UNREACHED
In Revelation 7, John shares his vision of heaven with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world.
For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining.
Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work through the men and women he has called to reach the UNREACHED.
UNREACHED
From Hollywood to the Amazon: A Story of Creativity and Surrender with Peter Craig
After years of filmmaking in Hollywood, Peter Craig found himself at a crossroads where his passion for storytelling met God's calling. Join us as we explore Peter's remarkable journey from a Tinseltown screenwriter to the visionary force behind Moving Works, a ministry dedicated to creating films that honor God. Through a heartfelt conversation, Peter shares his experience of wrestling with personal ambitions that once overshadowed his devotion to following Jesus. Discover how he surrendered his creative pursuits to embrace a mission that glorifies God in every frame.
Embark on an adventurous tale through the Amazon as we recount the unexpected twists and turns of a mission trip that exemplified faith in action. Stranded without a guide in the labyrinthine waterways, a small team transformed a challenging scenario into a powerful testament of worship and community. Witness how their unwavering dedication turned an unplanned detour into a moment of connection, resilience, and spiritual growth. Amidst the darkness of uncertainty, they found light, purpose, and the true essence of ministry in the most unforeseen circumstances.
Experience the transformative power of faith as Pastor Nilton's inspiring story unfolds along the Amazon riverbanks. A profound encounter with a family embracing Christianity led to an exhilarating church-planting movement that spread like wildfire across remote villages. This episode celebrates the beauty of participating in God's work even amidst our imperfections, reflecting on how faith and the Spirit's guidance can ignite a chain reaction of leadership and discipleship. As we ponder our roles in this divine mission, we invite you to join this journey of inspiring change and to connect with our community dedicated to glorifying God in all we do.
Follow @unreachedpodcast on Instagram for more!
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven, with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb. Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world. For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining. Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work for the men and women he has called to reach the unreached.
Speaker 2:Welcome, friends, to another episode of the Unreached Podcast. I am Clint Hudson, your host for today's show, and today on the show we get the opportunity to travel up the jungle paths of remote villages in Mali and down the murky waters of the Amazon in Brazil, and guiding us on this journey is Peter Craig, the executive director of Moving Works. Journey is Peter Craig, the executive director of Moving Works. Peter is an award-winning storyteller, filmmaker, who transitioned his career, working with the likes of Sony Pictures and NBC Universal, to filming stories about God, changing lives around the world. And since its inception in 2012, moving Works has actually upheld two spirit-led convictions, and that's every film that they create must glorify God and it must be given away for free. So since the inception of Moving Works, god has allowed this ministry to film in over 14 countries and produce a library of short films that has been seen over 80 million times. Peter man, that's a lot of awesome stuff to open up an episode. Welcome to the pod man.
Speaker 3:Well, I feel a little humbled by that. I actually don't know if I'll live up to that. I'm now realizing that's on our website. We need to probably pull that back a little bit. But all glory to God and all that.
Speaker 2:Yes, dude, all right, so walk us through what it's like to be a filmmaker and make a decision that the gifting that you have you're only going to use to glorify the Lord.
Speaker 3:Well, it sounds easier than it was and, interestingly enough, it's not as epic as it sounds. It's actually. It takes place on the floor of my office when I was a writer, so it's a little bit of a story, but the very simple version of it is I always desired to make films when I was a little kid. I started making movies when I was nine, made a lot of ninja movies going through high school and the goal was always making Hollywood films. Lord, I want to do that and God was gracious. Out of college I started making short films, got into film festivals, started having success in that way. That's how I got to know Austin. I had a few films at South by Southwest over the years had success. Everyone was like, hey, you know what about writing a feature script? And I was like, okay, I'll write a feature script. So I wrote that and that got into the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and got an agent. And then my agent was like, let's write one to sell. I wrote a screenplay that people liked and it sold and I became what I would call an accidental writer. Like, well, I write to make stuff. And people were asking me well, write stuff and we'll see what happens. And so, long story short, I became a writer, doing stuff for studios for five years. Now, in the midst of that, and over the span of that five years, god showed that it was, to be honest, an idol in my life. It was the thing my prayers gravitated toward, my thoughts magnetized toward. It consumed me and God allowed me to see that. And the more I did it, the more miserable I became. So when it comes to the question, you know how do you use your gifts to glorify God. It went through a lot of sin and repentance, you know, and God's grace and patience with me. So, five years laboring, striving, holding with a white knuckle grip onto this thing I wanted and God showing me it was never going to satisfy.
Speaker 3:I really relate to the story in the Exodus of the golden calf. You know, the Israelites made this golden calf and claimed that it was the thing that rescued them from Egypt. And if God were to allow them to continue and say into the promised land with this golden calf, it would not do them any good, and praise God that he didn't. It was similar in my life. You know, this idol God didn't want me to have. I'd made it and, using the gifts he'd given me. I even made it. And it's interesting, the Israelites made this golden calf with the resources that God allowed them to take from Israel, all the riches, and they created something atrocious. And I had two.
