For years, International Mission Board missionaries have prayed for God to send workers among the First Nations of Canada. The Lord has answered those prayers. This year, RJ and Elayna Locklear have been commissioned to serve Canada’s First Nations — who are indigenous to the country — in and around Calgary, Alberta.
IMB missionary Jeff Clark is one who prayed for missionaries like the Locklears. He and his wife, Melva, along with their growing team, are focused on serving rural areas and people groups with few believers, including Canada’s First Nations peoples. They also want to encourage more Christians from American Indian tribes to pursue mission opportunities.
Between the U.S. and Canada, there are 1,205 different tribes. Clark said the ministry is developing with local church leaders who are excited for IMB missionaries to partner with them.
“First Nations often do not have a traditional Western worldview, so ministry on a reserve where they live requires a missiology that accounts for that,” Clark said. “Our goal is that every reserve in Canada has a culturally relevant, gospel-preaching church.”
The Locklears are both part of the Lumbee Native American tribe in North Carolina and are committed to serve those who share many of the same experiences they have faced themselves. Yet, their journey of service has been anything but straightforward.
Facing heartache
RJ was set to serve on the mission field in 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19. Then, as a married couple in 2022, RJ and Elayna faced more heartache through personal health struggles that further delayed their service. In 2025, they were blessed with their son, Ezra, and this summer, they moved to Calgary to serve as IMB church-planting strategists for Canada’s First Nations.
“The timing was perfect,” RJ said, despite the setbacks.
“We believe that God delayed us until now for this specific job and time to serve First Nations peoples and to share our story as Native Americans with them.”
Furthermore, in 2024, RJ had begun praying for a way to use his heritage as Native American and to work with the IMB — a role not previously available. However, in a precise answer to prayer, Clark’s team invited RJ and Elayna to fulfill a role that combined their heritage with their desire to serve among the lost through the IMB.
IMB President Paul Chitwood was grateful for God’s answer to his own prayers for more workers among First Nations peoples coming from Southern Baptist churches.
“Far too many Native Americans and First Nations remain unreached and even unengaged with the gospel,” Chitwood said. Working in partnership with the North American Mission Board and the Canadian National Baptist Convention, we have been hoping and praying for more Southern Baptists to hear and answer the call to help with evangelism, discipleship and church planting. Clearly the most effective workers will come from our Southern Baptist First Nations and Native American churches, of which there are several hundred across the United States.”
RJ and Elayna Locklear, Jeff Clark and the rest of their team face a demanding road of ministry ahead. The historic difficulty and destruction imposed on Indigenous peoples from some who have carried the banner of Christendom have done damage to both the perception of outsiders and the reception of the gospel message.
IMB missionaries and their partners labor not only to change the perception, but to bring the gospel of salvation among the people they serve in a way that impacts generations to come.
Ways to pray
Please pray for the Locklears:
As they enter a new place, a new culture and a new ministry.
As they settle in Calgary and quickly make it their new home.
As they begin to develop relationships with the First Nations and the Canadian National Baptist Convention churches.
Please pray for the work:
For harvest workers to be called out from among Native American and First Nations peoples.
For the church leaders on reserves and reservations.
For salvation to come to many people through the work of this team.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Andrew Ely and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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