Calling the region to do a '180'

April event in Salem

aims for Northwest

spiritual turnaround

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
     SALEM — The call has gone out from no less than Oregon State House Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna — for the Church of Oregon and for Native American tribal communities to meet here next month in a potentially historic gathering.
    “Psalm 76:12 says, ‘God is renowned in Judah; in Israel His name is great. His tent is in Salem, His dwelling place in Zion,’ ” wrote Hanna in an open letter to church leaders. “I hope to meet you in Salem on Saturday, April 16.”
    In a companion letter to Northwest tribal leaders, Hanna noted that it was at the urging of Native tribes almost two centuries ago that missionaries first brought the Bible and its Gospel message to this region.
    “Without that original request from the tribes for this book of great spiritual power and wisdom, our state might not exist,” Hanna wrote. “All who live within our beautiful and bountiful state owe a debt of gratitute to those tribal leaders who sought the very best for their people.”
     What the House co-speaker is so openly endorsing is an effort by ROAR (Restoring Oregon’s Amazing Roots) Ministries to encourage a regional “180” turnaround spiritually by returning to the focus on the Gospel that the tribes initiated in 1831— 180 years ago.
    That effort will take the visible form of a Salem rally, the 180 ROAR Rendezvous, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Capitol steps Saturday, April 16.
Planned as a colorful display with tribal regalia, historic costumes and pageantry, the event will provide an overview of what historians term “The Macedonian Call of the West,” when Salish and Nez Perce tribes requested that missionaries be sent to the region to teach their people. Jason Lee answered that call, and his work was instrumental in bringing additional settlers to the Willamette Valley, which led to the establishment of Oregon as a U.S. territory.
     But according to Aaron Auer of ROAR Ministries, the Gospel has never really been heard through the Native preaching and culture as Lee intended.
“We want to identify the original intent of that first missionary Jason Lee, which was to preach to, and with, Native Americans, hand in hand,” he said. “We want to spiritually brand this into the heart and soul of the old Oregon Territory, that this is our identity.”
     And in so doing, change the region for the better, he said.
     A wide range of people representing various backgrounds within the Christian community will take part that day, Auer said. He listed, as examples, retired state Sens. Charles Starr and Marylin Shannon; former state Rep. Jeff Kropf of Hillsboro’s KUIK radio; Joe Gonzales of KPDQ radio in Portland; Tom Crabb of the Cowboy Church in Junction City; Carol Redbird of First Nations Tribe of Judah, a Native drum team in Salem; Native minister Rita Bear-Gray; George Guntermann of Peace Eagle Ministries and board chair for the Salem House of Prayer; Lynn Bryson, pastor of the McMinnville Seventh-day Adventist Church; Oregon Hispanic pastor Victor Alvarez; Stephen Williams of Bend-based Prepare the Way; Pastors Dennis Dickson and Denny Stahl, both of Grants Pass; Pastor Garth Johnson of Baker City; Pastor John David Gomez of The Jerusalem Center in Medford; Lockley Bremner of the Blackfoot tribal community in Montana; Pastor Sherwood Vegsund of Victorious Faith Family Church in Oregon City; and Hanna.
    For more information, phone ROAR?Ministries at 503-705-7627 or go to roaroregon.org.
     In a separate but related event, Vaughn Longanecker of Aloha-based Christian Heritage Ministries of the Northwest will conduct a free tour of Willamette Valley historic sites from about 2 to 6 p.m. For details, phone 503-709-0779 or e-mail vaughnlonganecker@gmail.com.