History of the Lakota Journey

 

In the mid 1990s, youth pastor Bruce Bentley was looking for a summer ministry opportunity that would be timely and inexpensive yet lasting and effective.

 

Bruce was aware of the many programs for short- term missions, but he wanted to focus on a place that perhaps others were not, in turn serving God in a place that had an immediate need. With this in mind, Bruce and his youth group from Boone EFC traveled to Ideal, South Dakota, a town on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, and held a Kids Club at a local church. This week long trip in the summer of 1996 began what is now the Lakota Journey.

    Since that first trip in 1996, more groups have embarked on the Lakota Journey and have reached many communities. Groups now hold clubs in Antelope, Two Strike, Spring Creek, St. Francis, Parmelee, and more. The ministry has recently expanded to reach communities on Pine Ridge Reservation as well. Its vision continues in each community, even after groups leave, through the diligent work of ministry leaders and pastors who live on each reservation. In 2006, The Lakota Journey officially became a non-profit organization.