MTM - Interview with Corey Schmidlkoffer Part Two

A plane touches down in Bethel and everything changes. What began as a single trip becomes a years-long commitment to Alaska’s remote villages, shaped not by big events but by small tables, shared stories, and the courage to listen. We open up about what we learned from Native communities—family first, care for elders, and the quiet strength of sharing—and how that humility reshaped our mission from “bringing answers” to honoring God’s image in culture and walking with people through real pain.

We talk frankly about the hard realities: high suicide rates, addiction, and isolation in roadless communities with limited access to care. We also face a difficult missionary legacy in Alaska and why we chose a different posture—repentant, relational, and patient. That led us to focus on two places, Kivalina and Good News Bay, where we now spend seven to ten days each month. No stages, no hurry, just presence. In Good News Bay, a dusty binder listed hundreds of infant baptisms but only two adult baptisms since the 1970s. This year, seven people chose baptism—some in a bathtub—alongside first steps of sobriety, reconciled marriages, and a fresh desire to build stable homes.

Along the way, we share the heartbeat behind the work: peace and joy that do not depend on changing circumstances but on the One who meets us in them. We outline the scope—roughly 100 villages with no gospel presence—and the practicals, from small teams to bush plane logistics and why one transformed life is worth every mile. If the story of Kivalina and Good News Bay stirs you, consider praying, sharing, or partnering so more villages across Alaska can experience lasting hope.

If this moved you, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the show. Want to get involved or support the work? Visit Frontier Alaska Missions dot com and tell us how you’d like to help.

https://www.frontieralaskamissions.com/

https://standforhealthfreedom.com/stand/south-carolina/

Chapters

• 0:00 Picking Up The Story
• 1:12 First Trip To Bethel
• 3:12 Learning From Alaska’s Native Cultures
• 5:00 Hard Realities In Remote Villages
• 6:36 Reckoning With Missionary History
• 9:18 Choosing Kivalina And Good News Bay
• 12:10 Monthly Presence And Table Fellowship
• 13:50 Good News Bay: Baptisms And Renewal
• 17:20 Vision For Laborers Across Alaska
• 19:15 The Need, The Team, The Cost
• 23:10 Stories Of Hope, Peace, And Joy

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 1:07

Well, I'm sorry I had to cut you off last weekend. And I'm glad you're back. And so I'm going to turn you loose once again. And uh go ahead and just pick up where you left off last week and tell us about your experiences uh going out to the villages in Alaska.

