In this the final episode of the First Things First series, Craig and LaDonna Smith finish laying the groundwork for what it means to be truly saved through Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death  on Calvary's cross.  This is life's most important decision that not only gives us the hope of eternal life, but life worth living here on earth.  It's the starting point for every person who responds to this good news message called the gospel.  It's also the ending point for everyone's search for answers to life's most important questions about meaning and purpose.

Most importantly, Craig takes the  listeners through a prayer of repentance that brings God's complete forgiveness and cleansing of all sin and welcomes us all into His eternal family, thus beginning a new lifelong relationship with Christ that brings peace, healing, and wholeness.

First Things First is a great title for this series that is one of the most important teachings the Smiths will present in their Indigenous Faith broadcasts.  Please, please, please, don't miss it!

The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing!  That was a quote from Lee Iacocca, the head of Dodge Chrysler auto manufacturing company.  Under his watch the minivan came into existence.  His encouragement was to prioritize the main things to be successful.

The same holds true about prioritizing the main things to be saved and delivered from the bondages of sin that hold all mankind back.  In this three part series, Craig and LaDonna Smith take listeners down the only road the Bible says leads to salvation, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In order to live a biblically healthy Indigenous Faith, the main thing is to understand the starting point of that faith, and it is grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  It's not Christ plus another religion.  It's not Christ plus our traditions.  It is not Christ plus anything else.  Salvation is the entrusting of your eternity into the One who died on a brutal cross to pay the penalty for your and my sins and it leads to the most incredible life here on earth! 

Don't miss any of these three parts in this vital series.  It will pave the way for all the rest of the truths of living an Indigenous Faith that pleases God!

As the Smiths turn the corner from addressing the Canadian Residential School issue, they want to review the five points they offered in their recent Mourning the 215 Children series that will help bring understanding and healing from those so affected by these atrocities.  In this new three part series, the Smiths introduce you to the only hope for all mankind, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In order to come to Christ, the One so misrepresented by His followers in these Residential Schools wants you to know who He really is, how He relates to us as Indigenous people, and how you can move past the hurt to experience the most powerful healing in your life through what He wants to do for you.

Don't reject Christ because of the atrocities perpetrated by His followers.  Get to know the real Jesus, and how you can have the most incredible personal relationship with the One who made you.  

Remember, this program is in three parts.  Please don't miss a single one of them, as they all build precept on precept which will result in the clearest presentation of the gospel Craig and LaDonna can offer you.  Consider what they have to say, and please, consider making your decision about Christ only after hearing all three parts of this series!  Remember, there's hope for the hurt, healing for all the pain, and a loving Savior who will walk with you the rest of your life, and then on into eternity!  Oh, what a Savior!

In this, the final, Part 4 episode of their series titled Mourning the 215 Children, hosts Craig and LaDonna Smith seek to provide practical and biblical answers to the many questions that arise from the gruesome discovery of the bodies of 215 Indigenous children found in a mass grave on the campus of a government funded, church run Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia.  The Smiths don't want their listeners to miss that the Christ of Christianity also suffered horrific trauma, torture, and beatings on the way to the cross on which He was brutally crucified, all while those who purported to represent Him in these institutions did such unimaginable abuse and brutality that led to the deaths of these precious children.  In answering what seems to be unanswerable questions, the Smiths remind us all of the horrific sin nature in all of humanity, and seek to encourage listeners to give room in their troubled hearts for the grace, mercy, healing, and capacity to forgive that the power of the indwelling Christ offers to those who love Him enough to trust him with their lives.  The Smiths conclude the series by drawing from their own stories of personal and historical trauma they endured, and how the power of the gospel has given them hope, healing, and the power to forgive.  They pray their listeners will never be the same as they present the only Hope for mankind through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Himself!  May the Spirit of God bring comfort to the hearts and souls of especially those still living who were the survivors of such atrocities, and the families of all those who lost their lives through the violent and deadly acts committed by the hands of those who knew better, yet chose to sin gravely and caused such great pain to generations that followed.

In this, the third of four episodes on the horrific discovery of the bodies of 215 children buried in a mass grave in a Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, Craig and LaDonna Smith continue to provide biblical and historical context in response to this unimaginable tragedy.  They continue to unpackage  how the church that claims it represents Christ could deviate off course to such a degree that some of its own clergy could be guilty of unthinkable abuse that led to over 50,000 Indigenous children dying in these Residential Schools across Canada in these school's 125 plus year history.  These institutions were administered by several church groups, including primarily the Roman Catholic  and Anglican Church (Church of England).   But also in this episode the Smith's turn the corner and begin to offer perspective on how God sees such action, perpetrated in His Holy Name, and how He plans to deal with those, yes even those who claimed to represent Him in a clergy role, who committed such crimes against humanity.  They also offer some perspective on how we as Indigenous people need to approach this subject in a way that provides wholistic healing of heart and soul.  Don't forget there is one more episode coming in this series, and it's one you don't want to miss!  The Smiths are praying for you, as one of their listeners, that the God of all comfort will comfort you with His own broken and understanding heart, in a way only He can do.  Craig and LaDonna have experienced that heart, and they know you can, too!

