Marty McLean, with a long family legacy of ministry to the First Nations, was recently licensed by the FCA in Canada.
On Sunday morning of May 7, 2017, a powerful service took place in which the Maranatha Congregation from Niverville, Manitoba, in co-operation with the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies in Canada, licensed and commissioned First Nations leader, Marty McLean.
Marty is a dynamic “next generation” leader with a great legacy of parents and grandparents who were spiritual pioneers in preparing the way for what God is now doing in the present generation.
Marty’s wife, Rose Thunder McLean, has her own ministry legacy as well. She is the daughter of well-known native evangelist and singer, Lott Thunder. Rose is also known for her own ministry in song, having already produced eight albums of gospel music.
Forty years ago, Marty’s parents, Robert and Beverly McLean from Fairford, Manitoba, experienced a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their community when Beverly received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. That event ignited a prayer meeting in their home and congregation, which continued around the clock non-stop for some three years. Robert, having planted around 30 congregations in northern Manitoba, has long held a vision to see strong spiritual leaders raised up in communities where spiritual darkness has caused high rates of suicide, incarceration, and substance abuse.
Marty’s father-in-law, Lott Thunder, draws many hundreds of First Nations people from all over northern Manitoba and Ontario to his camp meetings at the Winnipeg Convention Centre every year on Easter and Thanksgiving week-ends. Lott was also a keynote speaker at the Canadian National Convention of the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies in October of 2012 in Winnipeg.
In this generation, God is using Marty and Rose McLean to organize Encounter week-ends in First Nations communities, which are attended by all ages. It is among the youth, however, where the impact has been most dramatic. The younger members of the First Nations are rising up as never before! Lives are being transformed, and there is a sense that much more is soon to follow. Both Marty’s and Rose’s parents are blessing them to go further in their ministry call.
In 1975 Billy Graham described the First Nations of North America as a “sleeping giant” which, when awakened, would greatly impact this continent and, indeed, the world. People now feel this “sleeping giant” is beginning to awake as the light of the gospel shines brighter in places where darkness has been the greatest. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2).
During the commissioning service, Lott Thunder read 1 Corinthians 2:9: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (NKJV). What has God prepared for the First Nations? It’s a question many in Canada await with eager anticipation to see answered
Reported by Roger Armbruster, pastor Maranatha (Niverville, Manitoba)