SPEAKER_03: 1:28

Yeah. Well in in 2018 uh my wife and I took our first trip out to uh the village of Alaska. It's a village called Bethel, it's the largest village in Alaska, and upon arriving there uh it became abundantly clear that we were right where we were supposed to be. Uh just the the confirmation from the Lord, um uh a a level of peace and the presence of God was so tangible. Uh I just remember my my wife and I looking at each other almost immediately getting off of the plane and just looking at each other and just knowing we were right where we were supposed to be. Uh so the the journey since then has been uh quite a journey, you know, over the last seven years. Uh really the the the first five years or so uh from about 2018 to 2023, um we traveled to pretty much every region of Alaska. You know, there's there's really nine different tribes in Alaska, uh 240 villages uh off of a road system at all. The only way you can get to them is either by boat or bush plane. Um and and so we knew that the Lord was calling us to the villages of Alaska, but we had no clue about the villages of Alaska. And so, really, the first five years uh was a lot of learning. Uh we wanted to see the different tribes, uh, you know, there's different languages and different cultures and uh different people group all together, and so there was so much for us to learn, and uh almost immediately one of the things that we we realized is that there was so much that the the native peoples of Alaska were gonna teach us uh about about life and about what we value, about family and about community and and the sharing of you know our possessions, our resources, all these things, you know. So often we think when we're going out to do missions work that we have the solution and so much that we're gonna teach the people uh in the places that we're going all over the earth. Uh but we found out very quickly that there was so much that the beautiful people of Alaska were gonna teach us. Uh, you know, their their way of life is is so much different than ours. There's a simplicity to it and a beauty to it. Uh, you know, they they hunt and they gather, and young ones hunt and gather for the elders in the community, and uh the the families are caring for one another and providing for one another, and everyone knows each other, and there's there's just so much to learn and such a beauty in that the the culture in the villages of Alaska, and and with that there's uh very real hardships and struggles and uh you know uh I'm I'm not much to talk about statistics because our God is the God who destroys all statistics. Uh but but it's a reality that in the villages of Alaska um you know the some of the suicide rates are the highest in all of the nation, and drug addiction and alcoholism is prevalent, and abuse is rampant, and brokenness in families and young children, many of them are growing up without a father and mother. And these things were things that we became more and more aware of, just increasingly aware of the condition of the villages of Alaska, and and knowing that because of the remoteness and the lack of resources and availability to the gospel and also to you know any type of care, counseling, or just you know, just the things that people need when it's the culture that they're being raised up in. Uh and so, you know, we spent about five years just traveling all over Alaska to, you know, the southeast and to the northwest and to the western coast of Alaska and Southwest, and uh everywhere we went, we saw that the condition of many of these villages was the same. Uh and what gripped our heart the most was that most of these villages had very little access to the gospel at all. Uh some of them have heard, some of them have heard wrongly. Um, but the condition and the history, the history of Alaska, I think is what has been so eye-opening for me in just the years of missionary activity that's taken place in the villages, um, some of them good stories and some of them awful stories, heartbreaking stories, and and I think I was I I've been most marked by this reality that there were people who looked like me who came to villages in Alaska under the the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and took away their dance, their language, their culture, and abused in many ways the people there. And and again, these aren't all the stories, but there are many, many stories that have been passed on from generation to generation about um the pain and the hurt that was caused by missionaries in the name of our Lord. And and really I I found this to be uh a personal mission of mine to rightly display our Lord to the people in the villages of Alaska, that He created them with purpose and value and worth. He created them unique and beautiful, where their their dance and their song and their joy could be redeemed with a purpose for the gospel, and and he made them that way, to express themselves that way, to not to take it from them, but to help them see that he actually created them such a way for the purpose of worshiping him and loving him and living in relationship with him. And so we began to travel around to a lot of villages and learned so much, met so many people, beautiful people, the beautiful people of Alaska. And uh, after traveling all over Alaska, we began to pray and ask the Lord, uh, knowing that there was no way that my wife and I, our family, and a newly growing team of missionaries was going to be able to effectively disciple and influence the people in the villages of Alaska with so much work that needs to be done. And so we began to pray and ask the Lord if there were two specific places that He wanted us to devote our time, our resources, our attention to. And uh there's this amazing thing that happens when we begin to talk to our God and we begin to listen. He he speaks back to us and and he begins to give us direction and he leads us, and and the Lord highlighted to our team uh the village of Kivalina, way up above the Arctic Circle. Uh right now they're sitting in the midst of 40 days where they won't see the sunlight. Uh a cold and barren land, uh of a small village on the coastland of Alaska with about 400 people there. Uh and he highlighted a village called Good News Bay. And Good News Bay is a small village down in southwest Alaska on the coast of Alaska with about 250 people that live there. Subsistence living, living off the land. Um and and so our team has devoted our time, our effort, our resources, our prayer, our lives to seeing these two villages come to know Jesus and to experience all of the transformative power that He wants to bring, the life, the beauty, the value, uh into this community where we get to see the kingdom of God tangibly transform an entire village, and we're believing, we're believing that these two villages will be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're already seeing the evidences of it. Uh and so what we do is every every month uh our teams travel to these villages where we spend seven to ten days uh with the people there, and most of that is just spent sitting around tables, hearing stories, getting to know the people, living amongst the people. Uh, and and in the process of that, beginning to pray with them and share with them. And um Good News Bay, uh briefly I'll share. When we showed up at Good News Bay, there was no church there. There was no evidence of the gospel. Uh there were about five people who believed in Jesus. Uh but the the church building that existed there is run down. Um it had doesn't hadn't been opening its doors for anything other than funerals. Um and uh I came across the a binder full of years of history of this village, and there was births and weddings and deaths, and then I came to a part of this binder where there were, you know, a couple hundred infant baptisms that had been taking place up to recent dates. Um and I flipped to the next section and it said adult baptisms. And the only two baptisms that we saw were one in, I believe, 1968 and one in 1976. Um, and since then there hasn't been any adult or believer baptisms that have taken place. Uh and through our efforts and partnering with what the Lord wants to do with the people in Good News Bay, since March we've seen uh seven people baptized and give their lives to Jesus.

