An Eagle's Cry- Sky and Angie

Finally, I need to tell you more about Sky and Angle from Thunder Bay… I randomly met Sky at Calico’s, him and his wife have a ministry to Natives- remember that story? This is a bit more on who they are, what they do and what I learned. It might be a little long, but it’s an amazing story!
I have a copy of Sky’s testimony that was in the Indian Life Newspaper, I’ll quote parts of it as well as tell you what he taught me and what Brad and I experienced when we went to visit (everything italicized is taken from his testimony):

‘Yeah, okay, I’ll quit,’ I just said the words so she would stay. But I knew deep down that I couldn’t quit. Not on my own. I’d been drinking and into drugs for far too long – since I was a young child.
I’m Saulteaus and was adopted at the age of two by a non-native family. Though well cared for by my adopted parents, I always hated who I was. You see, I wanted to be white.
I got drunk for the first time when I was just five years old after breaking into a neighbor trailer and stealing a six-pack. When I was seven, I set fire to my dad’s barn and watched it burn down.
Never fitting in with other kids filled me with pain and anger. How could the kids in grade there call me drunken Indian when they didn’t know me? From then on I got into lots of fights with other kids.
By the time I was 13, I was into hard liquor. In grade nine I was smoking pot
Needless to say, high school was a total haze. I tried sports but never felt I fit in. I built myself up to being a scrapper and fighter. There was a lot of hate inside me.
I got hooked on chemicals real bad in grade 12- acid and mushrooms. Starting cocaine in my late teens, I soon found it was a habit I couldn’t afford. But it helped me mask a lot of pain. I lived from day to day, couch surfing, unable to hold on to a job..
...My adopted family were Christians and I’d always had the attitude that I’d accept Jesus at the last minute. I also realized that wasn’t such a cool attitude to have.
During one of my drug excursions, I had an out-of-body experience where I saw myself being carried out in a body bag by paramedics.
I’d walk down the street and beat up anybody because I was so full of hate…
Sky met Angie while working in Ottawa and they were married 6 months later. He did everything he could to sober up while they were dating, but couldn’t. He got home one day and she was packing her bags… that was when she gave him the choice: the bottle or her. He said he would quit not thinking he actually could.
I’ll tell you, just waking up sober for the next few days and with a clear head was amazing. I didn’t know it at the time but it was the Lord who set me free.
A few years later, in 1994, Sky met Angel Valentine, a Puerto Rican pastor who had been a gang leader in NYC.
In many ways, he was a lot like me – full of hate and anger- before he became a Christian. I was on the same track, involved in drugs and everything else. I could relate to everything he said, especially the part about him being Puerto Rican and of a different culture than the mainstream. I knew what that was like being a First Nations man… This was at a time when my life was getting better. I had a job and quit drinking. I had my wife Angie and a son at home. Life was basically good but I didn’t have peace until I accepted the Lord sitting around that table at that men’s breakfast.
Sky and Angie drifted along in their religious faith for a few years until one day God called them to ‘Wake UP!’ In 2000 he went to The Gathering of the Nations in Ottawa and was healed of his broken identity,
God told me, “I’m proud of you, my son, I created you to be a First Nations man. Be proud of who you are.
Before I knew it doors were flying open. People in Native ministry would look at me and say, “The Lord is calling you.”
Within six months, Angie and I were enrolled in Bible college in Minnesota. It was while we were there that I first thought of the name “Eagle’s Cry” as the name of our new ministry. It was like a wind in my head. The eagle is the Creator’s messenger and that’s what we are. God cries with the cry of our people.
I’d been making a lot of money with benefits, living in a nice suburban neighborhood with two cars. But the Lord called us out of it… After two years I had come to visit friends in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I saw kids on the streets in the cold October rain. I saw the oppressive looks, the woundedness, and it pierced my heart. I went back and told my wife. She was in agreement. The Lord also gave her peace about it.
Sky, Angie and their 2 kids moved to Thunder Bay in 2004 not knowing anybody. They spent their first few years just ministering on the streets and getting to know the people that God so strongly gave them a heart for.
I feel called to be a voice for the unheard. I like to see the living conditions of the people so I go and meet people where they’re at, in the streets and alleys – mainly the untouchables. I hang out with the people that Jesus would hang out with. Six years ago, my pride wouldn’t have let me do that.
Now, Sky and Angie have this amazing space where they’re able to welcome families from the neighborhood. It started with only 5 tables and a section for clothing. Now they have 30 tables, a kids play corner, a room to cut hair, a free clothing store, a secret food pantry (because they know the way people play the system as they were once there), some staff/office/prayer space- It’s amazing! They’ve also been talking about starting a prayer room!!
Brad and I went on a quiet Tuesday morning and there were at least 40 people hanging out. There was hot coffee/tea and volunteers serving cake, music playing, kids running around… Some people were just in and out but most people stay, it’s where they find community. They showed a video on the prodigal son and then Sky preached for a good 10-15 minutes and surprisingly, everyone was totally paying attention. Sky spoke on Romans 6, focusing on no longer being a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. He spoke from personal experience on how it’s so easy to get caught up in quick fixes and addictions – but that Christ is the real deal. It was amazing! Something I loved about Sky and Angie’s approach to ministry was their obvious ability to shelter, feed, cloth, and love people but also the open and honest way they communicate our need for Christ and pray with people. I wanted to take a picture of their family before I left but we couldn’t find Angie. We eventually found her down on her knee’s speaking into a woman’s life and praying with her… that’s just the type of people they are.
Sky told us that there have already been 7 deaths in their community this year. They recently found an addict they knew frozen to death by the lake.

This is a small part of an article I read in the Toronto Star recently:
The new census data shows that across Canada, 72.1 per cent of the country’s off-reserve aboriginal population lives in urban centres, compared to only 26.3 per cent who live on reserves. The number of aboriginals living off reserve since the last census was taken in 2001 has increased by 3.0 per cent.
Canada’s aboriginal population tends to gravitate toward cities in search of jobs and a better life. However, they often find it difficult to access the services they need to prosper. Off-reserve, they can no longer access the federally funded services once available to them and provincial governments are often unwilling to take financial responsibility, leaving those in need in a vacuum.

Around 30% of Thunder Bay’s population is Native, and they say that pretty soon it will be closer to 50%.

Sky ends off his testimony with these challenging words:
Walls of organized religion have hurt our First Nations people. I don’t shove religion down their throats but mainly I sit and listen to them because they’ve got some amazing stories to tell.
My heart is to see a healing in the culture- to see restoration of families through the heart of the Creator- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
My name “Sky”, is short for Skyler which means ‘a place of shelter.’ My heart is for the people from the north who are coming into Thunder Bay. We want to be a ‘safety net’ for them. We’re looking at setting up a healing center here, a place where people can get some dignity back into their lives.
I remember back to when I sobered up. A week later I got a job. That first paycheck and the thrill of buying groceries with it – boy, there’s dignity in that.
We can sit here all our lives and blame people. We’ve got to stand up and make a difference. That’s what I want to do.

Keep being the change in Thunder Bay Sky and Angie.