Speaker 3:And so God allowed me in His grace and discipline. It's interesting that grace and discipline can go together like that. But in His grace and discipline, the thing I wanted he allowed to become a thorn and bitter and gross. And so say, on the floor of my office, because I mean, almost every day I was writing a comedy for Sony Pictures and almost every day I'd be on the floor weeping and I'm like this is the dream, you know. And here I am weeping and broken. And God allowed it to break me.
Speaker 3:If you want your idol, you know, moses did this. He took the golden calf and ground it up and made the Israelites drink it, made them drink it. It was a bitter taste. Yeah, it is. I think God was grinding it up and making me drink it. And what a grace. You know you think, oh, that's just cruel, and it's like, no, what a grace, because it's like taste it. You know, it's interesting. Later in scriptures it tastes, and see that the Lord is good. And here I'm drinking just metal, bitter metal, which is my Hollywood career.
Speaker 3:And so God gave me a gift and I was using it for me and my own glory and through that process of brokenness. You know, it's interesting because in many occasions I would say, god, I give you, I give you my career, and I would be holding it behind my back as I prayed that I give it to you, and really it was like just bless me. I will say the words that's lovely, that God knows the intent of our heart. I would say the words that I would, with white knuckle grip, hold it behind my back and not be letting go and so, but this time, after about five years of defiant, I'm holding on to it. God, in his grace, allowed me to start to let go and I'm like this is, it's breaking me and I honestly don't want this anymore. And so my grip opened and with that came along just like a need Lord, there's something wrong with me. What do I do? I started reading scripture. God took me back to scripture. I'm seeing Genesis to Revelation. Do I started reading Scripture? God took me back to Scripture. I'm seeing Genesis to Revelation. It begins with Him alone and it ends with all the nations looking to Christ and worshiping Him. So, beginning to end, it's really about Him and His glory, not me and mine. Seeing that at the time, praise God for His Spirit working to draw me back to Him. And then the narrative of Scripture reminded me what it's all about. I was like, okay, god, you know I don't know what to do, but here it is, you know, show me what to do. And God was very gracious, over the span of about nine months, to show me that He'd given me my gifts to honor Him and make films that explicitly glorify Him.
Speaker 3:During this time of kind of revelation, repentance, a lot of tears, a lot of counsel, god's word, all that I was given an opportunity by a friend. His name is Justin, and he was like hey, come with us to Haiti, we're going to go train pastors, you can come on this mission trip. I've never been on a mission trip before and I was like, okay, but if I go, I'm going to bring a camera, maybe I'll document what God is doing in our lives. So the people that are going, more than anything, like so we can have like this memento. Like you know, when you're on a trip like this, I can only assume God speaks to you in different ways. You might be open, but often I assume as well that when you come back you could easily forget it all. So I was like I'll go take a camera and document what God spoke to us so we could have this.
Speaker 3:So I went and went down there, shot came back and I was editing this little piece, just this little mission thing, just for us, and God spoke to me super duper clearly, and there are a few equations where he's done. This spoke right into my heart, you know, and the words were this is your act of worship. And it's. It's funny because it didn't come with clarity, it just came with like a confidence and like an authority. So it was like in my mind, hearing this, I'm like I don't know what that means, but it changes everything. And so it wasn't like and here's the, here's the 10 year plan. It was just this is your act of worship.
Speaker 3:I was like, okay, god, I'm available. And by this time he had lovingly beat me up enough to know that, okay, he's boss. Whatever he says, I'm just open-handed. Now I had a contract with Sony pictures to do something, um, but I'm like, what do I do with that and how are we going to provide? And it was lovely, god, in his grace towards me and my family at that time. Two weeks later, my agent called. He's like Sony's bogged down with some work and they't have to happen. But he released the reins to an obligation and provided simultaneously and gave me a first real confidence, just practical confidence that, god, why do I doubt you? And so, over the next nine months, I started traveling, started documenting, and God showed me over that time I want to make films that glorify Him, that really speak to Him, who he is, what he says, what he's doing around the world, and stirred my heart to go to different countries and document. And so, july of 2012, moving Works came to be, so praise God for that.
Speaker 2:That is an incredible story. Thank you so much for sharing that, and I think a lot of our audience probably knows a little bit about my story as a songwriter, but what they don't know is that I had a time on my office floor the same way that you did in your office floor and specifically, god had revealed to me that songwriting had become an idol in my life, and I'll never forget the phrase that he said to me, that I really just felt like the Lord impressed upon my heart. He said you're more proud of and excited about what you do for me than what I did for you, and it just wrecked me because as an artist, as a songwriter, I wanted to write these songs that tell the story of God at work Very similar, I think, now, to what you're doing. I think now to what you're doing, but it, in and of itself, had actually become an idol for me.
