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Last Tuesday afternoon, Mincaye, the former warrior who in 1956 speared to death Nate Saint and Ed McCully, two of the five missionary martyrs in Ecuador, passed from this life to the next.\u00a0<\/em>A member of the once fierce Huaorani tribe,\u00a0<\/em>Mincaye had come to Christ, and was a transformed man, a delightful brother who was a joy to be with.<\/p>\n When I became a Christian at age fifteen one of the first stories I read was about the five missionary martyrs. As it did hundreds of thousands of others, this story inspired me and taught me that there is often a price to pay in order to spread the good news of salvation in Christ. Little did I know that many years later I would connect with the family members of three of those men, as well as one of their killers, now beautifully transformed.<\/p>\n Last year I shared\u00a0an update<\/a>\u00a0from Joni Eareckson Tada about Mincaye, as their Wheels for the World team had provided him, then about 90 years old, with a wheelchair suitable for the rugged terrain in Ecuador. \u00a0Now he\u2019s with Jesus, and no longer needs that chair! My friend Mart Green, producer of the documentary\u00a0Beyond the Gates of Splendor<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and the movie\u00a0The End of the Spear<\/a><\/em>\u00a0wrote, \u201cWhat a reunion. First time in 64 years that Mincaye has seen Nate, Jim, Pete, Roger, and Ed! No social distancing for that home coming.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve Saint (Nate Saint\u2019s son) and I became friends years ago, and he introduced me to Mincaye. In 2006 he and Ginnie came to my home church within a week of the 50th anniversary of the death of the missionaries, and I interviewed him and Mincaye. Of all the people I\u2019ve met, one I felt the most privileged to spend time with was Mincaye.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s\u00a0a five-minute clip<\/a>\u00a0from that interview, in which you quickly get to know Mincaye:<\/p>\n