Michael & Lindie Wadhams

In July 1998, the Spirit of the Lord placed a burden on the hearts of the Wadhams to move from Cape Town, South Africa, to the U.S. to work with Native Americans. Their burden for those in the native communities who don’t know Christ Jesus increased with the reading of Dee Brown’s “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” and “The Trail of Tears,” telling the story of the relocation of the Cherokee to Oklahoma. In their 28 years of living in America, the Wadhams have pastored a native church in Cherokee, North Carolina, rejuvenated a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and spent 13 years in ministry to the Salish Nations of Lummi and Nooksack, where a church is being built—Nooksack Bethel Chapel. The Wadhams have broadened their ministry by including outreach and church rejuvenation to the Tohono O’odham, Gila River, and Salt River Nations in Arizona. Now they are overseeing both the continued work in the Pacific Northwest and the new work in the southwest.

Their goal is to mentor young Native leaders to labor with them among their own tribes, and as ministry partners, help build bridges between the tribes and local churches. In addition, they plan to focus on evangelism through short-term spring and summer teams, as well as to both support established gospel Native churches and rejuvenate existing Native churches they partner with on the reservations.