Posted on 08/08/2005 7:31:39 PM PDT by I'm ALL Right!
DALLAS (BP)--The Waodani Indians of Ecuador were killing six of every 10 of their tribesmen when American missionaries entered their isolated community in January 1956. Anthropologists say the tribe, identified then as the Aucas, had one of the most violent cultures ever documented and was headed toward extinction.
Missionary pilot Nate Saint had located the tribe in circling the Amazon Basin jungle. Wishing to establish contact, Saint hoped a slow, circular flying pattern would allow him to stabilize a long rope and basket dropped from the airplane down to the tribe. A difficult maneuver, it worked, and over 11 weeks in late 1955, Saint and fellow missionaries Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian lowered gifts to the Waodani. When the Waodani returned the favor by sending a bird up in the basket, the missionaries sensed opportunity.
On Jan. 7, 1956, the five men left their young wives at base camp and landed their plane on a sandbar near the Waodani, making face-to-face contact for the first time.
The next day, the tribesmen speared them dead.
The killings made worldwide news at the time. Life magazine devoted a spread to the story on Jan. 30, 1956, and a 1957 book, “The Gates of Splendor,” brought the story to millions of readers from the Christian perspective of Elisabeth Elliot, who was widowed by the killings.
Almost 50 years later, the tale -- with updated material chronicling the tribe’s radical change -- has been retold in a 40-minute documentary, “Beyond the Gates of Splendor,” available free of charge to churches, schools and para-church organizations.
A full-length, 90-minute version of the documentary debuted on the big screen in a handful of cities this year and will be available in retail stores on DVD in September, said Randy Swanson, a spokesman for Every Tribe Entertainment (www.everytribe.com), the company that produced it.
The documentary precedes a full-length theatrical movie, “End of the Spear,” which is in final production and will debut in theaters in early 2006 near the 50th anniversary of the killings, Swanson said.
The documentary focuses on the missionaries and their families, the Waodani tribesmen and the unlikely story of courage and redemption when two of the missionaries’ widows and one of the missionaries’ sisters and -- years later –— the son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren of Nate Saint settle among the tribe.
Described by its producer, Kevin McAfee, as a “pre-evangelism” tool, the documentary profiles the Waodani from the perspectives of two anthropologists who studied the tribe. The film also probes the backgrounds, motivations and dreams of the missionaries and their families before and after the killings through recovered 16 mm home movies, still photos and interviews with widows, family members and members of the search crew.
Two of the killers, Mincaye and Kimo, became Christians and are featured in the documentary via interviews with translators, who relate Mincaye’s humorous observations about American culture after Mincaye visited the United States in the late 1990s with Steve Saint, whose father Mincaye murdered.
The home movies help document several of the missionaries’ time together at Wheaton College, their courtships and a Christmas celebration just before the murders at the missionaries’ home base down river.
McAfee, a member of the Oklahoma City-area Council Road Baptist Church in Bethany, said during a Dallas screening that the film aims to give insights into the missionaries as they sought to reach the Waodani –- food for thought that perhaps can be discussed over coffee at Starbucks afterward, he said.
McAfee also is musical director of the film. His work ranges from dramatic orchestral sounds to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home, Alabama” during one of documentary’s lighter moments.
Beyond the Gates of Splendor received the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival and “Audience Favorite” at the Palm Beach Film Festival.
Mart Green, founder of Mardel, an Oklahoma City-based Christian retail chain, is founder and chief executive officer of Every Tribe Entertainment, which bills itself as “committed to telling significant stories on film in the highest quality possible.”
In producing its first full-length project, Every Tribe hired McAfee along with Bill Ewing, a former vice president at Columbia Tri-Star to be company president, and Jim Hanon, a Cannes Film Festival award-winner, as a writer and director.
--30--
An incredible story. Could you forgive your father's murderer, live with him and call him "grandfather"?
Well, I, uh, read the comic-book version when I was a kid.
The missionary pilot's flying in circles while lowering a bucket trick became the operating principle behind the AC-47 fixed-wing gunship in 'Nam.
Or so the legend goes.
and they were totally untouchable and unreachable to any other Ecuadorian Natives & White Men--Any outsider found was speared painfully to death.
Looks like something your groups would be interested in...
The story/movie we were discussing back in March.
I did too! Had a few of those Christian comics - they were cool. And a bit graphic at times, if I remember correctly...
