by Craig Stephen Smith, a C&MA national evangelist and member of the C&MA Board of Directors
On one of those amazing days while Jesus was on earth, His healing power touched many who came for healing and deliverance, and none went away disappointed. It looked like a great mega church was in the making!
But in all the commotion, right around daybreak, Jesus slipped away to a quiet place, weary from the all-night flurry of activity. It didn’t take long for them to find Him, and they pleaded with Him to come back. Jesus replied, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43). Forget the church planter’s dream scenario in the big city, there were other places His message needed to go.
Difficult Beginnings
When Jesus said, “the other towns,” He was talking about places nobody in their right mind would want to visit—those towns on the other side of the tracks. In the storied history of Alliance missions and church planting, its workers have been known to go to such places, including my hometown and among my Native American people. Most Native communities are those other-side-of-the-tracks places.
The Alliance began work among Native Americans in the mid-1920s when several young women attending St. Paul Bible Institute (now Crown College) prayed and were called to serve the Ojibwe people in northern Minnesota. My home church, Cass Lake Alliance, was started in 1931 and has continued to be strong to this day. Other mission sites were established in the region, including in Bena, Minnesota, a community of only 100 people with a reputation of being closed off to outsiders.
For many years, Pauline Wetzel and Jean Northcott served in Bena as Alliance missionaries, reaching out to Native and non-Native children, youth, and adults. God blessed them with fruit as several families came to Christ. Other workers served the church over the years, but ultimately, it became more and more difficult to find those willing to serve. Decades ago, the doors closed.
Revival and Resurrection
In 2019, Harvey Rabbitt asked Pastor Mick Marino of Cass Lake Alliance Church about the work in Bena. Harvey was an 80-year-old Ojibwe elder born and raised in the area. He left as a young man to serve in the Marine Corps, but recently, Harvey was sensing the Lord leading him back home to his own people. Driving past the closed up Bena Alliance Church property, God began to speak to him about replanting the ministry there.
With the encouragement of our North Central District leadership, and under the guidance of the Cass Lake Alliance Church, Harvey began the process of licensing as a C&MA church planter. Plans were made to reopen Bena Alliance as Bena New Life Alliance Church!
A week of revival meetings were held in the middle of one of the coldest Minnesota winters in history and Bena New Life was resurrected.
Just weeks after the revival meetings, the pandemic hit, severely impacting this new work. Soon after, Harvey discovered he was suffering from advanced stages of cancer. Uninhibited by the news, Harvey kept on going until his health finally took its toll.
One of Harvey’s urgent desires was to train a younger man to take over the work. Octavius (OT) Lopez, who is from the Tohono O’odham tribe of Arizona, was one of the young men at Cass Lake Alliance Church who recently began working with the youth after finishing courses at nearby Mokahum Ministry Center and was pursuing licensing with The C&MA. As Harvey continued to fail in health, God began moving in OT’s heart to be that young man Harvey prayed for to take over Bena New Life Alliance Church. Our elders prayed alongside Harvey and OT, and it became clear that this was God’s answer for the needs of this new ministry.
As we moved into the summer months, Pastor Harvey continued to deteriorate. Cass Lake Alliance and the Native American Association held an honoring celebration service for Harvey and his wife, Marilyn, where they would also celebrate the transfer of leadership to OT.
Harvey’s days before the event became more and more difficult. But on that special day, God gave Harvey enough energy to participate. Zane Williams, president of the association, honored the Rabbitts with a beautiful Pendleton blanket. A week and a half after the service, Harvey passed into the presence of his Lord, and OT began his service as lead pastor. Since then, the Lord continues to bless OT and the New Life Church.
Both Native and non-Native people continue to be ministered to through OT’s powerful preaching as the church has become a stable gospel influence in this needy community. One of Cass Lake’s elders, who recently attended one of Bena’s Sunday services, reported that there were more people at Bena Alliance than there were at Cass Lake Alliance!
Cass Lake Alliance leadership has been mentoring and overseeing OT’s spiritual development and ministry experiences and are thrilled at the opportunity to extend Cass Lake’s impact into this nearby and needy community. Both of these communities are the ones Jesus spoke of “other towns.”
How does Christ continue to go into other towns today? He does it through His Church, no matter large or small. You don’t have to be a mega-church to extend the gospel to the towns around you. Trust God and step out in faith to reach even more people with the gospel of Christ before He returns.