Sacred Road Ministries Fall Update

Get caught up with Sacred Road! Below, learn more about seasonal events, upcoming holiday plans, and how different aspects of the Ministry have grown in the last few months!

Hope Fellowship Church

Hope Fellowship is the church plant of Sacred Road Ministries located in the town of White Swan, on the Yakama Reservation. If you have visited us on a Sunday in the last several months, one thing you may have noticed is the number of youth we have sitting together during our church services. On an average Sunday right now, we will have anywhere between 35 and 45 teenagers in attendance! It has been encouraging to see each of these teenagers grow in their faith and invest in church regularly. We have also had several new families in attendance this fall and are eager to continue getting to know each of them!

With some of the growth we've seen this season, we are thrilled to share that our church family has celebrated six baptisms since August! Our Pastor, Joshua Tsavatewa, shares more on this HERE.

As we approach the Advent season, please join us in praying for our church - Hope Fellowship. Pray that Advent would be a time of encouragement for everyone in our church; that the good news of the Gospel would soften our hearts and strengthen our faith. Pray for continued growth in our church and that we would continue to be equipped to bless our community.

B.Y.G.E. Update

Our Youth Group gathers at the church building in Yakama every Tuesday evening. Transportation and meals are offered so that our youth feel loved, have some basic needs met for the evening, and don't have lack of transportation hindering them from being at church. We usually see our numbers drop for fall, because of sport schedules, but we have had an average of fifty youth each week, since September. Chuck Clevenger is leading our lesson time at Youth Group and doing a series on "Jesus as King" with our youth. This will lead us into the Advent season where, together, we can celebrate the coming King.

Connie Yallup has been put in charge of organizing all of our Discipleship Groups (which we refer to as D-Groups), which started back for the school year, meeting each Sunday afternoon. D-Groups are set up for the youth in our Youth Group who are invested in learning, diving deeper, and have expressed interest in becoming leaders in our church, in one way or the other. This is a core group of about thirty teenagers from our Youth Group. Many of them were serving with us on Youth Worksites this summer, went to YoungLife Camp, and all of them regularly attend both Youth Group on Tuesday and church on Sunday. 

The thirty youth in our D-Groups are split into groups by age and gender. Girls have female staff lead their group, guys have a male staff leader. During this time, the leaders are able to fine tune the discipleship approach based on the youth they have in their group. The youth are also free to ask more specific questions they have about God, the church, and the Bible. The overall focus is a deeper look at the Bible and helping these youth build a strong, Biblical foundation. 

The 6th grade girls D-Group, lead by Tionna Tillequots and Ann Marie Hausler, are going through a book that is a Bible basics counting primer. The book counts 1-10, looking at a truth from the Bible with each number - with topics like "There is only 1 God" to looking at the 4 Gospels, ending with learning the 9 Fruits of the Spirit and the 10 Commandments. Each week, their group takes a look at one topic, with a desire to help the girls grow in their understanding of the Bible and strengthen their foundation of Biblical truth!

In the last couple of months, D-Groups had several, extra events and opportunities, on top of the regularly scheduled Youth Ministry activities and events. In September, they worked the YoungLife booth at the Central Washington State Fair - selling sandwiches to fundraise for YoungLife Camp next year. In October, they had a pumpkin carving party together with Halloween candy and snacks provided by their D-Group leaders. Some of the older D-Group youth in Yakama drove to Warm Springs to help staff with the annual, Warm Springs Halloween Party. Our D-Groups were also involved in the planning and decorations of our “Boo Bus” - the church bus that is decorated and parked in our Trunk or Treat on Halloween. 

Connie dives deeper into some of these events in her D-Group update, which you can read HERE. Connie continues to lead all of the Discipleship kids with wisdom and intentionality. Please pray for our D-Groups and our Youth Ministry, as a whole, as we continue to work with all of these teenagers. We are moving into the Christmas season and will have even more special events and unique outreach opportunities with teenagers in Yakama and in Warm Springs! Pray for the Lord to use these opportunities to strengthen bonds and continue to draw youth to Himself!