Speaker 2:Where I was, I was just proud of the thing that I was doing for the Lord. Rather than an act of worship, it had become just an act of something that I was vanity yes, vanity man. That's so great, but literally I stopped writing songs for about six months and because I couldn't. It tasted so bitter, the bitter taste of writing a song my friends would gather together to write and I'd be like no, I'm good, I can't do it. And God made me drink that idol. And then, after the fact, uh, when I had gone through this time of repentance and prayer, um, the first song that I wrote when we came back was about idols and let your praises rise in every idol fall.
Speaker 2:And it was just this act of surrender to the Lord and I think it's it's probably one of the most impactful songs we've ever written, because it's probably the hardest one I've ever had to write, because I had to walk through that journey. So, where you are now, as a filmmaker, as an executive director, it's so hard fought that you've got to where you are and it's just incredible to hear your story and your journey that you've got to where you are, and it's just incredible to hear your story and your journey of surrender, this act of surrendering this gift that God's clearly given you to tell stories, but now you've surrendered it to say I'm only going to do this for him, so walk me through this one thing that's so compelling to me. So not only did you decide to go and make films that glorify God, but also you wanted to give them away for free.
Speaker 3:The idea was, you know, having gone through my, I think my journey, I mean, really informs many of, maybe, the things we hold as convictions in the ministry and again, god's design on mine I wouldn't say, oh, this is how I'm going to do it. If I'm going to do it, this is almost like well, if this is what God wants, we have to do it this way, and it almost. It makes faith is interesting. The way I think about it is like I think the endowment of faith at any given moment and you know there's the gift of faith for certain moments, and I think when you experience faith it's almost like reasonable. You know you're like this makes sense and God's giving you faith to make it make sense. And so even the I look back on the starting of the ministry, raising support as missionaries, would you know I'd never done that, but it just made sense. It wasn't like I am stepping in this grandiose act of faith and I'm doing it. You know I'm like no, this is what we have to do. You know, it just became very practical. So I praise God for how he must take over the Spirit just gives whatever reason or sensibility or whatever to something that is insane and that might be what faith is at some point, the idea of giving everything away for free would.
Speaker 3:My story is about God in his glory, right, and me wrestling for glory in the midst of that and then realizing this has got to be about God and his glory right and me wrestling for glory in the midst of that and then realizing this has got to be about God. Suddenly, if someone's paying for it, they might want to highlight mission or ministry or man or a strategy, and I really felt strongly about the conviction this has got to be about Christ. And the only way to really probably have no binds in that way is to say, well then, we cannot be hired. Or if we sell the stuff here, buy this then. Indeed, I would assume there would be a temptation to make stories, tell stories or how we make it to benefit the consumer. So what do people want? It suddenly becomes the thing versus who's paying us up front, what do they want, or what will the consumer want, and so the only way and again, I not even thought through that much- it was just, really just we're supposed to give it away.
Speaker 3:And I look back and I'm like, very practically, we knew at that time it's like this would keep the hero of the story, christ. The hero of the story has got to be Jesus. So we have to be untethered and God's going to have to provide, so there's going to have to be like he's going to have to. Just, I mean, we got to eat At that time. I had two daughters, a wife, and I praise God for my wife. I do want to take a moment to praise the Lord for my wife, because she's the one that sat through me and my idolatry.
Speaker 3:And I had a wife and kids and my prayers and my thoughts always were gravitating towards this other thing and she was so gracious. And when it came time, god doing a revelatory work in my heart repentance, faith, tears, all that, being patient, not thinking it's another, just whim or whatever, and her support of that. And then starting a non-profit never dreamt of that a ministry raising support, the support. So God gave my wife as this helper to support me in my seemingly insanity, and so I praise God for that. So he did provide in so many different ways, god. So I praise God for that. So he did provide in so many different ways. God, if we're going to give it away, you're going to have to provide. And he brought along, he led you to have the faith to do. How have you seen him execute on?
