For the last ten years, my focus has been to help missionaries in South America leverage research as a practical tool for ministry planning and outreach in the most remote and difficult to access regions of the Amazon jungle. While that focus has not changed, now that I also serve with Gospelink, the scope this work extends worldwide. I recently made my first map for Gospelink to help our ministry partners understand the complexities and… Continue reading
We are encouraged by all the questions we get about this important project that we first started working with full time in 2011 as we lived in Oaxaca, Mexico, and continued to be a part of through the years since while serving with ALTECO and now also with Gospelink. While on its surface, Etnopedia.org is an editable website, it is in fact much more. Etnopedia is a multi-lingual, international community of Evangelical Christians vested in… Continue reading
At the heart of ALTECO is the desire to prepare indigenous Christian leaders to succeed in a uniquely difficult ministry. Making disciples, planting churches, and shepherding those churches to maturity deep in the Amazon jungle requires a special type of leader, one who is both called AND equipped. In keeping with this vision, ALTECO has partnered with Lead555 to bring a select group of leaders through a 3-year program that (in their words) “is not just about training, but journeying with leaders from idea to… Continue reading
Total lock-down. We are in our second month of one of the most restrictive quarantine regimes in the Western Hemisphere. Though home-bound, our ministry has not abated; rather we find ourselves catching up on projects and preparing for upcoming field work, all the while managing a delicate balance between work and family needs. We liken this season to a months-long journey aboard a sailboat on the high seas. Responsibilities continue onboard; our ship is in… Continue reading
As lockdown measures were announced here in Panama, I for some reason recalled the famous line by Shakespeare, “Beware the ides of March.” I must say, the timing is interesting. We know that in all circumstances the Lord is faithful. Not knowing where this crisis we now find ourselves in will lead, we are thankful for some very productive months leading to this new season under lockdown. In January, February and early March, Drake and other… Continue reading
The purpose of ALTECO is to equip tribal Christian leaders of the Amazon and lowland regions of South America to effectively make disciples within their own communities and among other unreached tribes. We accomplish this by partnering with the local church (or churches); they are expected to lead while we assist them as necessary. Given the vastness of the region, local churches can be few and far between. Finding them is an arduous process, much… Continue reading
In the Darien jungle of eastern Panama along the Colombian border, we have been developing a relationship with a ministry that equips indigenous missionaries with valuable skills that include how to install off-grid sanitation, water access/filtration systems, and other appropriate engineering know-how. Having the ability to conduct such projects can greatly increase the chance of a missionary being granted access to communities that may otherwise remain off-limits to outsiders. For our friends in this ministry it… Continue reading
Last week, Dave and I traveled into the neighboring Chiapas state. As I sat down to write about this intense trip, I realized that it was too much to cram into a single post, so I have broken it down into bite-sized segments. Our purpose in Chiapas included teaching Spanish-speaking believers how to make disciples, mobilizing future missionaries, and assessing the Evangelical Christian movement among indigenous people groups within the far reaches of the state;… Continue reading
