Canyon Ministries

Sharing the Wonders of God with a Local Grand Canyon Tour Company

Even a few minutes here and there, going the extra step in open friendliness to display the love of Christ, can go a long way in breaking the ice and barriers that may initially exist between people.

Nate sharing with guests on a rim tour at Desert View.

Recently I had the amazing opportunity to give a presentation on the Biblical Creation perspective we teach each day here at the Grand Canyon, the same sort of teaching you’ll hear on any of our rim tours or river trips.  The only difference was this was not to our guests on bus or raft, but to a gathering of guides from a different Grand Canyon tour company who also operate rim tours here at the canyon.

Throughout the years we’ve spent running tours, we occasionally run into guests and guides from other companies.  We see this as a great opportunity to meet fellow guides and get to know them, even if it’s for only a minute or two at a time.

Most other Grand Canyon guides would not see the canyon or the world as we do in light of biblical teaching regarding Creation and the Flood in Noah’s day.  Of course when they see the writing on our bus which says “Providing a Creationist Perspective,” it gets people talking in a place surrounded by signs which claim a landscape millions to billions of years in the making.  Many people are genuinely curious by what we teach, and this fellow tour company was no different.  Some of their guides told me they have lots of people on their tours who may not agree with the long geological evolution of the canyon, and often bring up questions about what the Bible teaches.  Without an understanding about what the Scriptures say in regard to catastrophic Flood geology, it may be difficult to engage in conversation on that topic with their guests.

This is one of the reasons why I was invited to speak to them and teach how it is we see the canyon, and world around us, in light of the biblical narrative.  After sharing a little of the history of Canyon Ministries I opened with a foundation from the Word of God in its first book, Genesis.  Using the Bible as the foundation I then spoke and taught for the next hour and a half on the catastrophic geological evidence we see at the canyon in relation to Noah’s Flood.  This also included great science topics you will hear on our tours regarding things like the worldwide watery graveyard of the fossil record, the Great Unconformity, Cambrian Explosion, bent and folded rock layers, worldwide distribution of water-borne sediments, catastrophic carving of the Grand Canyon by a breached dam lake spillover, and much more!  Afterwards we spent considerable time in answering questions they had.  Praise the Lord for a highly successful night!

Now all of this would not have been possible if our guide team had not made a concerted effort to establish a sense of community and camaraderie with fellow guides from different companies.  Even a few minutes here and there, going the extra step in open friendliness to display the love of Christ, can go a long way in breaking the ice and barriers that may initially exist between people.  In Galatians 5 Paul tells us that the greatest thing is “faith expressing itself through love” (NIV).  Each and every day look for those God-ordained opportunities to express and share your faith in love to ALL that are around you!