Speaker 2:that.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm going to probably answer this in a backwards way, but what I've seen, first and foremost and I say this to the people on our team at the ministry we're a small team of four people how I've seen him move the most is in our own lives. We're a small team of four people. How I've seen him move the most is in our own lives. I feel the beneficiary of our ministry has been us. First Stepping into ministry, there might be an instinct to believe that you know, okay, you get to a certain point in your spiritual walk that you have something to offer the world. You know, and certainly there is some qualifying things. But what I've seen in 12 years of ministry is how much God loves me, how much God loves our staff, how much God desires me to be reminded of His grace and power and provision and mercy over and over again. So I believe I'm in ministry because I needed ministry. God wanted me near to him. I mean, like in ministry, if you're not repenting and confessing, you know, in any given moment you can start putting your weight on the wrong thing. Results, effectiveness, reach, you know, or ego, or pride, you know it's like. So I'm so thankful God knew in my heart, my zealous, passionate, idol factory heart, that he needed me in this nest of ministry to kind of, over and over again, see how beautiful he is, to keep me close to him. And so he's grown me so much in the Lord, in ministry. So, versus, we've reached so many people and this and that has happened. Even I blush at your intro. I'm like I have no, we should just write it's reached Peter Craig. This ministry has reached one person and it's him. And over and over again, I mean how he shaped me, I'm going to kind of dance around it, but it's like, honestly, he's shown me and I think this is the fruit of ministry is like he's shown me more than what we do is how we do it. Romans says anything that doesn't proceed from faith is sin, which is a terrifying idea, you know. It's like, oh my gosh, 99% of my life has been sin, I think, and that means God's grace must speak gargantuan. He's shown me over and over like, whatever you do, your instinct is to obsess over what you produce, but what he's looking at is our hearts. Are you honoring me, worshiping me in faith, in love, in hope, in joy? And so he's reached one person and is reaching one person definitively, it's me. I know that, and certainly my co-workers. It's a sanctifying thing being a minister and he's shaped me Beyond that, by God's grace.
Speaker 3:He's enabled us to connect and reach our story subjects, the people that we've walked alongside, to film their stories, and, honestly, when we get to heaven, if you get a playback reel, I'm probably going to realize that the majority of the work that God was doing in our ministry when we get there, I believe I'll see that actually it was a ministry of encouragement to our story subjects. Yes, more than anything, it's like, oh, we think again reaching the world and getting these videos out. You said 80 million and I'm like I have no idea what that did, but I do know the effect of walking through stories with the people who've experienced. It has been so encouraging and edifying and sanctifying to them, and so God would be so lavish to create a ministry just to go to the small group of people around the world, to partner with them and honor their story, and that would be enough. And then, of course, beyond that, yeah, we get to share stuff and people get to watch stuff. I tell the team often God doesn't need moving works, he doesn't need our little movies. These are crayon drawings. How beautiful Christ is. Are you kidding me? These are crayon drawings. How beautiful christ is. Are you kidding me? These are crayon drawings, these little movies. And so it's like. But he wants to participate in what his desire is was reaching the nations. He wants to participate with his kids.
Speaker 3:I use the analogy of, like you know, and if I'm, if I'm working around the house, I'm hammering in a nail. My daughter wants to participate with me. I'm gonna let her now. Will she put the nail in when she's a little kid? Probably not, but I'm going to have so much joy in seeing her try. You know, put that hammer on the nail and maybe it doesn't even move. But a man, what joy the father has even I'm an imperfect father. What joy I have in seeing my daughter trying to put that nail in. And then, of course, after she tries, I put the nail in. I feel like that's ministry. It's like that's what ministry is. You know, like we try, clink, clink, clink. I'm so thankful. I feel like that's, that's the work of ministry.
Speaker 2:Man, what a privilege to think that the father delights in us, yeah. That he delights in us, and and part of delighting in his creation is you guys going out into the Amazon, out into Mali, not only delighting in the work that you guys are doing, but communicating to your subjects how much God delights in them. So let's do this. Let's jump from the office and the film studio into the boat, take us down to Amazon, talk to us about a trip that you had specifically to Brazil and what happened in that trip.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we discovered this ministry that's in the Amazon, church planting ministry, beautiful, disciple-making brothers and sisters. We heard stories. One of the stories that we had heard is of this pastor His name is Nilton and so we were like it would be awesome to go out on the river. First of all, it's the Amazon, so that's cool, so there's, and so we were like it would be awesome to go out on the river. First of all, it's the Amazon, so that's cool, so there's a little bit of like this is exciting. We get to go out there.
Speaker 3:But what they do and I recently rewatched the film you know, knowing I'd be talking about this and I had forgotten some of the details there's 40,000 villages and communities along the Amazon River that are very, very hard to reach. Now, the Amazon might be different than what we think it is. When you're imagining the Amazon, many people might think of, you know, like very tight, windy, jungle-encompassed river, but I mean it looks like the ocean In some areas. I mean you can't see the end of it. So you're out and it's a sprawling like sea is the Amazon, and so among this massive body of water, there's islands, there's tributaries, there's, I mean, so much diversity in terms of wildlife, plant life and people and culture.
