When Jeannie Tapatai heard the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Celebration of Hope with Will Graham was coming to the Nunavut community of Baker Lake, it was music to her ears. In more ways than one.
Jeannie is a teacher in Baker Lake, an Inuit community of 2,000 people about 1,600 kilometers north of Winnipeg. She is also an Inuit recording artist who will be participating in the Celebration.
“I just told God that I wanted to be a part of this for His glory,” she said.
Jeannie will be a member of the Celebration’s music team. It’s a ministry dear to her heart. Several years ago, she recorded a Gospel CD “not for money or fame, but just to tell people about God.” The CD is still played during services at several churches in northern Québec.
Evangelism training, worship events, prayer gatherings
The Celebration will include several months of evangelism training, worship events, and prayer gatherings. All this leads up to in two nights of music, testimonies and Will Graham’s Gospel messages on Oct. 26-27.
The Celebration is possible thanks to generous donors like you. And Jeannie is convinced all of it will have a lasting impact.
“Not only [will the Celebration impact] young people but also elders and adults who are searching,” she said. “God is needed here. I think these coming months will see a breakthrough. There’s so much suicide in Baker Lake.”
The community has been rocked by young people taking their own lives during the last few years, including four deaths so far in 2019, said RCMP Const. Tim Watters.
“The only One who really can help”
Sister Dorica Sever, a Roman Catholic nun from Slovenia who has served in Nunavut for 20 years, has seen firsthand how hard the isolated life and long, dark winters can be for residents.
“I hope this event will witness a miracle and that Jesus, the only One who really can help, will reach into people’s lives and show them that life is worth living,” she said.
Sister Dorica has long admired the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). She was delighted to be asked to join the Celebration’s advisory committee “because we carry the same worries. In this, we are relating only to the Gospel—not our institutions.”
There have already been prayer meetings among Baker Lake’s three churches—Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Glad Tidings—which jointly issued the invitation for Will Graham to come to their community.
Second BGEA of Canada outreach in Canada’s Arctic
Jeannie and Sister Dorica said they’re thankful to BGEA of Canada and its faithful donors for investing in Baker Lake.
“Not too many events like this occur in our community,” Jeannie said. “Meeting with you [BGEAC representatives] has shown us that there is help.”
The Celebration in Baker Lake is the second that BGEA has organized in Canada’s Arctic. Last year, almost 700 people attended our Celebration of Hope in Rankin Inlet, about 300 kilometers southeast of Baker Lake.
Ninety Rankin Inlet residents responding to Will’s invitation to publicly commit their lives to Christ. Another 30 rededicated their lives to the Savior. Dozens more sought prayer and assurance from trained volunteer counselors.
Please join us, with your donations and prayers, to make way for God to do mighty work this year in Baker Lake and in the Quinte region of southern Ontario, where we are also organizing a Celebration of Hope.
Give To Where Most Needed
