise, ID.  Joel also leads and international equipping ministry called Church Partnership Evangelism, Inc.  He is author of a book titled,  Saving Evangelicals, which is an interesting look into the issue of our personal salvation.  Van Hoogen suggests that not all people who think they are believers...

In this, the final episode of our series with Ken and Becky Berge, their family opens the program by sharing the title song of one of their CD's called Trusting You.  It so beautifully sets the stage as the theme of this whole series, and especially this final episode.  Craig asks Ken and Becky to share the lessons God has taught them through their many years in gospel music, and in particula...

After another foot-tapping bluegrass song from The Berge Family, Ken and Becky continue to unpackage the wonderful journey the Lord took them through in their family's popular bluegrass music ministry.  But the list gets serious fast as Craig and LaDonna asks them about a very serious crossroads that many families face when the children who are part of the music team grow and blossom into you...

After a foot-tapping bluegrass song by The Berge Family, the Smiths and Berges continue to share about the early development of their family's music ministries, and how those ministries became a very important part of what they did for the Lord.  The session then turns towards one of the most difficult challenges any family ministry group faces, that of what happens when the children grow up...

Today the Smiths continue their interview with Ken and Becky Berge on the topic of family based ministry.  For the Smiths and Berges, it's all about music.  The episode begins with a song Craig and LaDonna recorded in both English and Navajo called, I Must Tell Jesus, and it ends with a beautiful A capella rendition of Beulah Land by the Berge Family.  In-between, the Smiths and Berges contin...

Today Craig and LaDonna begin a unique series on the family.  Specifically, the power of God as He uses families to serve Him together.  And that can be done in many different ways.  Craig and LaDonna welcome to the broadcast their dear friends, Ken and Becky Berge.  The Smith and Berge families come from the same home church, Cass Lake Alliance Church in Cass Lake, Minnesota.  Both families were...

In today's episode, Pastor Craig takes us to Kiowa country in western Oklahoma where he preached a funeral message for someone he affectionately referred to as his second mother.   Alfreda Claus was the matriarch of the well known Claus family, a family that has had a lasting legacy in ministry spanning five generations.  This godly mother, wife, grandmother and mentor to many slipped into th...

In today's final episode in our series with Pastor Jason French, Craig, LaDonna, and Jason lay out what biblical worship must look like in the context of our Indigenous cultures.  God only accepts worship based on His truths, and not the imaginations of the world, regardless of cultures or conditions.  It has been a marvelous journey with Pastor French into the Word of God as it speaks to us...

In this powerful series on biblical worship, Pastor Jason French continues to give his perspective and convictions on how to process any human culture and its influence on worship in the Evangelical Christian church today.  Of particular importance, and the focus of this series, is the modern Western culture and the traditional Indigenous culture's influences on biblically based worship.  Cra...

Craig and LaDonna Smith continue their fascinating visit with Cherokee Worship Pastor, Jason French, as they continue to dig deep into God's Universal Call to Worship in Psalms 148.  Today, the focus is on culture and its effects on worship.  Jason shares his perspective on the challenge in the larger culture of turning worship into just another form of entertainment, and then they begin scra...

Today, Worship Pastor Jason French (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) and the Smiths unpackage the truths found in Psalms 148, which is God's Universal Call to Worship for all of creation.  How do inanimate objects worship God is one of the questions Pastor Craig asked Jason.  His insight to this and other questions on how things in the heavenly realm and all things on earth praise their Creator i...

In today's episode, Cherokee pastor Jason French continues to share his backstory which contributes so much to his becoming established as one of Native North America's leading worship pastors in both Native and modern America settings.  Having served for several years with internationally known pastor John Piper as his worship leader, that experience and his academic pursuits in seminar...

Today Craig and LaDonna Smith begin a follow up series that stays on the theme of the one he just finished about God's Universal Call to Worship.   The Smiths are joined by their friend and ministry colleague, Pastor Jason French from the Eastern Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma.  Jason is one of America's leading Native worship leaders and helps the Smiths go deeper into what constitutes Go...

In today's third and final episode on Craig Smith's teaching from Psalms 148, he concludes his review of the fourteen verses that constitute  God's Universal Call to Worship.   He then expands on several other passages that also are God breathed to remind us of how we are to worship Him in ways pleasing to His Holy name.  He wraps up in the final book of the Bible, Revelation, which...

In today's episode of  Indigenous Faith,  Pastor Smith continues to unpackage Psalms 148 in this timely message on  God's Universal Call to Worship .  This comprehensive yet short Psalm leaves no ground, or space in the sky, unturned as the Lord calls all of His creation to worship and praise the One who made them.  There isn't a part of Creation that is exempt from this command to...

Today,  The Indigenous Faith  broadcast looks to Craig Smith as he opens God's Word to Psalms 148 in a message he's titled,  God's Universal Call to Worship.   This series looks at all levels of creation as they all, in their unique ways, worship the One who created them.  All the way from the starry host in the vast universe, to the great sea creatures under the waters that surroun...

In today's third and final episode in Craig and LaDonna's visit with Kahse Merseth, she continues to share her experiences, as a young Native American serving the Lord in the country of South Korea.  During this time, her father's health deteriorated to the point where his life would soon be ending, which led Kahse to return home so she could spend time with her dad before his passi...

In part two of this three part VIP interview with Kahse Atkinson Merseth, Kahse opens the door to the deepest part of her soul as she shares the story of her fiancé, James, who was brutally murdered in a home invasion in one of America's inner-city communities just months before they were to be married.  As painful that part of her story is, it isn't the end of the story, but a new begin...

In today's episode, Craig and LaDonna Smith introduce you to another Victorious Indigenous Person (VIP), who can testify of the goodness of God in the life of a prodigal daughter who has become a powerhouse for God in her generation.  Kahse Atkinson Merseth shares her incredibly challenging life before surrendering to Christ.  Though raised in a Native home with parents who were involved in f...

In today's final episode in their visit with the David Bonsell family, Craig and LaDonna dig into the details as to how this multi-generational family actually did the translation process.  It's important to know that with David, Sr., and David, Jr., there are some difficult medical complications that provide major barriers to overcome in taking on such a huge project as the translation...

In part two of this special edition of Indigenous Faith , Craig and Ladonna Smith continue in sharing not only the story, but the backstory of the translation of Craig's  Indigenous Faith book into Spanish.  The Smiths continue their visit with three generations of the David Bonsell family, the colleagues who devoted so much time and energy into this translation project.  In today's epis...

Today the Smith's begin a three part series as they celebrate the translation of Craig's  Indigenous Faith  book into the Spanish language!  That's right, this new version can now go into the over one half billion Spanish speaking world to help Indigenous believers in those cultures learn to live a biblically healthy life in the context of their tribal traditions and cultures.  Toda...