Speaker 3:And so what these pastors do? They go out on boat, days on boat, to find villages that are unreached or unchurched and preach the gospel. And so we're like this is great, we're going to go out with them and do this. And so, yeah, and so there's 40,000 communities, 35,000 at the time of the recording of the film. 35,000 are either unreached or unchurched. So I'm sure that number has changed because I've seen the work, ethic and the passion and love of Jesus and the spirit move.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it's much lower Praise God, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:So we went out there on the Amazon filming story with Pastor Nielsen. For decades he has been going out and just preaching the gospel, going from shoreline to shoreline, finding villages and preaching. And the idea was we were going to go out there and we're going to film them going to an unchurched village or unreached village and preaching the gospel for the first time. And it's like what does it look like for people to hear this story? You know what does it look like. And so you know Pastor Nielton holds on to the idea that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. The gospel is the story, the good news. And so I'm like man, wouldn't it be fun to see people hear the gospel for the first time, not knowing their response, you know, not knowing how the spirit would you know, move, but it was. This was going to be awesome, filming the story. And so they build their own boats I'm filming this story. And so they build their own boats. They specifically kind of like three or maybe two level boats that they go out on. And so we went out Day one. We went out and we went to a church that had been planted by them and we went to a church service. The churches are now, of course we have an idea what churches look like. This is a little different Now.
Speaker 3:I grew up on the Mississippi River in Illinois and we'd go every weekend to the Mississippi and there'd be cabins on sticks, you know, just houses on sticks, and so this is kind of I had some reasonable idea of like. Looking at the churches it felt very familiar. It's these essentially homes on sticks and they have to be on sticks because of the river floods all the time. You have to be elevated. You know 20 feet near or whatever, or five feet in the yard, based on where you are on the land. So we visited this church, saw like people worshiping in portuguese. I mean, imagine no windows. This, this was a fun little thing. We're having a worship service. They have to start generators to get lights in the place at night. Bugs are everywhere. So imagine one light bulb and you can barely see the light bulb because of the swarm of bugs flying around it. And I'm at the back of the church, kind of looking just seeing.
Speaker 3:The Portuguese people are passionate people. Now I don't know, you know if you're listening, what kind of church culture you have. You know whether it's a kind of like mouth of words, kind of church, or you're belting the song, but these people sing, you know, and they're all into it, which I really love, our Brazilian brothers and sisters, because just their passion. So they're worshiping, admiring this, and in the midst of this, I swear this, this bat, I mean it's about probably my memory is probably exaggerating, but it was big, it was, I mean, like I would say probably easily, maybe a four foot wingspan, flying through one window and going in out the other because of all the bugs inside this church, just flying and you're going and no one's blinking an eye. We're all worshiping and I'm like watching from the back, I'm like what in the world? My brother's with me, I usually took a volunteer hey, will you come with me, help me? And so this early days of ministries where we didn't have just me on the team and he was there, and yeah, I just have a vivid memory of this bat whipping in and out of surface and people not even looking at it. This is the Amazon, you know.
Speaker 3:And so day one we went and stopped at that church. Now, day two was where it got interesting. We were going to travel the whole next day. And again, you can go days, days. I mean I don't understand. So you have the Amazon River and you have all these tributaries, these arms that go deep. You can go deep in the jungle, deep into an ocean, and then find an island. It's so vast. So we were going to travel, we were going to meet up with the pastor. Here's the point we were going to travel and meet up with this pastor who knew of this village that was unchurched and they were going to preach the gospel.
Speaker 3:And we got word, as we were kind of trying to leave, that the pastor, if I remember correctly, had his eye gouged with something Like I don't know, like a work problem or something Like. I mean, he had a medical emergency that took him out. So we're waiting to connect with him. He was going to show us the way. Suddenly he's injured and we don't even know where he is. We just hear through, you know, cb or something, that this guy can't join us. And so we're like, okay, the pastor's kind of figuring out what to do. And they're like, suddenly they had the firm confidence that they could find this place. And so we went out on the river and as we were out, you know, day turned into dusk, turned into night. We had no idea where we're going. Apparently we're looking, we're trying to call the person, we're trying to Amazon. No signal, and this is yeah.
Speaker 2:Imagine it kind of felt like an infinite maze.
Speaker 3:You're down one stream and then you could take a left or a right. Have I seen this one before?
Speaker 2:Yes, have we come to this fork?
