Introductions

Donnie Begay (Navajo)

Yá’át’ééh shik’is! (Hello my friend), my name is Donnie Begay. I currently live in Albuquerque with my wife and three girls. My wife Renee, grew up South of Gallup in Zuni, NM. We met in High School at Rehoboth Christian. Our girls Natalia, Kaya, and Peri are full of energy and keep us busy. I am Navajo and grew up on the Navajo reservation. I am born into my mother’s clan, Honágháahnii (One-Who-Walks-Around), and born for my father’s clan, Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House People).

I graduated from New Mexico State University in 2005 with a BA in Business Management. After hearing Richard Twiss (Lakota) describe to non-natives what it meant to be Native and a follower of the Jesus Way, I wanted to be like him so I started the NAIITS Graduate program in 2013. I graduated from George Fox University (now Portland Seminary) in 2016 with an MA in Intercultural Studies. Currently, I am working on my Ph.D. from the University of Divinity, a partner institution with NAIITS Down Under in Australia. My dissertation title: The Lifeworld of Navajo Millennials: Seeking Balance and Harmony In Their World and Others.

I grew up running and playing a lot of basketball on the Navajo Reservation. During my Junior year of high school, I transferred to Rehoboth Christian School and noticed my future wife from afar when we both ran Cross Country. I ran just fast enough to catch her. I still run (not fast) and play basketball once in a great while. I’ve been concentrating more on playing golf, which I picked up in college.

I currently work several different jobs. I am the College Programs Coordinator with NAIITS. I also teach several courses at the undergrad and graduate level. I help preach once a month at a local Church here in Albuquerque. I also still work part-time with Cru. I believe there should be an Indigenous voice in spaces where Indigenous peoples are a target audience. It is also important to let any and all missionaries, Churches, and mission-sending agencies that First Nations and Native American people are the most overreached people groups in recent memory. The belief (or lie) they believe is that the gospel is not present among Indigenous people or that somehow they are not “getting it.” I believe they simply have their own language and ways of knowing Creator that is foreign to outsiders. And, because those ways are not said in English or follow proper protocol (liturgy) in European culture it is wrong or somehow evil.

Twitter @donniebegay
Instagram @k4pu1yt
TicTok @k4pu1yt

Renee Begay (Zuni)

Hello, my name is Renee Begay. Keshhi ho’ Renee Begay le’shina. Ho K’o:lotda:kwe deyan K’yak’yali:kwe a:wan cha’le. So I belong to my mother’s clan, which is the Sandhill Crane clan, and then I’m a child of my father’s clan, which is the Eagle Clan. And so that’s how we find out who’s related to who, who’s auntie of who or whatever. But that’s how I introduce myself.

I am from the Pueblo of Zuni in Southwest New Mexico. I am a mother to three daughters and married to my high school “fren” Donnie Begay. I think in introducing myself and then also sharing where I’m from, and then for those that are from Zuni, knowing where my family’s located, that brings a theme of actual responsibility when I actually do introduce myself in that way, because there is a responsibility I have to take within my identity, that it’s not just a haphazard way of saying like, you know, this is who I am, but it’s like, it’s actually, a theme of belonging, who I belong to, but then also the responsibility that I have to the rest of my family, and then my community.

I recently left Cru (a large evangelical Christian organization) after almost two decades. I am excited to see what I will do next, the places I’ll go, and who I will meet. My heart’s desire has always been to work with not only my people and community but also young people from any and all nations. Working with Indigenous college students down in Las Cruces at NMSU gave me so much joy, hope, and life. Any chance I get to hang out with college students is a blessing and feeds my soul. I love listening to them talk about their identity, their home, their community, and their hopes for the future.

Twitter @kylestewa

Instagram reneebegay