Mincaye sings/chants on one of SCC's songs on his album Declaration - it's a very haunting and beautiful end to a great song. Lyrics to No Greater Love -
Man of courage with your message of peace
What is that look in your eyes?
Why have you come to this faraway place?
What is this story you would lay down your life to tell?
What kind of love can this be?
There is no greater love than this
There is no greater gift that can ever be given
To be willing to die so another might live
There is no greater love than this
Broken hearted from all you have lost
How can you sing through your tears?
What is this music that can bear such a cost?
What is this fire that grows stronger against the wind?
What kind of flame can this be?
This is the love that God showed the world
When He gave us His Son
So we could know His love forever
Beyond the gates of splendor
This is what SCC says about it on the album -
"Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot is a book that really impacted me and challenges me in many ways. It’s the story of Jim Elliott and Nate Saint and the five missionaries who went to Ecuador in the fifties and were martyred by the tribe known at the time as the Aucas. In the process of writing ‘No Greater Love’ some things happened that resurfaced this story again in my life. I found Steve Saint on the internet. He is the son of slain missionary Nate Saint. I found that he was writing some stories about working with the Waodanis (pronounced woo-donnie), the people who were formerly known as the Aucas. I discovered he was in America with a member of the Waodani tribe named Mincay (pronounced men-kai). Mincay is one of the six men who killed his father, Nate Saint. He was here in America speaking in his native tongue about the redeeming power of forgiveness and God’s love and God’s grace. I thought this is too good to be true. I couldn’t believe this was really happening. Steve Saint and Mincay came to my studio and he sang for me of God’s forgiveness and God’s mercy and God’s grace and of his journey of coming to know the maker and becoming a God follower. I had this idea and dream of actually having Mincay sing with me on this album. That dream became a reality. God let that happen. It’s an amazing thing. You hear him chanting at the end of ‘No Greater Love.’"
My husband loves that quote (your tagline). I think Twila Paris wrote a song about it as well. (Long time ago!) The first time I had ever heard the "He is no fool" quote was in her song, but I didn't know the story behind it until years later.
"I did too! Had a few of those Christian comics - they were cool. And a bit graphic at times, if I remember correctly."
____________________________________________________________
Remember that one about the Dutch pastor who smuggled bibles into Eastern Europe?
I wasn't too fond of the religious Archie comics however, that seemed somehow sacreligious (to comicdom, that is).
I saw the same Steven Curtis Chapman concert at the Fox in Atlanta.
It was amazing to see that the entire village has turned to Christianity.
It was neat to hear the man speak in his native language, while the son of the murdered missionary translated for him.
He related the story, and some background in one of our Sunday school lessons, and often referenced the Elliots in his sermons.
It touched him deeply, and he relayed the emotional impact to all of us.---He also thought of joining the mission team over there, but God had other purposes for him.
This story stayed with me....
..I and started collecting Elizabeth Elliot's works.
There once was a man born of high circumstance
Heir to advantage, He had every chance to succeed
But light from the cross made his dreams appear small
And to their surprise he went far--from it all
For the love of his Savior, for one priceless jewel
They could not understand so they called him a fool
Chorus
He is no fool
If he would choose
To give the thing he cannot keep
To buy what he can never lose
To see a treasure in one soul
That far outshines the brightest gold
He is no fool,
He is no fool
He is no fool,
He is no fool
There once was a boy who could run like the wind
Given to lead, every man was his friend at the line
But light from the cross made his race appear small
And to their amazement, he followed the call
For the love of his Savior, for one priceless jewel
They could not understand so they called him a fool
Repeat chorus
Show me the fool who abandons his life
To walk in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ
I can't wait to see this documentary. The book "Through Gates of Splendor," by Elisabeth Elliot, has inspired so many. Those lyrics from Stephen Curtis Chapman speak so much beauty, truth, and grace in so few lines.
It never ceases to amaze me how God's Law of New Life works:
"I tell you the truth,
unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds."
~ John 12:24
"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds."
Christ was speaking primarily of Himself in a prophetic sense, but also about our own call for evangelism.
Yes, into Budapest, iirc. And there was another one with a guy who got his face really messed up as a kid, from Brazil or somewhere I think. And one that told the story of Corrie Ten Boom.
Do you by any chance remember the name of the company that made them?
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