NAE Student Leadership Conference in Washington D.C.
At the end of January, 2025, NANE President Ryan O’Leary led a group of young, emerging Native Christian leaders to the National Association of Evangelicals student leadership conference in Washington D.C. Up to this point, there had never been any Native student representation at this conference and having the first group of young Native Christian leaders attend this gathering was and is truly historic.
Ryan led a group of 10 young Native leaders to this unique, life-changing, and inspiring experience for these young Native leaders. The week started with Ryan giving each student a NANE leadership journal to write about what they are learning related to Christian leadership during this week-long experience in D.C. The week consisted of hearing from various national leaders, including United States senators, meeting Christian students and young Christian leaders from around the United States, and touring different sites. For example, on one of the nights, we took a guided tour of Washington D.C. and visited sites such as the George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., Vietnam War, and Korean War Memorials.
One of the highlights of the trip was having Ryan and one of the young Native leaders come up front and pray for United States senators. This was a remarkable and encouraging experience, in particular, for the young, emerging Native leader to be able to pray for a United States senator before all those in attendance. The Lord is raising up tribal Christians to have influence for Christ in American culture and in other cultures.
Other highlights of the trip included being able to meet with a senator in person or their key representatives. For example, we met with one of the legislative aids for a North Dakota senator. It was encouraging in that this legislative aid is an enrolled member a tribe himself as well as an attorney. We also met as a group with Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (Alaska) office. This was very helpful as she also has a number of Native staff, and these staff met with Ryan and the ten Native emerging leaders.
On the final day, Friday, Ryan led the group to Bible Museum. Students were encouraged and inspired by being able to see various exhibits in this museum that the Lord is using in our country. One of the exhibits communicates how many languages the Bible has been translated into and how many languages still need a Bible translation.
On the final night, the National Association of Evangelicals hosted a closing dinner at a D.C. area restaurant. Students laughed and enjoyed themselves at this dinner (and, yes, we all ate too much) as the group reminisced about the memories created. Also, two of the younger, emerging Native leaders agreed to be interviewed about how this experience in D.C. impacted them. They commented on how it was a key moment in their lives and deeply changed them. We’re also thankful to NAE for their kingdom work, and how the Lord is using NAE to make a difference in our country while the organization fulfills its mission to honor God by connecting and representing evangelical Christians.