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Corey (Black feet) and Gina (Yakama, Grande Ronde, Puyallup, and Cowlitz) Greaves, Founders Mending Wings Ministries
Youth Ministries
Born in 1970 to an Irish father and a Blackfeet/Polish mother, Corey's life journey has taken him many places. Graduating from LaPorte High School (LaPorte, IN) in 1988, he attended Lincoln Christian College (Lincoln, IL.).
The beginning of his sophomore year found him frequently being a guest speaker at several different youth groups, where his gift for working with youth did not go unnoticed by his youth pastor peers. In 1991, he began to pastor his first youth ministry at Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, IL. Throughout the rest of his college years, Corey pastored one more youth ministry until he graduated in 1996 with a BA in Missions, and 2 credits shy of a BA in Cross-Cultural Youth Ministry. To finish his degree, Corey completed an internship at McKinley Indian Mission in Toppenish, WA. on the Yakama Reservation in the summer of 1996.
In 2001, Corey left McKinley to begin a new youth ministry at Community Presbyterian Church in Wapato, WA. (also on the Yakama Reservation). It is here that he and his wife, Gina (Yakama, Grande Ronde, Puyallup, and Cowlitz), and Steve and Karen Luten, started Mending Wings Ministries a ministry focused on First Nations Jr./Sr. High school students, and their families, on the Yakama Reservation. This youth ministry was the largest Native American youth ministry in the entire Presbyterian Church, USA.
After 15 years as a youth pastor, Corey & Gina accepted our invitation to become an associate ministry with Wiconi International. They bring a thriving and vibrant ministry to our First Nations youth, and their leaders, in the Northwest, and across the United States.
For more information on the Greaves and Mending Wings, visit their website at http://www.mendingwings.net/
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Casey(Potawatomi) & Lora(Navajo) Church
Southwest Wiconi Representatives
Casey is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi of Michigan and his wife Lora, a member of the Navajo Nation. Casey and Lora formed and pastored a contextual ministry in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1996 to 2000 called All Tribes Gathering which was a ministry to urban Native Americans. In July 2000, the Church family relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they started a house church which became the Soaring Eagle Ministries, a ministry promoting awareness of the need for contextual ministries. Casey offers mentoring in contextual ministry as well as a quarterly contextual workshop and worship service in Albuquerque.
Over the years, the Churches have become respected members of the Albuquerque community having been called to be head staff at several of the local pow-wows as arena director, head judge, and head dancers.
The Churches have been active in contextual ministry for over a decade while raising their family. They have three daughters and one son. They recently joined the Wiconi family where they have been active in Wiconi�s �Living Waters� Family Camp as workshop presenters, arena director for the pow-wow as well as morning devotional leaders. They�ve also spoken at Many Nations One Voice conferences.
Lora has a B.S. in Pre-Law from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She works as Prevention Program Manager for three Native American Teen Centers with the University of New Mexico Health and Science Center in Albuquerque. Casey has a B.S. degree in Anthropology from Grand Valley State University in Michigan and a M.A. in Inter-Cultural Studies with a focus on Contextual Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
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Gary Eastty
Community Relations Coordinator
Gary and his wife Mary Ann joined Wiconi in 2003 on loan from Wycliffe Bible Translators where they served in various capacities for twenty-five years including Field Work with the Northern Paiutes in Nevada, California, Oregon, and Idaho. Their field work included: Language and cultural learning, preparing and teaching literacy, attending workshops in language learning, grammar and phonology, working with language consultants and spending time in the homes and lives of the Paiutes. Gary also became a recognized singer of Paiute and Shoshone Round Dance Songs, participating regularly in the annual Pine Nut Blessing at the Walker River Paiute & Shoshone Reservation. Gary and Mary Ann also served at the International Linguistic Center/International Museum of Cultures in Dallas, Texas. This time included the development of three special exhibitions about Native American people.
Gary serves Wiconi in many capacities including recruiting and acclimating volunteers, working with tribal groups and pitches in wherever and whenever Wiconi needs his help. Gary and has a special heart for those who are imprisoned or institutionalized. He would like to develop a ministry team that can go in to prisons and help those who are followers of the Jesus Way in native expressions of Christian devotion.
Gary and Mary Ann are the proud parents of three daughters and very recently grandparents.
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Mary Ann Eastty
Assistant Bookkeeper
Mary Ann serves Wiconi by assisting with bookkeeping and updating the database in the office, organizing and attending product/information table at conferences and interacting with attendees. She always pitches in where we need help as well as with organizing venues and in attending Native events. Mary Ann has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at the community college level in Dallas and earned a BA in Elementary Education from Goshen College in Indiana and an MA from Oakland University in Michigan. Mary Ann brings to Wiconi a grace and delight in serving Native people.
