End of the Spear

I love to fly. When I was in sixth grade, my Sunday School teacher took me up in a single engine Cessna to fly from Long Beach to Catalina Island. It was probably a 30 or 40 minute trip each way, and I was both terrified and yet loving every minute of it. That day a dream was born: I wanted to be a pilot. Over the years that followed, I read books on planes and the rules for flying. Because of my interest in missions, I also began reading about missionary pilots, which led me to the story of Nate Saint.

January 7, 2006, marked the 50th anniversary of five missionaries who were killed as they attempted to reach out to the Huaorani with the Gospel. Nate Saint was one of those five. He was an incredibly gifted man. He and his fellow missionaries devised ingenious ways to solve the unique problems of jungle flying. More importantly, they were dedicated to bringing the Gospel to tribes who had never heard about Jesus.

While Nate and his friends did everything they could to prepare for their encounter with the Huaorani (formerly called the Auca), they knew it was dangerous. They went forward with the plan because they considered the salvation of those who had not heard more important than even their own lives. Steve Saint, Nate’s son, writes the following: “I remember telling my dad ‘Please dad, if the Huaorani attack you, you will defend yourself! You will shoot them?' My dad said, ‘Son, we can’t shoot the Huaorani, they are not ready for heaven but we are.’”

That was not the end of the story. God used the death of Nate and his coworkers to open the door to reaching the Huaorani people. It is estimated today that 80% of the Huaorani have heard the Gospel, and over 25% of them are believers. Steve himself has developed a deep friendship with Mincaye, one of the men who murdered his father.

This month the movie End of the Spear is out in theaters. It tells the story of Nate Saint and how God turned a seeming tragedy into a testimony of forgiveness and redemption that has literally impacted the world. Learn more about it by visiting these websites:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/001/30.38.html

http://www.assistnews.net/stories/s06010062.htm