Intertribal Life Newspaper -

FORT DEFIANCE, AZ (BP)--Former Southern Baptist church planter and missions director Russell Begaye, installed May 12 as president of the Navajo Nation, calls his position a gift from the people and from God.

"God gives you that position," Begaye said at his inauguration ceremony in Fort Defiance, Arizona. "When you look back, you never dream that you would be the president of the great Navajo Nation.... It's a gift, a gift first from the people. The people honor you with it. It's also a gift from Almighty God."

Begaye entered the political arena in public service to the Navajo Na...