Speaker 3:And there's no street signs, there's no river signs, you know. And so I mean it's interesting because these men have lived on the rivers, yet they could be lost on the river, looking for this place, and it became very obvious that we didn't know where we're going. And it's pitch black and all you have is a little spotlight on your boat and you're just, I mean, it's just water and jungle. They were asking, calling it wasn't working, and so finally they were like they spotted this little dock and this is a dock. If you spot a dock, this is a dock you would pass up, because it was just precariously perched along the river, I mean kind of angled, weird, small looks, accidental in some respect. And they're like, well, here's something. And you know they would know better. I don't know better. I'm like we're going there, you know you can barely see it, but there's a little dock perch. You don't see any signs of life within the trees. Once you walk up the shoreline, you just see blackness and darkness and you know, you hear the crickets and you, I don't know, maybe they weren't crickets all the insects and sounds of the jungle and the river, and you're like we're just going to go in there and so that, indeed, the boats they travel on are big People, sleep on them, they live on them and, you know, sleep on hammocks. So we're sleeping on hammocks, you know, under the night sky each night. So it's a pretty big boat. They pull up and kind of perch and find their way. They just disappear. All they did is just get down and just disappear into the darkness. And so you're just waiting and you're like, what are we doing here? And at this point in my mind I'm like, well, the story's changed. The film was kind of like to document what God is doing. And we're going to go to this place, and now we can't go to this place and I don't know what to film. It's so dark I can't really film too much anyway. And so they come back and they're like, hey, we found a cabin, let's go. And that was just all that was needed Signs of life. There. We found someone. And so they came back and they're like, hey, we're getting off, this is our location, this is not where we're supposed to go, but this was a place to go.
Speaker 3:And so all the guys, all these pastors and what was brilliant about these guys I should have shared as we're traveling, they're worshiping. We pull over, we eat, we worship. They got guitars. It's not like they're just laboring, they're worshiping.
Speaker 3:I go back to my own story and it's like God called me not to labor but to worship. It's like this is your act of worship. I'm so thankful for that specific call of worship. I sense that in these men act of worship. I'm so thankful for that specific call of worship. I sense that in these men they're worshiping. Is there toil? Is there labor? Were they scrubbing the boats? Were they cooking meals? Yeah, is it hard? Yes, but they're worshiping. And so it's just so, now that I think back upon it, and it's like man, what beautiful examples for me just to have witnessed and see their joy of the Lord, their worshipful hearts in difficult places doing this. And so, yeah, they got there. They see this cabin.
Speaker 3:Everyone's de-boating I don't know if that's a term, but we're going into the darkness. I have no idea what we're doing. But they found this cabin and they bring a generator. There's no power. They bring everything off for this one cabin and I'm like no, in my economy I'm working, like well, we're going to reach a village and I thought now we're at a cabin. It's like this less epic and so long story short. They set up lights. They, I mean they kind of string lights everywhere. They get the generator and there's a lot of work.
Speaker 3:And Pastor Nielsen and his brothers go in this little cabin and what I didn't know is when they went into the darkness met these people again, candlelight, I assume. I have no idea, I don't even know, there's no power. They see these people. They ask hey, we have some good news to share with you about Jesus, would you want to hear? And they're like yeah, sure, you know. It's just like they don't know. And they're like tell us what is this? And so, in the meantime, as we're setting up, they're going to get some neighbors so they bring over people into the house. Neighbors come home. Next thing, you know, we have a one room cabin full of people, you know, and they're just here waiting to hear what is this good news?
Speaker 3:And Pastor Nielton sits down and just shares the gospel. This is in Portuguese. Now I'm shooting and I look back and I kick myself. I should have been shooting this whole thing. But in my mind, in my not seeing clearly, I'm like I'll shoot this, I'll shoot a little montage, but I should have just been recording what was being spoken in Portuguese. I don't know what's being said, but he shares the gospel, pulls open the Bible, everyone huddled around these small lights, just listening to the Word of God as he preaches, and I look back on it and what was happening there is just so beautiful in our you know, ignorance in our we're lost in our I shouldn't say our in their act of faith that just stopping what was happening is just a transformative thing.
Speaker 3:He preached the gospel the entire family comes to christ and and it was like it was spoken to me later that the mom the mother is like the matriarch of the family says this is the greatest day of our life. It's like we're just out on the river and we find this little lost, yeah, lost.
Speaker 3:We don't know where we're going, so like, where can we receive any glory in this? We're just lost on the river and God had an appointment, and it was like salvation came to that house, like this is the greatest day of our life, and so this family comes to know Jesus. Now, this is a moment, so this is a beginning of faith, so this is not boom. See you later. Now their posture in this ministry, and the ministry is called Paz International. It's the name of the ministry now, that's the name of the ministry of the pastors at World of Boat yes yes, so Paz International.
Speaker 3:Now they work in several different countries. They actually send men and women from the Amazon to different countries all over the world, and so the idea is obviously indigenous people coming to know Christ, be discipled and go and serve and plant churches within their own country and culture and language. And so this family comes to know Christ and, of course, or like, begin the journey. You know, like this is a moment of revelation for them that I want this, I want Jesus. These men come out of the shadows and preach the gospel. I want what they're offering. And so it's like what is going on here. You know, I'm like what you know, like, yes, this whole family wants to repent and be baptized. I mean, this is old school, you know. It's like repent and believe. And so, funny enough, the next thing we do, we go back on our boat. We're going to have a reception, and it's like we're going to have a cake reception. The guys at some point made cake. I don't even know how they make cake. On our boat we had cakes and so it's like we're eating cake and I'm like this is pretty cool. This is amazing that this happened and we're up there for maybe an hour or two hours, I'm not sure. We come back on. The family comes on. We're eating cake and talking and what was really cool this moment I really remember distinctly Pastor Nilton's son comes up to me and we're chatting. He's letting me know what happened. So Pastor Nilton doesn't know English, but his son knows English. He's kind of unpacking this whole thing, explaining. This is what the mom said.