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Jodi Scott (Cherokee/Creek) & Jacob (Xumano/Mexicano)Trevizo
Home Office Receptionist/Office Assistant
Jodi Scott-Trevizo (Cherokee/Creek) is Wiconi�s Home Office Receptionist/Office Assistant. She has worked in the administrative field for over six years and comes to us from Applied Research Associates, Inc., in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jodi also has an extensive background in Christian service including Youth With A Mission�s University of the Nations Kailua-Kona, HI, and the Morning Star School of Ministry in Charlotte.
Jodi, a fancy shawl powwow dancer for approximately seven years, has participated on many of the Dancing our Prayers teams overseas including Switzerland, Tibet, and Peru, dancing with the beloved Robert Soto and our very own Terry LeBlanc.
Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, and El Paso, Texas, respectively, Jodi and her husband, Jacob (Xumano/Mexicano), a grass dancer, travel on Native dance ministry teams. They have a heart for the performing and fine arts. Jodi has experience in various dance styles and making Native jewelry, while Jacob is a visual and graphic artist. Jodi hopes to contribute to Wiconi in the area of the arts while, of course, keeping the office and Richard�s schedule running as smoothly as possible.
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Gary and Jane (Shoshone) Foster
Pastoral Support and Encouragement Liaisons
Gary and Jane have served Wiconi International since 1999. In 2000 they moved from California to Washington to serve full time as Information and Resource Coordinator, and Office Manager, respectively.
In October 2006 Gary and Jane relocated to Kimberly, Idaho to be closer to their family and also to begin a new area of ministry with Wiconi. Gary and Jane will be liaisons for Pastoral Support and Encouragement. They have felt an urgency to serve the pastors and their families on the reservations. As they work to develop this new area of service they will be focused on the northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming). From where they live in Idaho, they are within a one-day drive of several reservations.
Gary and Jane both grew up in Christian homes have enjoyed serving the Lord as a �team� in many capacities. Gary, an ordained minister, has served as a Bus Pastor, assisted with numerous youth groups, church camps, mission trips to Mexico, men�s Bible studies, taught Bible courses in a Christian high school and served as the Director of an Intercessory Prayer ministry. Jane has taught Sunday school, women�s Bible studies, assisted with youth groups and was co-director of the Intercessory Prayer ministry. Gary�s �day� job was working for the Department of Defense as a jet engine mechanic, from which he retired in 2000. Jane�s �day� job was as an Administrative Assistant at a Christian school and then for the University of California, Davis in the Anthropology department, from which she retired in 1999. Gary and Jane have three children and four grandchildren.
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Howard & Charlyne Lane
Multi-Media/Missions Coordinators
Howard Lane, an ordained minister, and his wife Charlyne, have been involved with First Nations/Native American ministry since 1991. Prior to full time ministry, they owned and operated a general contracting company in Pennsylvania. They have trained extensively for ministry and missions work among First Nations through a local PA Bible College, their home church, and several missions groups and organizations including Youth With A Mission. Both are certified as instructors for Precept Upon Precept Biblical Studies. They studied in the Lakota Studies Department for three years at the Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota (one of the few First Nations Universities in North America). Even before going onto the mission field on the Rosebud reservation they developed children�s and youth ministry in their neighborhood in PA that still thrives today.
During their four-year stay on Rosebud they developed an outreach ministry to the children and youth of the community. They acted as managers and coordinators for all mission teams coming to the Native-led church they worked for, and directed the young adult, youth, and children�s ministry.
After leaving Rosebud they participated in further mission training and continued outreach work in British Columbia, Canada, Bohol, Philippines, and in 1999 landed in Lawton, Oklahoma where they assisted Youth With A Mission pioneer their first Native American focused base in the state. After their two-year commitment to Y.W.A.M. was successfully completed, they continued to work among the First Nations churches, ministries, and communities of Oklahoma and the United States.
They have filmed and produced video documentaries, teaching videos, event videos, special interest videos and ministry promotional videos, and developed multi media presentations for seminars and conferences. The Lanes are proud parents of two adult sons, Shawn & Nathan, and a grandson, Tyler.
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Rita Bear Gray (Cree)
Women's Ministries Coordinator
Rita Bear Gray is a Native North American Cree Indian by birth; Rita still speaks her Native language fluently. Rita was born and raised in Canada. Her early life was surrounded by the influences of alcohol and abuse. She left home at fifteen to search for a better life, determined to break away from the cycle of generational curses that haunt many Native people. At age twenty-six, she found Christ. Rita has attended Bible College, and is a licensed counselor and pastor. Rita currently works with Wiconi International as the Women�s Ministry Coordinator and on the Muckleshoot Reservation in Auburn, WA at the Senior Center. She has worked with her local Women�s Aglow ministry and has served as Prayer Chairman and chapter Vice President.
Internationally, Rita serves Aglow on the Intercultural Missions Committee and as Washington State Director for the International Reconciliation Coalition for Indigenous People. She has served as Chair for My People International. Rita often speaks at major conferences including Inter Varsity and Wiconi. Rita has two daughters.
