 |
|
|
 |
|
Dr. Jay Swallow, co-founder of the Two Rivers Native American Training Center, was born April 1939 on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation in Northeast Oklahoma. His mother gave birth in a tent alongside the North Canadian River, beside a small Nazarene Mission. A Southern Cheyenne/Sioux, his parents gave him the Cheyenne name, “Roaming Buffalo.” His Christian name was James Walter Swallow. In his early years, Dr. Swallow experienced extreme hardship and poverty, which was common to most of the members of his tribe. He grew up in the little town of Calumet, Oklahoma, and his father was completely blind by the time Dr. Swallow was four years old. As the youngest in the family, he honed his skills at hunting small game to supplement their food. Finally, because his father was a World War I veteran, the family received a small pension that allowed them to relocate to the larger town of Kingfisher, Oklahoma. In 1955 Dr. Swallow enlisted in the Navy, and in the following five years he merged into the mainstream of American life. Along with his improved standard of living came the urge to try everything this new life could afford, including alcohol and opium dens in China. By the time he received his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1960, he was on a path of self-destruction. When Dr. Swallow was discharged he went to Los Angeles, where his parents were living. It was here that he first saw the hand of God in operation. His parents had received Jesus as their Lord and Savior—and at the age of seventy his father had received healing for his eyes! This had a dramatic effect on Dr. Swallow, causing him to question his plan to return to the Cheyenne religion. During this time he met Joan, a beautiful Cheyenne girl, who was also a believer in the Jesus Way. They married, and God used Joan to bring Dr. Swallow to Him. On January 7, 1961, Jay Swallow gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ and he was called immediately to the ministry. For over forty years he has preached, taught, and prayed for Native people from the Arctic Circle to Central America, and there have been seasons when he also pastored. He was an apostolic father to many ministers years before he was asked to be a member of C. Peter Wagner’s International Coalition of Apostles.
Through the years, to fund their ministry
on the reservations, Dr. Swallow learned silversmithing and became one of
our most skilled Native jewelry makers. Today he and Joan live in Geary,
Oklahoma, enjoying their children and many grandchildren. They continue to
travel to fulfill God’s call to reach the Native Nations for Jesus.
At the Bixby, OK, Two Rivers Center, Dr.
Swallow is one of the instructors for the Native Americans and
Christianity: Cross-Cultural Issues class and also instructor for the
Silversmithing class.
Dr. Negiel Bigpond was born November 7, 1949. He is a full-blood Euchee (Yuchi) Indian, and is a fourth generation minister of the gospel. He and his wife Jan have been married for 35 years, and have 3 children, 2 sons-in-law, 1 daughter-in-law, and 4 grandchildren. Dr. Bigpond has been in ministry for over thirty years and has been both evangelist and pastor, evangelizing in over 143 native reservations and currently serving as Apostle of Morning Star Church of All Nations. He has always had a heart for those in prison and maintains a prison ministry at Morning Star. He is a certified drug and alcohol abuse counselor. He is also an accomplished musician and singer. Dr. Bigpond has recently traveled to Washington D.C. in regards to Resolution 15, which is a joint resolution of apology to Native peoples for ill-conceived policies by the U.S. government regarding Indian Tribes. He is also involved with Native America Justice Gate East of the Mississippi, which deals with land reconciliation in the eastern states. Dr. Bigpond has received various keys to cities and proclamations from governors and mayors for his work in the east. He is also on the boards of the following ministries and provides an apostolic covering for many ministers as a member of C. Peter Wagner’s International Coalition of Apostles: Native American Apostolic Council- Dr. Jay Swallow, Chairman Native American Resource Network- Jean Steffenson, Chairwoman Operation Starting Line- Chuck Colson, Chairman Intercessors of America- Gary Bergel, Chairman National Prayer Committee- David Butts, Chairman Oklahoma Concert of Prayer- Dr. John Benefiel, Chairman Dr. Bigpond has traveled worldwide, representing Christian Native Americans and preaching and teaching God’s Word. Inspired through his involvement in Oklahoma Concert of Prayer, he founded the Native American Circle of Prayer, which establishes prayer teams who are skilled in spiritual warfare and intercession for the Native people and issues that concern them. Out of this, God had given him Spirit Wind, which is a prayer day focusing on the Five Civilized Tribes and their leaders. Tribes gather each year for this event. God has also given Dr. Bigpond the vision of Two Rivers Native American Training Center, in which he is the president and co-founder. The training center is a Christian military training base camp for the purpose of dealing with occult and territorial enemy strongholds on the reservations, and throughout the U.S.
Rev. Ada Winn, Director of Native America Circle of Prayer, was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, September 15, 1938, and she is full-blood Cherokee. She was raised in Salina, Oklahoma, and she earned her Associates Degree in Nursing at Bacone College and her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing at the University of Tulsa. She has three children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Rev. Winn came to Morning Star Evangelistic Center as an intercessor in November 1998 and became a student at Two Rivers in January 1999. When the school became accredited, she volunteered to work with the students in the financial aid department. As Dr. Bigpond developed the Native America Circle of Prayer, he saw the call of God upon Rev. Winn to lead that ministry. He ordained her under Morning Star Ministries in May 2001. She has traveled across America to pray on behalf of Native Americans and Native American issues. Some of these key trips include a two-year Cherokee Prayer Initiative in the original eastern lands of the Cherokee in Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee; visiting the Freedom Ship Amistad in Georgetown, South Carolina, where she welcomed the African American voice in America on behalf of the host people; and a trip to Israel with Gary Bergel of IFA. Rev. Winn loves to pray with people and for people. She is truly a mother in the faith to the intercessors of NACOP and the students of Two Rivers.
Two
Rivers Native American Training Center |