Speaker 3:These people came to and I'm like, try asking all these questions because, you know, I just don't know what's going on. I know what's happening when they're preaching the word, but the response and I'm just bowled over and he says you see that guy right there and it's the dad of the house and he's like that guy's going to be a pastor of the church. And I'm like what this guy doesn't know. It hit him Because when these guys come and they preach the gospel, these Brazilian brothers that I'm with, they don't look for conversions, they look for disciple makers, they look for disciples of Jesus who will make disciples preach the gospel.
Speaker 3:This guy just came to know Jesus. And what this brother of mine, Pastor Nilton's son, is seeing, he's like this man's going to be the pastor of a church, he's going to lead this church and I'm like this guy doesn't know what hit him. He just heard the good news two seconds ago and now, just immediately from the beginning, they're seeing something. They're saying it's not just enough that you come to know Christ, it's that you follow him, that you share the gospel, and so it's not just for you.
Speaker 3:Yes, immediately, it's already looking beyond them, not like in some callous sort of way. So what he says is I'm going to come back here and I'm going to disciple him. And I'm like I don't even know where are we. Do you know where we are? You don't know. You know, and in my mind I'm like, and it is taking like a day and a half to get here. So it's like saying we share the gospel with this guy. I'm going to come here every week and again, I don't know, it's taken a day and a half to find this place. I'm going to come and even the obstacles are not obstacles Now, not to give them, I don't think, undue glory. I think actually, god has instilled such a heart and passion for Christ, the Spirit and the zeal for the Lord and a zeal for sharing the beauty of Christ, that a day and a half river journey is not even an obstacle. Like I'm going to disciple that guy and he's going to be a pastor of a church and I'm like, almost like prophetically, he's sharing almost with confidence. And I'm like this guy, this family doesn't know what hit him, you know. And I'm like, and I can actually see that this is probably going to happen. Because what I've seen so far and seeing the faith and hearing some of the testimonies of the people that have come to know Christ, it's not just I came to know Christ and now I just do my thing and Christ is in there. It's like, oh, now I have something to share.
Speaker 3:And it's not just making quote, unquote Christians. And it's not just making quote unquote Christians, it's making disciples, people that follow Jesus, and so their posture is totally different of making disciples leaders. They look for leaders, like in every Christian I think Nielsen says in the film is like a leader. It's not just a Christian, it's a leader in whatever capacity God has given them. But he's looking at this man and thinking this is the father of this house, he's going to be a leader in his home, but he's going to be a leader of a church in this area. Just bowled over by what God had done that night, we went to another. The next day, went out on the river, went to a church service where, I mean, there's so many believers and so you see the fruit of their activity. In another village, I mean it felt like hundreds of baptisms People it's beautiful People draped in white cloth coming into the Amazon being baptized one after another. Just a baptismal service with all these people that have been discipled and want to follow the Lord in baptism.
Speaker 3:And all of these people were a rickety dock off of the river at one point before, yeah, at one point. Maybe they're rickety dock and then someone was appointed.
Speaker 2:Hey, at one point maybe they're rickety. And then someone was appointed.
Speaker 3:Yes, you're going to be the leader. Yes, you're going to make disciples.
Speaker 3:And so I'm like, well, maybe you know I'm looking at this and I'm like maybe this is what happens. And so, long story short, come back to home, fly back to the US. A couple of months later, the person one of the guys, he was an American person that went out with us on the Amazon with the Brazilian pastors reaches out and he's like you won't believe what has happened. In the time that I was gone and again, I don't know how many months it was, but sure enough Pastor Nielsen's son went back. He discipled this man, a church was planted, he became the pastor of this church, like this house. Now, this house was one of a few houses I didn't even see any other houses because it's so dark, but I guess other houses and so that village.
Speaker 3:So many people came to Christ in this village. Now, after a while, what happens? People are like what's going on in this village? Whatever they got going on, we want. Other villages have come and now multiple churches I mean essentially a church planting movement, a spirit of the church. I mean essentially a church planting movement, a spirit of the, just a movement of the spirit happened from that house and permeated and had several people, or several other villages suddenly have now. The same thing had happened where God had come, the spirit awakened, faith and many people had come to know Christ. So, village One, so many people came to know Christ. This guy became like the fledging pastor of this church. Pastor Nilton's son came and discipled, week after week, and now multiple villages had been reached within months. Within months, like there's probably a better analogy but dry grass, a little bit of flame, you know, sweeping over, and so I mean super formative for me, even as I think back.