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Jim & Jan Uttley
Communications Coordinator
Jim and Jan Uttley joined Wiconi in April 2004 and Jim serves as Communications Coordinator. His mission is �to put Wiconi on the map through his writing and publishing.� His responsibilities include producing appeal letters as well as promotional material including Wiconi�s year-end newsletter. Jim also writes articles for other publications about Wiconi and how God is moving among various Native North American ministries to reach the world for Jesus.
Jim grew up in Haiti, the son of missionary parents. He and his wife, Jan, also served as missionaries in Haiti for 11 years; their three children were born there.
For 13 years, Jim has served as editor of Indian Life newspaper, the largest Christian Native periodical in the US and Canada. Jim has had articles published in Charisma Magazine, Christian Week, Faith Today, Christianity Today, Globe and Mail, and Winnipeg Free Press. He also edited Indian Life Books including Whiteman�s Gospel; Does the Owl Still Call Your Name? Keepers of the Faith and When the Stars Danced. Wiconi has also loaned Jim back to Indian Life Ministries on a part-time basis to edit Indian Life newspaper on an interim basis.
Jim and Jan are grandparents with another grandchild due in June. They live in Winnipeg.
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Jerry (Sto':lo) & Leslie Chapman
Drumspeaker to the Nations
Representing First Nations people as a follower of Jesus Christ, Jerry Chapman (Sto:lo) ministers to his local community in Cowlitz County, Washington, throughout the Pacific Northwest and Canada and overseas. Jerry has been gifted with a unique form of prophetic worship through drumming, which led to the name of his ministry: �Drumspeaker to the Nations.�
He not only ministers through worship, he presents the gospel to First Nations people in a culturally relevant way. He hand crafts most of the native drums and percussion instruments he uses, and often presents drums he has made as gifts during ministry events to which he is invited. Jerry crafts each drum with intense intercession and prayer focus, and he believes that every beat of the drum is a proclamation of the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ that will reverberate throughout eternity. He has spent many hours over the last five years, teaching traditional drum crafting, as well as First Nations customs and traditions.
His walk with the Lord began more than 20 years ago, in 1984, when he accepted Christ at an Assemblies of God Church in Kelso, WA. He went on to serve in many ministries in the church, including street ministry and prison and juvenile detention ministry. Later he took courses with Lamplighter International and at the Vancouver School of Theology.
He was ordained under the ministerial staff of Evangel Christian Fellowship in May 2002. Later that summer, he was commissioned as Gatekeeper of the Columbia River Region by the ministry of 120 Drums.
Jerry�s wife, Leslie, is a fulltime volunteer with the ministry, handling all office and communications matters and serving as the ministry�s treasurer. Their daughter and son-in-law, Breanne and Carlo Skolrud, accompany Jerry in worship whenever possible. Jerry is a truck driver for a Longview trucking firm but has been working to increase financial support so he can devote full time to ministry.
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Dale (Choctaw) & Lucy Wheeler
The Gatherings Coordinator
Dale and Lucy Wheeler have a �natural� pastoral grace in their lives to oversee "The Gatherings". They live in Camas, Washington, and have lived in the Portland, Oregon area for many years where they raised their two Athabascan sons. Dale has been primarily responsible for establishing eight Gatherings in eight different cities in five states. He works full time as a journeyman plumber in the area while giving full-time oversight to the Gatherings. Lucy is a florist and wedding host as well as involved in various creative activities. They have been involved in their local church for many years.
Dale works within the traditional fishing communities along the Columbia River, especially Celilo Falls. His work in Celilo resulted in a massive community restoration project involving hundreds of volunteers and the Army Corps of Engineers. Through their labors, the entire village area was cleaned up. New homes were built, the traditional longhouse rebuilt, a new waste treatment facility was built, and a new community well dug which provides water to every home.
Dale's vision, pastoral gifting, and networking for Celilo, resulted in one of the clearest examples of what true biblical reconciliation can look like if people are willing to see reconciliation, not as an event, but a relational journey toward biblical justice. He carries the heart for how Wiconi International hopes to impact communities for Jesus Christ and his Kingdom at every level of human activity.
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Brian & Candace Crandall
Resource Development Director
Brian Crandall was born in Rochester Minnesota, when he was 10 his parents moved to Arizona. He joined the Army at 18 as a combat/flight medic, went to nursing school and worked as a Licensed Practical Nurse for the Army and worked for 14 years as a civilian nurse. He married Candace in 1994 and in 2001 God called Brian into full time ministry as the Executive Director of a year round Christian Camp north of Phoenix. In 2007 he and his family left Arizona to venture into the Pacific Northwest where Brian worked as the Director of Development for a Portland non-profit. They 4 have four children, two grown (26 & 23) and two children (10 & 6). They have two dogs and a snake and enjoy camping and anything outdoors. |
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