SPEAKER_02: 12:47

Amen. Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_03: 12:48

Eating in a home in this village where the baptisms are taking place in a bath a bathtub because there's no baptismal. Uh we're seeing people get sober for the first time in many years. Uh, we're seeing people healed, we're seeing families restored, marriages restored, we're seeing people express desire to actually be married. Um, and we're seeing the evidence of what has always been the evidence of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he came and entered into the brokenness of humanity so that he might restore the original design that God had for his creation, which was to flourish, to have life, to enjoy God, to love him and love people. And so our hope is that what we're seeing happen in Good News Bay and Kivallina, that more laborers would come to Alaska, giving their yes to Jesus, to give their lives, to see the gospel go forth through the state of Alaska, and that what we're seeing happen in Good News Bay and Kivelina will happen in villages all over Alaska, where Jesus would be lifted high. And Jesus Himself said, When the Son of Man, when Jesus Himself is lifted high, he will draw all men to himself.

SPEAKER_02: 14:15

That's right. That's right. And how many villages are there that need to be reached?

SPEAKER_03: 14:23

Yeah, you know, the in our assessment and our research uh of the villages of Alaska, there's probably somewhere around a hundred villages in Alaska that have no gospel presence at all. Uh, and even of the 240 villages, those that do have a gospel presence, there might be a missionary living there, there might be a Moravian church that's led by indigenous native people, um, a Friends Church up in the North West Alaska that have a gospel presence, but they're struggling deeply to reach the next generation. Uh, and really many of them have said and vocalized we don't we don't know what to do, we don't know how to reach them. Uh and so a hundred that have no gospel presence at all, and many more that are in need of so much help.

SPEAKER_02: 15:22

So we need to pray for a hundred couples who would commit to go to Alaska to reach these villages.

SPEAKER_03: 15:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 15:32

That's right. Yep, we can do that. Well now uh how many c how many couples are working with you and your wife right now?

SPEAKER_03: 15:43

Uh so right now we have uh two couples, my my wife and I, and Chris and Adrian. And then we have a handful of young people, uh 20-year-olds, who have left everything. I mean, they left every some of them have college degrees, you know, nurses and teachers, and they've left everything and said Jesus is worthy and the gospel is powerful and the time is urgent, and they've given their yes. Uh and so Caitlin, Carolyn, Hanukkah, and Josiah, and my wife and I, who's Aaron, and Chris and Adrian, who are another married couple, that's that's the extent of our team now. And we're believing, as you just said, that there will be many more coming, uh, as the the great need in Alaska is for laborers to be sent to Alaska.

SPEAKER_02: 16:40

And who supports you financially? Churches or individuals?

SPEAKER_03: 16:46

Uh both, you know, friends and families and churches and people who are uh compelled to see the unreached in Alaska reached.

SPEAKER_02: 16:59

Now, if some of my listeners wanted to to support you financially, how would how would they support you or Frontier Alaska Missions?

SPEAKER_03: 17:11

Yeah, so we have uh a website, uh Frontier Alaska Missions dot com. Um, and on there anyone can read up on what our our values are, who we are, what our our mission and our vision is, and and also on that webpage is uh uh a drop-down tab that is uh for support uh to see the gospel go forth to the villages in Alaska. And and with that, you know, just for context, you know, for us to take a trip to Good News Bay, uh, it's about$350 to get from Anchorage to Bethel. And then from Anchorage to Bethel, we have to get on a small bush plane and fly to Good News Bay, which is$500. So every trip is about$850 per person.

unknown: 18:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_03: 18:04

And just get to that village each time. Uh and so you know, if there's four of us going, we're we're somewhere around, you know, four to five thousand dollars for each trip that we take.