Left to Right: YoungLife Booth at the Fair, Corn Maze Event, Pumpkin Carving

Giving Tuesday Fundraiser 2025

Tuesday, December 2nd

As we approach the end of the year, our Youth Ministry Fund needs help.

This Giving Tuesday, consider partnering with our Youth Ministry!

By financially supporting the Youth Ministry Fund, you will be contributing towards weekly outreach and ministry with teenagers on the Yakama Reservation. Sacred Road Ministries currently reaches around 100 teenagers in Yakama on a regular basis. Our Youth Group meets every Tuesday for dinner, games, singing, and a Bible Study. A core group of 30 teenagers from our Youth Group are also in Discipleship Groups and meet once a week with their leaders for intentional time of fellowship and discipleship. We also have 35-45 youth attending Sunday church services each week. By giving to the Youth Ministry Fund, you help Sacred Road staff continue to meet physical needs and share the Gospel with the teenagers in our community. Thank you! 

Warm Springs

If you've read recent updates or newsletters coming from Evan and Holly Shaw, as they minister in Warm Springs, you may notice a theme of "waiting." Waiting, and especially waiting on the Lord, is something that the Shaws are writing about, processing, and praying through as they navigate these early years of ministry and church planting.

In their most recent newsletter, Evan started by sharing Isaiah 40:31 - "They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength..." and opened by saying "This is something I (Evan) am still learning how to do - waiting for the Lord even as we pursue relationships, service, gospel-centered living, and sharing the good news. Putting in the effort while still trusting that God, not our efforts, will change hearts and renew lives. And having the patience to continue to follow while we wait on Him." 

The growth that we have witnessed in Warm Springs over the last twenty years is breathtaking. God has opened doors, strengthened relationships, and uniquely called the Shaws and Tomo Ito to serve on site in Warm Springs. We are grateful for His consistent provision for the Ministry there! At the same time, much of day-to-day ministry life is waiting on the Lord and trusting His timing and guidance.

Holly Shaw took time to share an encouraging memory from this fall, as she continues to practice waiting on the Lord and also sees evidence of God at work in the lives of youth around her. Take time to read Holly's story and perspective HERE. It's a beautiful reflection, especially as we move into a season of Advent and wait for our long-expected Savior - the Alpha and Omega.

Join us in praying through Isaiah 40 and Psalm 130. Pray that the Lord would continue to sustain us in the waiting - renewing our strength and helping us to hope in His unfailing love. Pray for Warm Springs and the ministry there. Please continue to pray for the Shaws and Itos as they minister in faith.

H.O.P.E. After-School

The start of a new school year marked the beginning of another season for H.O.P.E. After-School, as well! The 5th and 6th grade students involved in After-School gather at our church building in Yakama twice a week for a meal, homework help, tutoring, reading time, games, extracurricular activities, and Bible memory!

Trey Belisario, our H.O.P.E. After-School Director shares an update on how the school year is going, so far. Read more HERE.

Please continue to pray for our H.O.P.E. students! Pray that they would grow in confidence as students, as well as grow in relationship with the Lord.

Above are photos of H.O.P.E. After-School

Our annual Trunk or Treat event was a success! Each year, on Halloween, we have Trunk or Treat set up in the church parking lot. Our hope is to offer a safe, family friendly location for kids of all ages to trick or treat and get some candy! We also hope that the event offers opportunities to connect with new families in our community and introduce ourselves to some new people! We hope that, by stopping by the church property and getting a sense of where we are, more people will feel comfortable coming to church services on a Sunday morning!

We had fourteen trunks set up in our parking lot this year, Sacred Road staff and a handful of volunteers from our church. We also had the "Boo Bus" - which is a church bus that is transformed into a themed walk through for the kids. This year's theme was the Pixar movie "Cars." Our D-Group youth took charge of painting and decorating the Boo Bus. Over 300 trick or treaters come by this year!

