Beyond the Gates of Splendor

A couple of years ago, I went to see Steven Curtis Chapman on his Live Out Loud Tour. It is a concert that stays in my mind two years later. And its not because of the great music or the friends I went with. The memories of that night that are the strongest for me is when Mr. Chapman performed his second set. Rather then doing the normal "concert thing" of just being up there on stage with his band singing his songs, he did something that was much more powerful.

Steven and his band still performed bunch of songs, but they thematically linked together his songs with scenes from a movie that was being made about the story of Waorani tribe from Ecuador, the missionaries who lost their lives trying to reach them, and how the love of God and of the families of the victims of those murders changed the Waorani from a group of murdering people with no rules, to a group that is now doing the same work the missionaries went there to do, reaching out to the surrounding tribes in the name of Christ. After he was done with the set, Steve Saint (the son of one of the missionaries that was killed in 1956) came out and spoke about how the people there has impacted his life. It was so amazing to hear how the grandson of Nick Saint considered one of the men who killed him his adopted grandfather. It was very powerful, and my copy of the Book "Through the Gates Of Splendor", in which the wife of one of the slain missionaries tells the story of the five that were killed and of her living with the tribe that killed them a couple of years later, was borrowed by about five of my friends. And I knew I would have to check out he movie when it came out.

The movie, "Beyond The Gates Of Splendor" did come out late last year, and had a very limited release (three cities no where near Chicago). But last night my church was luck enough to have a screening for our missions fest. so after a couple of years of waiting, I got my chance to see it. As I implied above, I have read the book "Through The Gates Of Splendor" in which Elizabeth Elliot tells her and her husbands story- and the story of the others to a lesser degree. And it's a great, powerful, classic.This movie does a great job of telling that story, with lots of photos and home movies from the families of the missionaries. But it goes beyond the story told in "Through Gates Of Splendor", and gives us a very detailed picture of what the Waorani were like in the years before anyone had contact with them, with interviews of the people of the tribe telling about there childhood, and how commonplace the spearings were.

The movie also tells us the story of the tribe from their conversion to today, and how it inter-winds with the families of those men murdered all those years ago. One of the most powerful moments of the film (which was also one of the most powerful images of the concert as well) is of Nick Saint's grandson talking about his adopted Waorani grandfather, who is one of the men who speared his grandfather to death. It's just amazing how these people embraced the people who killed their husbands, fathers, and grandfathers. It's the kind of miracle is only possible with God.

If you get the chance, please take the time to see this film. I do not think you will regret it.