SPEAKER_02: 18:17

Wow, and that adds up in a hurry, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_03: 18:21

It does add up in a hurry, but uh you know, one of the things we talk about with our team is that it's so worth it. Yeah. It's so worth it. Jesus said that any i when one sinner comes to repentance, all the host of heaven rejoices over one sinner who comes to repentance and over 99 righteous people. That's right. And that's the metric. That's the real metric of success. That even if it's for one, yeah, it doesn't matter how many thousands of dollars that we have to invest to see one, it's worth it.

SPEAKER_02: 18:58

Well, we got about five to seven more minutes. Share some of the the the folks that have come to Jesus. Tell us a little bit about some of that.

SPEAKER_03: 19:09

Oh yes. Oh, it's it is the joy of my life uh to see people who did not know Jesus and who were struggling with all of the things that we struggle with. You know, it's that's the reality of this life. No matter who's listening right now on this podcast, no matter where you're at in the earth, there's one consistent, overarching connection that humanity shares, and that's that every one of us will suffer in this life. Jesus even said, You will have tribulation, but I have come to overcome the world. And and so everybody will walk through hard things, you know. The the message of The gospel isn't that you'll come to Jesus and all of a sudden you won't struggle or suffer or walk through hard things. The message of the gospel is that when we walk through the hard things, we know that there's a hope that we cling to. We know that there's a better word that God has spoken and declared. And the the great joy of my life is to see people who were far off from God, who thought that there was no hope in this world, who not only come to a revelation of who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplished, but they understand that they've been reconciled back to a loving relationship with our Father, our Creator. And they've been filled with the Spirit of God, where the Bible tells us that we are now the temples of the Holy Spirit. And that where there was hope, where there where there was there was sadness, there was sorrow, there's now hope. Where there was separation from God, there's now reconciliation to God. And what I've seen is that those who have given their lives to Jesus in the villages, their circumstances haven't changed. They're still living in the village. It's still a hard life, but they have joy. And they have peace. Because joy and peace are not dependent upon circumstances, dependent upon the one who's dwelling inside of us. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He says in Ephesians, he says, I am your peace. He himself is our peace. And Colossus says, Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts. And so I know for sure from experience, going back to the last episode, that day when I called the police on myself, I was sitting in the back of a police car with my hands cuffed behind my back. And I had the most peace that I had ever experienced in my life. And I knew that that day that peace and joy and hope were not dependent upon my circumstances, dependent upon the one who I've entrusted my soul to.

SPEAKER_02: 22:28

That's right. That's right. That's right. Peace is in a person. Peace is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our peace, He is our joy, He is our life. And to know to know Him aright is eternal life. Well, you're listening to More Than Medicine, and my host, my guest today is uh Corey Schmidtelkofer. He is with Frontier Alaska Missions. I heard him speak about two years ago, and uh the mission that he's a part of has been a part of my prayer life and my wife's prayer life for the last two years. And I was enthralled by his story when I first heard it two years ago, and I still am. I'm thrilled to hear him share the story all over again today. And I hope you enjoyed hearing his testimony and hearing about the mission that he and his wife are part of there in Alaska, reaching out to the villages there in Alaska. It's become dear to my heart because my daughter lives there, and I've met a lot of the the indigenous people there in Alaska, and I've come to love a lot of those folks. Well, Corey, I thank you. I want to thank you for your heart. I want to thank you for your love for our Lord. Thank you for your passion for reaching the folks there in Alaska, and I hope maybe we can have you back on more than medicine maybe in a year or so, and you can give us updates on how your mission there is progressing. Could you do that for us?

SPEAKER_03: 24:08

Yeah, that sounds great. Thank you for having me. It is it is my honor to talk about our Lord and talk about the villages in Alaska.

SPEAKER_02: 24:17

Well, thank you, sir. It's been a privilege to have you as our guest today. All right, you're listening to More Than Medicine. We'll be back again next week. Until then, remember that Jesus loves you and your doctor loves you. And may the Lord bless you real good this week.

SPEAKER_01: 24:35

Thank you for listening to the medicine of More Than Medicine.