In what has become Craig and LaDonna Smith's most painful yet important podcast to date, they continue their response to the recent and gruesome discovery of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of a government funded, church run Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia.  Craig and LaDonna are seeking to provide answers to some important and justifiable questions grieving Indigenous people throughout Native North America are raising.  They are going to the only source of real, universal truth, the timeless Word of God, to remind listeners that God is not silent on evil, even when committed by those who claim they have represented Him while committing and covering up their evil deeds.  No man or woman, regardless of religious affiliation, will go unpunished by the Judge of all the earth in matters of such abuse.  While we cannot go back and change what happened, we all must move forward and, for those of us who are Christ followers, help in the healing of those who survived such fatal abuse and neglect, and minister God's healing to the families of those who ended up dying in North America's unacknowledged genocide.  The Smiths thoughts are presented in this four part series.  They ask their listeners to be patient as, just like all their other podcasts, each weekly episode is launched at 9:00 a.m. CST every Saturday morning,.  They encourage you to listen to all four episodes, because you will see how faithful in healing God can be to anyone suffering deep trauma.  You'll see how God's own story, including His only Son's time on earth, is also a story of great trauma and abuse which also led to Christ's own death on a cruel cross.  You'll also see how the Smiths, who both suffered from their own personal historical trauma, have found hope and healing through the very One these perpetrators claimed to represent.  Please have an open heart and soul as you journey with Craig and LaDonna as they mourn the 215 children at the center of this tragedy in this part 2 of their 4 part series.

At the end of May 2021, the bodies of 215 Indigenous children, some as young as 3 years old, were discovered in a mass grave at a government funded, church run Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia.  Buried for decades, this horrific finding has opened many deep wounds of Canada's First Nations and Native American peoples.  The tragedy is only deepened by the fact that in the 125 plus year history of these institutions, it's estimated that over 50,000 Indigenous children died from indescribable abuses, both physical and sexual in nature, tortures, and beatings.  How can the church have done such injustices?  In what has been described as North America's unacknowledged genocide, many questions are left unanswered.  In what can only be described as the most painful and difficult episodes of the newly launched Indigenous Faith podcast, Craig and LaDonna Smith seek to provide insight and answers that they pray will bring comfort to wounded hearts and biblical truth that affirms no perpetrator of such injustices will  go unpunished.  As the Scriptures remind us in Genesis 18:25, Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?  Please don't miss any of the upcoming four podcasts in this timely series of the Smith's teaching.

In the conclusion of this two part message, Craig Smith opens up God's Word to help bring truth to troubled souls seeking to find relief from the fears that grip us all.  For the Christian, life can be tough and getting tougher each day as faith is being challenged in the world around us.  What happens when even government entities try and restrict the exercise of our faith, which is happening more and more these days.  A strong Indigenous Faith is grounded in God's Word, and no matter what it costs, we must stay committed to Christ.  He suffered for us.  Are we willing, if necessary, to suffer for Him?  The mystery that has now been revealed to all His saints as the Bible says, is powerful enough to wrestle down any fear that comes against us!  Stay strong, believer in Christ!  Live for Him like your eternal life depends on it!  He is so worth our faithful love and allegiance, regardless of what may come!

In this first part of a two part message, Craig Smith dives into the challenging issue of fear.  We've all faced it at one time or another.  Whether it be violence in our streets or homes, a global pandemic that wants to take your life, or any other thing that brings fear into our lives, Craig reminds us that there's hope in Christ and His powerful Word to take us safely through the danger zones we face.  Indigenous people face other kinds of fears.  The fear of the unknown, when the spirit world manifests itself in powerful and unexplainable ways.  Regardless of fear's source, all fears have to bow in submission to something and Someone who is greater than our worst fear.  Knowing that helps build strong Indigenous Faith that lasts!

In this concluding of a three part message, Craig and LaDonna Smith tell their own personal and family story through the context of what they affectionately call,  Their little Home Church.  All of our spiritual journeys, as Indigenous believers in Jesus Christ, must be connected to a local home church where we can systematically hear God's Word preached and taught, and where we can assemble with other believers to worship Him together.  It's also an important place where our spiritual gifts can be used to help build up this local body of believers, and to reach our communities and yes, the whole world as well.  As you listen to today's podcast, you'll be amazed at how imprisonment, martyrdom, and miracles are deeply tied to Craig and LaDonna's Little Home Church.  Understanding how God continues to use this little "insignificant" congregation after such an amazing history reminds us all how God can continue to use a couple like Craig and LaDonna Smith, even after all the pain and suffering they have experienced.  As Craig says, How can we not be faithful in our generation when those from our little home church who have preceded us in their generations were willing to be faithful, even unto death, in theirs!