Thursday, June 5, 2025

It is the 5th of June 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Years ago, I told the story of operation Auca- that is, the mission devised by Jim and Elisabeth Elliot and others into the Ecuadorian forest to minister to the people then called “Auca” (a word for savage) but later understood to be the Waodani tribe (there are multiple spellings). 

Not only did I tell the story, known to many of you, but I suggested Elisabeth Elliot’s “Through the Gates of Splendor”- her telling of the tragic story of how her husband Jim, along with Pete Flemming, Ed McCully, Roger Youdarian, and Nate Saint were murdered by the tribe. Elisabeth’s story, and that of Rachel Saint (Nate’s brother) is one of radical forgiveness and faith as they travelled into the Waodani territory to live amongst the tribe that took their friends and family.

But, you may know, there is more to the story. There is the story of the son of the murdered Nate Saint, Steve Saint, who was born in 1951 in Quito, Ecuador, and can recall the day his father set out in his Yellow Piper plane (Nate was a pilot with the Mission Aviation Alliance) in 1956. While the men’s murders and the fate of the others were highlighted in Life Magazine and Reader's Digest and countless others, there was less attention paid to young Steve, who was now going to have to grow up without a father.

But by 1961, Steve spent his summers with Elisabeth and his Aunt Rachel and those who dared to go back to work with the Waodani. Steve was taken in by the tribe, they called him Babae, and many of them would come to faith. Steve, too, would come to faith, and as he asked to be baptized, it would be the very men who murdered his father who would baptize Steve. It’s a stunning story- I’ve heard it called “reckless” and “foolish” and also an amazing testimony of faith.

Steve would move back to the States to attend Wheaton College before heading back to Ecuador to work as a tour guide. There he met a young woman, Virginia, who was on a short-term missions trip. They would fall in love, he followed her back to Minnesota, they married, and he convinced her to return to Ecuador. But with the birth of children, they decided to move back to the States, where Steve would put his Wheaton degree in Economics to work in the business sector.

By the early 80s, they had four children and had relocated to Florida. In 1994, his aunt Rachel, one of those who went back, died whilst working among the Waodani. Steve left for the jungles of Ecuador to bury her when he was confronted with the task of a lifetime. Mincaye- one responsible for his father's death- had taken on the role of father to Steve, in part to make up for taking his father. Mincaye was called “father” by Steve and “grandfather” by Steve’s children, and he called upon Steve to come back to the Waodani- to take his aunt's place and to help the tribe. Things were getting increasingly worse with global energy companies trying to take the land of the indigenous people. Steve couldn’t come up with a reason for saying no, except for the fact that he didn’t want to go, necessarily. He had a business, a family, and a life in the States.  

And so in 1995, and according to at least one source, on this the 5th of June in that year, Steve and Virginia (called Ginny) moved to the Amazon forest with their family to assist the Waodani tribe.

They would stay for over a year, long enough for Steve to see how he could be of service to the people. He noticed that they had been too dependent on outsiders for bringing in technology rather than being taught how to build what they needed. This led to the creation of I-TEC, the Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center, and an effort to empower indigenous people to develop the technology they needed to mature and thrive.

Steve’s story “The End of the Spear" would become the second act, after “Through the Gates of Splendor,” of the mission to the Waodani and the acts of forgiveness and faith it inspired. It was made into a film in 2006.

There would be at least one more turn in the story in 2012 when Steve was helping to develop a kind of aircraft in the jungles when a piece of the wing he was working on broke and severed the top of his skull and severely injured his spinal cord. He would become severely disabled- an “incomplete” paraplegic. 

But Steve Saint has continued to speak and write as he can; his children (save his daughter, who died tragically in college) have taken over the family business, and he has continued to assist in serving indigenous populations and tell his story of radical sacrifice and faith. Steve Saint, son of Nate and his family, took another leap of faith by heading back into the jungles of Ecuador on this, the 5th of June in 1995.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Galatians 5:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of June 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wonders if the Ecuadorian diet is Quito-friendly… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man, sorry about that pun- you see “Quito” with a Q is the capital of Ecuador… I’m sorry… I’m also Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.