The drum begins first.

Then the dancers step forward—young people dressed in full Native regalia, voices rising as they sing to Creator.

For those watching, it can feel like a performance.

But for the young people of Mending Wings, it’s something else entirely.

It’s prayer.

“If you were standing in the room,” says Corey Greaves, president and founder of Mending Wings, “you would see them dancing, singing, and gathering around the drum.”

What you might not see is everything that made that moment possible.

Because long before they ever step into the circle, these students are being formed in something quieter and deeper: a faith that refuses to separate Jesus from who they are. Through relationships, culture, and community, young people are discovering they do not have to choose between being Native and being a Christ follower.

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A Place to Ask Questions

Lesa didn’t come to Mending Wings looking for transformation.

At first, she just needed somewhere to go.

She had grown up in an unstable home, carrying responsibilities far beyond her years. By the time she was a teenager, she was already caring for others, trying to hold together a life that often felt uncertain.

“I was going at first just to get away,” she says.

But something about the environment kept drawing her back.

“We could talk,” she remembers. “We could ask questions.”

“I knew I was a believer,” she says. “But I was also being told a lot of different things… how do I navigate that?”

At Mending Wings, no one rushed her.

Adults made space—listening, staying, creating an environment where she didn’t have to give up her questions to belong.

And slowly, something began to heal.

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Showing Up, Again and Again

At Mending Wings, a Native-led ministry and TENx10 Faith & Service grant recipient, discipleship begins in relationship. Rooted in Yakama traditions and a holistic vision of the gospel, Mending Wings weaves together cultural revitalization, justice, belonging, and faith formation in ways that feel deeply lived rather than taught. 

For generations, many Native young people inherited a painful message—sometimes spoken, often unspoken—that following Jesus required leaving parts of themselves behind. 

At Mending Wings, they encounter something radically different: a faith that invites them to love Jesus while fully embracing the stories and culture that God entrusted to them.

It begins with something beautifully simple.

“We show up,” Corey says. “We share culture and spirituality while building relationships of trust. And we repeat it over and over.” 

Showing up looks like ordinary faithfulness.

Birthday parties. Basketball games. Conversations that don’t end when the program does.

Sometimes it looks like answering a phone call in the middle of the night.

Sometimes it looks like teaching a student how to stand up, speak clearly, and carry themselves with dignity.

Gina Greaves, Corey’s wife and a communications teacher, has spent hours helping students practice public speaking—again and again—until confidence begins to replace fear.

Other adults serve more quietly—preparing meals, setting up spaces, creating an environment where students feel known.

It’s not flashy.

But over time, it's formative.

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When Faith Becomes Personal

For Lesa, that kind of steady presence changed more than her circumstances.

It changed how she understood God.

As her life grew more complicated and responsibilities shifted, the adults around her didn’t step back.

“They encouraged me even more,” she says. “They showed up for me.”

They didn’t just talk about Jesus. They lived like Jesus—showing up, serving, loving without condition. And through that, Lesa began to see something she had not fully believed before.

“I could be a believer,” she says, “and still be who I am.”

For the first time, she understood that following Jesus didn’t require her to leave her culture behind.

“I could feel something was happening,” she says. “I didn’t understand it yet—but I knew it was there.”

What was being formed in her wasn’t just belief. 

It was trust.

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From Being Discipled to Discipling Others

Over time, that foundation grew into leadership.

Lesa began serving in small ways at first, then with increasing responsibility. Today, she leads Mending Wings’ SLAM Trips, where visiting church groups come not as teachers, but as learners on the reservation. 

Youth who once sat in the circle now help lead it.

They share their stories and invite others to encounter Jesus through a perspective many have never experienced before.

“They gain confidence,” Lesa says. “They take leadership opportunities where others hesitate.”

Young people who once held back are beginning to step forward. 

Youth who once questioned their place begin claiming it.

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Becoming Who They Were Meant to Be

One of those youths is Marcus.

When he first arrived, he was quiet—hesitant to speak, unsure of himself.

Over time, adults invested in him. Not simply helping him gain confidence, but helping him discover his voice and place within the community.

Now, he stands before groups introducing himself in Ichishkíin Sínwit, the traditional language of the Yakama people.

What once felt intimidating has become natural. 

And what might look like confidence from the outside is, in fact, something deeper: a young person reclaiming language, culture, and belonging through his leadership.

That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when young people are seen—not just for who they are, but for who they’re becoming.

“They see themselves as culture bearers,” Corey says.

Prior generations have shaped them.

 Now they are shaping the ones to come.

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Faith That Holds Everything Together

For many youth, one of the most powerful moments comes through Dancing Our Prayers. Teams travel, sharing through drum, dance, and storytelling.

But what’s happening in those moments isn’t just expression.

It’s integration.

One student, Aaliyah, put it simply:

“Joining Dancing Our Prayers, I learned that Creator and God are the same. It helped me get closer to God—and to be proud of my Native ways.”

That realization changes everything. 

Faith is no longer something separate from identity, culture, or community. Instead, young people begin to discover what Corey describes as a holistic gospel—one in which following Jesus brings healing and wholeness rather than fragmentation.

In a context where Native identity and Christian faith were often presented as incompatible, young people are beginning to live into something profoundly different: life as Native Christians, fully rooted in both faith and culture, where Jesus meets them in the fullness of who they are.

A Different Kind of Discipleship‍

What’s happening at Mending Wings isn’t built on a complicated strategy.

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It’s built on adults who show up. 

Young people who are known. 

A community that reflects Jesus not only in what it teaches, but in how it lives.

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Over time, that kind of discipleship forms something lasting.

Youth become leaders. 

Leaders pour into others. 

Faith is carried forward as embodied experience.

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Young people who were once told that faith and Native identity belonged in separate spaces are discovering something different: following Jesus can draw them more deeply into who God created them to be.

They are worshiping.

Leading.

Serving.

Healing.

Living into a fuller gospel—whole, rooted, and deeply loved by God.

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And in that process, something once fractured is beginning to mend. Not only for themselves, but for the generations coming after them.