A few times a year we will host a Flea Market on our church property. This is another outreach opportunity that allows people to come by the church building and become familiar with our staff and our location. In early October, we hosted a Fall Market outside at our church. We had over 30 vendors set up and over 200 shoppers stop by.

More recently, in November, we had our annual Holiday Bazaar. We have partnered with Harrah Christian School and they allow us to use their indoor gym for this event each year. We had 42 vendors and over 200 shoppers join us for holiday shopping.

To see more about some of the Outreach Events that we host, follow us on social media.

Firewood is a big part of our Mercy Ministry in Yakama, especially during the Fall and Winter months. We have staff who are working in the wood pit multiple times a week and we host teams of volunteers regularly who come to help us get stocked up and ready for deliveries! We have already delivered dozens of loads of firewood to homes in Yakama. If you have served with us by chopping or stacking wood, building wood sheds, or delivering loads with us in the community - thank you! The work put in for firewood is a huge blessing!

Christmas Ministry is already underway. We are finalizing the details for Christmas shoeboxes, Adopt-A-Family, food box deliveries, Advent at Hope Fellowship, and more outreach! We will be traveling to Lapwai, Idaho to host a Christmas party for the kids who went to Kid's Club this summer! We are excited to reconnect with all of them! Warm Springs will also host a special Christmas Party there and we will visit a few other indigenous communities with Christmas shoeboxes and Kid's Club activities!

If you have helped send Christmas shoeboxes, gifts for Adopt-A-Family, or partnered with us in other Christmas Ministry preparations, thank you! We are so grateful for the support at Christmas time and for the ways so many of you help make this a special season of outreach for Sacred Road!

• Please continue to pray for our staff - that the Lord would continue to provide and sustain as we move towards a new year!
• Pray for the communities in Yakama, Warm Springs, and Lapwai. Pray that our communities would feel welcome at church and that the Lord would continue to change hearts and lives.
• Our Christmas Ministry is right around the corner! Please be praying that everything will go smoothly as we finalize Adopt-A-Family details, organize shoebox donations, and prepare to celebrate the Advent season with our church family.
• As we take Christmas deliveries and host Christmas parties in other communities, pray for the efforts we are making to minister and build connections. Please pray that the Lord would continue to open doors for us to connect with the communities of Priest Rapids, Celilo, and Georgeville. Pray that our Ministry would be salt and light to surrounding communities and that the good news of the Gospel would encourage people that we meet in this Christmas season.
• As we approach the end of the year, many of our staff are working to meet support raising goals and prepare for a new year of ministry. Please pray that the Lord would continue to open doors and provide for our staff and our Ministry Programs. We have seen Him sustain this Ministry for more than 20 years and we are humbled by the generosity of churches and families who have partnered with us!
• Pray for our staff who have been met with recent losses and are entering the holiday season with grief and heavy hearts. Pray for God's comfort and for peace that passes understanding. 
• Pray for Pastor Joshua and Ruth Tsavatewa, they have welcomed their second child, Brianne! We praise the Lord for His protection of Ruth and Brianne and ask for Him to continue to provide for the Tsavatewa family.
• Pray for our Youth Group, D-Groups, and Youth Ministry leaders.
• Pray for the students of H.O.P.E. After-School this school year.

If you are interested in financially supporting Sacred Road, we would love to talk with you about what that could look like. You can learn more about various Ministry Programs on our website. Go to the "GIVE" page to see the various Ministry Funds.

At the end of the year, specific needs arise. Please email us if you are interested in giving a one time gift that helps us meet our end of year goals.

Thank you for taking time to get updated on everything that has been going on with Sacred Road Ministries this fall! We are humbled by the support and prayers we have received. Please continue to pray for our ministry team as we serve in Yakama, Warm Springs, Lapwai, and beyond.

To learn more about Sacred Road Ministries, visit our website and subscribe to our Youtube channel. You can keep up with regular news and updates by following us on Facebook and Instagram.