Dine Nation Ministry Trip
Earlier in April of 2025, NANE President Ryan O’Leary (Ojibwe) led a trip to the Dine Nation in the southwest part of the United States. According to one elected Dine leader, the Dine Nation now has over 400,000 tribal members and it also has over 27,000 squares miles.
Some History
According to the Dine website, a tribal government was established many years ago to meet the desires of the oil companies to lease Dine’ land for exploration. This government was reorganized in 1991 by forming a three-branch government system (executive, legislative, and judicial).
Dine code talkers are also famous for their around-the-clock work during the first two days of battle at Iwo Jima as they sent and received over 800 messages, all without errors during this time. Back in May of 1942, the first 29 Dine recruits attended boot camp. Eventually, they created a code that included a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. According to the Dine, the tribal members could encode, transmit, and decode a three-line English message in 20 seconds while machines of the time required 30 minutes to perform the same job. Also, approx. 400 Dine were trained as code talkers.
Engaging in Ministry
NANE board members are thankful for the opportunity for NANE to engage in ministry among this tribe. The trip included the NANE President, Ryan O’Leary, sharing a devotional at a Dine pastor’s prayer breakfast. This devotional was based upon Romans 1:1-7 and focused on building lives through giving and receiving spiritual guidance, encouragement and comfort. After the NANE president spoke, the president of the Dine Nation shared his heart toward his people. (A picture of the NANE president and the President of the Dine Nation is included in this post).
The NANE President also attended a Navajo Christian business alliance meeting. During this meeting, he shared about his work in leading ministries and that he was honored to be a guest in visiting this reservation and attending this business leaders meeting. The trip also included visiting and meeting other ministry leaders among this tribe, including a new pastoral couple at Many Farms, a community within the Dine Nation. They are Billy and Brianna Tallas.
The trip also involved spending time with leaders from Across Nations ministry and seeing the work they are doing among this particular tribal people group. Finally, the NANE president met with a non-profit leader who is helping Navajo young people through bicycle riding and bicycle repair.
It was a productive trip and a blessing to meet with and visit people, including believers in Jesus, from this reservation!
Ryan o’leary, NANE PRESIDENT