Exloring Life Eternal

The TentMaker Project
From Nate Wilson
http://www.tentmakerproject.org

Micro-enterprise development is a fast-growing trend in mission strategies today. By extending modest loans to stimulate the productivity of small businesses, micro-enterprise development agencies offer financial help to the poor while minimizing dependency upon foreign money.

The TentMaker Project offers a model of this kind of development, using the resources of local churches to make the process work with low overhead, high repayment rates, and constant opportunities for discipleship. It grew out of a short-term mission trip to Uganda taken by a pastor in Carbondale, IL, & has been enthusiastically endorsed by long-term missionaries as they have seen the model in action.

Learn more at the ministry’s web site:
http://www.TentMakerProject.org

HIGHLIGHTS:
Profiles of micro-loan recipients: http://www.carbondalepca.com/tentmaker/TentMakerProfiles.htm
[Photos, text, and video interviews - show how people's lives
have been impacted by small business financing loaned church-
to-church.]

Simulation of how it works:
http://www.carbondalepca.com/tentmaker/TMPsimulation.pdf
This document describes a simple group activity that can help Westerners begin to relate to the reality of poverty and the usefulness of micro-enterprise development. (in .PDF)

A Sample Policy Document:
http://www.carbondalepca.com/tentmaker/TMPUgandaPolicy.pdf
This policy statement produced by African leaders outlining the
logistics of church-based micro-loans. (in .PDF)

Nate Wilson is the servant-hearted man of God who led Missions-Catalyst (before it had that name) for ~ the first eight years.
To learn about their family:
http://www.NateWilsonFamily.Net

Dear friends,

I hate email forwards so much that I don't forward anything myself except once in a great while, but I have found a worthy occasion for a forward this week. I want to recommend that you watch the movie, _End of the Spear_ which hit theaters in the USA this past weekend.

In case you have not heard, it is the story of the five missionaries,
including Jim Elliott and Nate Saint, who went to the Auca/Waodani tribe in South America and were speared to death. The movie tells the story from the perspective of Nate Saint's son, Steve, starting with the story of his father, then moving to the story of the Elliott and Saint widows who moved in to live with the tribe and share the Gospel with them. It shows the transformation of the tribesmen as the Holy Spirit changes their lives. The ending is powerful, as Steve, the rightful heir by tribal custom to avenge the killing of his father, as a grown man, finds out which man speared his father and hears the rest of the story directly from his lips.

From a technical standpoint, the movie is good. I was particularly enthralled with the spectacular aerial photography shots in the Amazon. I was also pleased with how the tribal actors worked out. The movie-makers found a way to make the tribal costume look believable without female nudity, and, although the male near-nudity didn't bother me, some women may find it a bit shocking. The tribe speaks in their own language, which is translated through sub-titles, so if you bring children, they need to be able to read. Whether through the intent of the movie-makers or through weakness in the acting or script, during the tribal scenes, I experienced a realistic cross-cultural confusion of not understanding everything that I was hearing and seeing (although it was easy enough to understand the main plot).

I was touched by the way the movie dwelt upon the relationship between Nate Saint and his son, Steve. Seeing the emotions of the little boy as he learned how much his daddy loved him, as he faced the death of his father, and as he lived in the vaccuum of being fatherless brought home the reality of the events of the movie.

The movie has definite pre-evangelistic potential. I was suprised at how veiled the gospel message was - it is not stated explicitly, and the name of Jesus is not spoken. However, the concepts of God as authoritative in ethics ("Thou shalt not kill."), as self-revelatory in the Bible (God's carving), and as transformational in people's lives comes through loud and clear, as does the concept of gracious forgiveness of sin modeled by the missionaries. These are topics you could discuss after the movie with someone you wanted to expose to the Gospel. For Christians, it raises the question, "Do I dare to make contact? Am I willing to leave my home and risk death in order to share the gospel with those who are dying without ever having once heard the good news about Jesus?"

I plan to take my four boys to see it (Ages 14-8), but I don't want my little girls seeing it due to the male nudity, the graphic violence in the martyrdom scene, and the emotional trauma of losing a husband/father that the main characters go through.

I hope you will see it and take others to see it, too!

~Nate Wilson
Director of Development
The TentMaker Project
www.TentMakerProject.org