Category: Blog

2014 Amazon Consultation – Ecuador

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Etnias del Ecuador

Every year since 2004, ALTECO has hosted an extraordinary event, the annual Amazon Consultation – the world’s only meeting that consistently brings together so many key participants from the “Three Waves” mission movement – expatriate, national and tribal – in a single venue. It is an incredibly strategic week where enduring partnerships that transcend culture and language are formed. And it is an encouragement for all of us working together to see that the remaining 200-250 unreached Amazon tribes may gain access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that they can truly understand, and that leads to… Continue reading

Strategic meetings with tribal leaders in Bolivia – please pray!

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Tribal Christians across the Amazon and lowlands of South America face unique challenges. Radically changing social and political environments means that the need to organize and work together is greater than ever. Much of today was spent with key tribal leaders from several countries working out the realities and practicalities of creating an internationally-recognized, entirely-indigenous led network across 11 countries through which tribal Christians can effectively mobilize and complete the Great Commission in this region. These meetings will intensify over the days ahead as we move to a new location and as more tribal leaders join in. Please be in… Continue reading

Big event in Bolivia!‏

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While most of the world fixates on the Winter Olympics and its many controversies, there’s another event about to quietly take place just outside of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It will not make international news. Yet the significance is enormous in terms of the Great Commission in the Amazon Rainforest. I am right now on my way there (writing this from the airport in Panama) where I have the privilege of joining some of today’s most active and strategic leaders in Christian missions across the Amazon. A very diverse group reflecting the evolving and future face of world missions, I will… Continue reading

The drive north

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We are now back in Florida. And far from a leisurely joyride, the drive from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Texas was nothing short of an adventure! It certainly showcased God’s grace and protection, for which we are so thankful. While reviewing our ‘exit plan’ out of Mexico a couple of months ago, Megan and I debated whether or not she should travel by road with me. Anticipating difficulties on the road in light of her going into the third trimester of our pregnancy however, we felt it best that she fly back in advance to Florida. I have driven in many countries. Few match… Continue reading

Heading north towards the border – Please Pray!

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Quick update: Megan has been in Florida the past couple of weeks searching for a doctor to deliver our baby there. Drake has meanwhile been finishing up work in Oaxaca while preparing to drive from Oaxaca to the States – where he can’t wait to see his wife again! Drake plans to make the 5-6 hour drive to Mexico City on Saturday. There he will meet his dad who’s flying in from Germany. From there they will make their way north towards the US border, which they plan to do over two days. Please pray for safety on the road… Continue reading

Empowering the Indigenous Missionary

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Who are the indigenous people of the world? My own experiences serving in Mexico, South America and Southeast Asia have enlightened me to the reality that the term ‘indigenous’ is largely misunderstood in the Christian church. Indigenous peoples are too often confused with what are in fact ‘nationals’; Spanish-speaking Mexicans or Peruvians, Portuguese-speaking Brazilians, Nepali-speaking people of Nepal, etc., are all nationals. Wikipedia defines indigenous peoples as “the ethnic minorities who have been marginalized as their historical territories became part of a state.”In context of the Great Commission, the Tijaltepec Mixteco Indians of Mexico, Amahuacas of Brazil, and the Raute of Nepal are indigenous peoples. They are “tribes, tongues and nations” still living… Continue reading

Missions & Mapping

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Over the past year we have been blessed to serve countless missionary movements around the world through our research and by producing detailed maps of the locations of people groups – from as close to home as Oaxaca, Mexico, to as far away as the Amazon Basin and across to the world to Africa and Asia! And though many of these maps have been printed and are in the hands of field missionaries, mapping for missions will be an ongoing process until the day Jesus returns. For that reason, we have integrated a mapping system within Etnopedia (see our Nepal page in… Continue reading

A Successful Journey to Guerrero

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Drake recently returned from a long journey into Guerrero state where he worked with indigenous believers from various Me’phaa Indian tribes who are training to become missionaries to their own people as well as to other tribes over a very large region. Before setting out, Drake published a series of maps of the Me’phaa region on which the Me’phaa Indians could identify their own village locations and where the gospel is presently available, specifically in their own language.  In the process they identified many places that do not have acces to the gospel, as well as places where Christians are still systematically… Continue reading

A wonderfully eventful summer!

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The past few months have been incredibly busy ones for us and our ministry, with our time divided among many dear people and ministry partners – in Mexico, the United States, and South America. In May, Megan traveled to North Carolina where she underwent several weeks of intensive field medical and health evangelism training. The practical knowledge she acquired during that time is vital to our ministry, not only in terms of first-aid for unforeseen medical situations we may encounter in the field, but to equip others: training field missionaries ministering to remote people groups who lack not only access… Continue reading

The People of Nepal

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While living in a remote village among the Chayahuita Indians in the Amazon jungle in 2003, a well respected mentor of mine named Paul Johnson gave me a simple answer to a burning question: “I see the need, now how do I serve?” Discerning my gifts, his immediate answer was “We NEED researchers”. Okay, the answer made perfect sense to me in theory, but turning that theory into reality would require years of follow-through, punctuated by far more times of discouragement than affirmation. I am certainly no more spiritual than any other Christ-follower. But only by trusting God with the… Continue reading