Missions NW Conference with Steve Saint

Dear Prayer Team,

Okay, I have to admit, I didn't really have a good sense of what the target audience of the Missions NW conference last Saturday (New Hope Community Church, Clackamas, Oregon) was supposed to be. I wish I would have read the article in the Northwest Christian News that came out in December, but I didn't. If you want the link just email me.

I wasn't sure if we were singing to a conference of people who were wanting to learn about how to reach their neighbors more effectively, or if this was a conference designed to encourage foreign Missionaries. I asked and I was told that this conference was designed to reach out to people of many denominations who have a heart to win the lost of the world through missions, and to inspire young people to follow after many wonderful Christian people who have made this their life's work. There were also many people there who have been foreign missionaries in the past.

The place was filled to over-capacity (3,300 people), and they were having to turn people away. The audience was filled with all ages from many different churches, but the floor in front of the stage and the stairs going up the aisles were filled with young people. We sang, "So Excited" and, "He Won't Let You Fall From His Hands" in the first session. Between songs Jason jokingly let everyone know that we were singing with our bass via Satellite. I then interrupted and said, "Um, Over? We aren't singing with him via satellite! We just recorded a bass track and that's what we'll be singing with!"

"Oh," Over said sheepishly, "Well, that makes it easier!" That little explanation is all we needed to say. We had a great response from the people there and when we set up the second song we geared it to those who might be feeling like they haven't found their place in ministry yet, and who are feeling a bit like they've been set on a shelf. We told them that God will never forget them and that they are still safe within his hand.

In the second session we sang The Difference, So Subtly, and Rescue. The set just seemed to flow right into the message that was coming across that night.

The big surprise of the day: The keynote speaker, Steve Saint! His father was killed in Ecuador fifty years ago along with four other missionaries by a small tribe of "stone-age" people called the Waodani who had never had the gospel preached to them. Theirs was a culture of violence. 40% of the deaths in their community were due to homicide by the spear. As a young teen during summers he stayed with his father's sister who was living with the Waodani at the invitation of the tribe. The very man, Mincaye, who had killed his father became a Christian and has served the Lord all these many years. In fact he has become like a father to Steve Saint since then. He calls him "Grandfather". Steve has written a book about his experiences called, "End of the Spear", and it has since been turned into a movie that opened on January the 20th.


Steve Saint speaks to a packed audience at Missions Fest NW


He actually had "Grandfather" there with him. Steve's company I-TEC, serves many indigenous peoples through training and technology so that the gospel can spread throughout the world. At the behest of the elders of the Waodani he learned and then taught them "The teeth fixing thing" (dentistry) so that they could bring the Gospel to the people after serving them with compassion. He then developed a dentist's chair, with drill and power supply, that they can easily fold up, place into a back pack and go to the people wherever they are. Grandfather Mincaye is one who learned dentistry and has performed thousands of dental fillings, tooth removals and root canals.

The elders also asked Steve to teach them to fly, so he has found an aircraft (a big three wheeled cockpit with a fan on the back and a parachute), has developed a training regimen, and has taught certain of the Waodani to fly from village to village to spread the gospel and provide needed service to the people there.

The worship team was great, the speaker was inspirational and the audience was just so ready to hear from the Lord that night. It was an incredible time and we feel very fortunate to have been a part of it!