Chuck and Cindy Harper
Being servants to the commission given us from Jesus to “make known the mystery… of Christ in you, the hope of Glory,” (Colossians 1:25-27) sums up the heart and purpose of Chuck and Cindy Harper.
Although the Harpers have a passion for missions all over the world, God has broken their hearts to see Native Americans find their place in the kingdom of God. Being raised on the Navajo Reservation by missionary parents, Chuck says that growing up, he wanted to “machete his way through the jungles in Africa as a real missionary.” The doors never opened for Africa, but all trails headed north to Alaska after graduation from Moody Bible Institute. It was while traveling with the local basketball team that Chuck realized his passion was to call Native American Youth to embrace the life and forgiveness Jesus offers and stop the endless cycles of abuse and addictions.
Cindy was working on staff with Youth for Christ, and took a team of students from the New York City area to the Navajo Reservation. Chuck just happened to be helping his parents with hosting summer teams before attending Seminary in Pennsylvania. They were soon married, and upon completion of Biblical Theological Seminary, returned to the Navajo Reservation with a desire to work with young people!
With a growing burden to see young Indian warriors go into missions themselves, a reservation wide “youthquake” was planned in 1992. With unprecedented success, and a newly established network of volunteers, including special partners like the late Rich Mullins, Christ for Native Youth began as mighty prayer warriors recognized the extreme needs of Native youth – and saw the potential for Native Youth in world evangelism. Similar to Nehemiah’s story, it was a God-sized dream, with God-sized potential. Many sensed it was God’s time to mobilize the body of Christ to change the tide among Native youth.
The Harpers today still serve with Christ for Native Youth, which has since joined forces with North America Indigenous Ministries of Vancouver,
BC, Canada. Their ministry has grown and is focused on helping establish youth ministry among many reservation churches. Special projects include our Side-by-Side performing arts teams, training and outreach events and mission trips, maintaining relationships with reservation churches and youth leaders, and with the bi-annual Trail of Hope Youth Conference, this summer in Colorado Springs.
Cindy works in the CNY office wearing many hats, including mentoring and counseling. Chuck works as the director of CNY, and also serves as a member of the ministry council of the National Network of Youth Ministries. The Harpers have 3 sons, James, Mike and Ben.