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Fifty years ago, Steve Saint was a 5-year-old missionary kid in Ecuador whose father, Nate, was one of five men trying to reach out to the native Waodani tribe, who were known as merciless killers—of each other, and of outsiders.

Steve's father Nate, who was a missionary pilot

On Jan. 6, 1956, Nate and his buddies—Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian—made friendly contact with several of the Waodani. But two days later, six  Waodani warriors speared all five men to death.

But that wasn't the end of the story. Steve's Aunt Rachel went on to live with the Waodani for years, leading many to Christ. Steve got to know them too, spending time with Rachel and Waodani, and even befriending Mincaye, the man who had killed his father. When Rachel died in 1994, Steve went to live with the Waodani for about 18 months, further deepening his relationships with a tribe once known as "naked savages."

It all adds up to an almost too-amazing-to-be-true story, and it's chronicled in the brand-new feature film, End of the Spear, opening nationwide on Friday. The movie is the brainchild of retail mogul Mart Green, who heard Steve Saint and Mincaye speak at a conference in 1999 and was so moved by the story that he decided to turn it into a film—two films, actually; the companion documentary, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, released last year. But first, Green had to get in touch with Saint to get the wheels in motion.

We recently talked to Saint about End of the Spear, for which he served as a consultant for the script.

Do you remember when Mart Green first contacted you?

Steve Saint

Steve Saint: I remember the conversation because people have been wanting to make a movie out of this story since I was a boy, but Mart presented it differently. He asked if he could come to meet me, rather than flying me out to meet him. They came to my home, and Mart said, "I don't want to tell the five North American heroes' story. I want to tell this from the Waodani's perspective." I thought, That's really different. I said, "Well, you should ask them for permission, not me."

Then I knew I had him, because these six guys weren't going to go down to the jungles to ask the Waodani. So I figured, that's it. But they said, "Well, how do we do that?" I said I know where they are and I'll interpret for you, if you want to go. And they all cleared their calendars just like that. I thought, Wow, these guys are pretty serious if they're willing to go down to the jungles to do this.

I realized that they're not motivated by a desire for publicity or to make a quick buck, but that they really did care about this story. I began to think that God must have motivated Mart Green to want to do this.

So they went down to Ecuador, and you took them into the jungle. Mart told me that the Waodani initially said no. But when the subject of Columbine High School came up, they changed their minds.

Saint: When we met with the Waodani, I asked them, "These people want to make a video of our mutual story, of our history. How do you see that?" And the people, especially Mincaye, said, "No, we say we don't see it well."

Mincaye, as he looks today

[After some discussion], I said, "You know how you used to live, with all the hating and killing. The foreigners live that way too." And the Waodani looked at me like, "Oh come on, we know the foreigners don't live that way." So I told them what happened at Columbine, because this was just after that. They couldn't imagine that foreigners would get angry and kill each other for no reason. They were appalled.

Mincaye said, "That's how we used to live, killing people for no good reason." And then he said, "I say yes. You tell them to tell how we used live, but then you tell them to tell the story of how we live now, so that maybe seeing how we have learned to live well, maybe they too will learn to live well."

Your new book is also called End of the Spear. Tell me about that.

Saint: When they started this project, they asked me if I would tell them the whole story, from 1955 to today. They wanted to know everything.

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