Speaker 3:I was rewatching Nielsen's story and it's just about his heart and his posture of ministry. And again, portuguese, what you can learn from brothers and sisters from around the world. Again, the film that we got to put together was teaching me again, reminding me. He said in the movie there's this confidence that he has. It's like Scripture says the gospel is the power of God for salvation. Not their strategy, not their preaching style, not anything else, but the gospel, the good news. There's something in the good news that the Spirit uses. It is the power of salvation. And so they didn't go, they didn't even necessarily contextualize, they don't even know where they are, they just opened the Word and believed that the Word, and the Gospel itself has power to transform this household, this village, and then the villages beyond, and then not only that can sound like oh, that sounds great, but also have the faith and endurance to persevere in laboring, not to say boom salvation. So let's move on. They're saying I'm coming back to this place, wherever this place is, and I'm discipling that man and making disciple leaders. That would make leaders, and then church planting happens. And so it was just so encouraging to look back on that, and I remember my friend who actually told me the update sent me a picture and sure enough, there were so many people that they took a picture of that had been affected.
Speaker 3:And I look back, it came down to getting lost, like we fumble around in the darkness. As Christians, we fumble around, we don't know what we're doing, and yet God does, he's orchestrating something. The guy who injured his eye recovered, so that was good, that worked out. But it's like we fumble around in darkness and God gives us a little hint of something like this rickety dock and these men being like, with childlike faith, not cynicism, not like.
Speaker 3:Well, this is not what we expected. Even in my sinful heart, I might have at that time been like man. This seems funky, let's do something else, or it's not as good, or whatever. They had the faith to go into the darkness and find one house, and God had made a fertile ground for seed to fall, and it was a soil that would bear fruit. And so, next thing, you know, this had happened based off the God working in our lack of capacity, lack of understanding, and then faith, just a little bit of faith, and so it's just beautiful to see how God orchestrates things. There's planning, there's strategy, there's prayers, there's getting lost, there's people getting hurt. There is a lot of stuff going on for God to orchestrate what he wants, and this is a beautiful example of God's sovereignty and love.
Speaker 2:Yes, God's so sovereign and intentional, Dude Peter. What an incredible story, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I was just the witness, so that's all Okay.
Speaker 2:So you're telling these stories and I'm'm sitting here and I know our listeners are doing the same Just trying to visualize all of these things and all of these these moments. You did such a great job describing it, but if we want to see it, we can see it. Yeah, where can people go and see the story?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so this story and again it's not documented in its entirety Like I'm explaining it, that was just like the side story.
Speaker 2:We get a behind the scenes and now we can actually watch the film.
Speaker 3:It's the story I wish I would have filmed. I just did not film because I was. So. You know, scripture says we look through a looking glass dimly and I like, yeah, you know, I just don't see things clearly. But God knows too, maybe he didn't want that, but you can see that night too. It's in the footage.
Speaker 3:But the film is called Not Ashamed because Pastor Nielton's one of his scriptures he's hold onto is the Apostle Paul saying I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation. And so it's called Not Ashamed. You can go to movingworksorg, you can look it up. And again, this is one of our early films and so but one that holds a special place in my heart. And again, I don't think I've seen it for years, but coming on this, I knew I was going to talk about it. So I'm like, oh, I should re-familiarize. And I'm like, oh, man, lord just stirred, stirred once again of the beauty of the spirit working in people, you know, and our Brazilian brothers and sisters in their faith, and there's so much to learn from them and sit at their feet, learning from Christ at work in them. So, not Ashamed at Moving Works.
Speaker 2:Not Ashamed is the name of the film. You can find it at movingworksorg.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that is a short film. We make short films. We say we make films, that obviously our ministry is to worship Christ, but we make these films to make much of him. And so with our short films, some of them are longer than others, Some are two minutes, some are 45 minutes, but this one lands at about eight to nine minutes. So hopefully it's an encouragement.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite things about this podcast is traveling down the murky waters of the Amazon and hearing all of these incredible stories of God at work, because for me and I think for our listeners as well it just expands our understanding of what God is up to and the work that he's doing. It encourages us also to get in the game. What can we do to participate? So here's the deal. I set up this episode by saying that we were going to travel down those murky waters of the Amazon. We were also going to hike through the bush of Mali to go to some remote villages. But here's the deal If you want to hear more of these stories from Peter Craig and Moving Works, you're actually going to have to come back for the next episode.
Speaker 2:So the next episode, we're going to kick it off going through the bush together. We're going to end this one now just to give you some time to reflect on all the things that you guys have heard today and just see what God wants to do in your life and how God's asking you to move and how God is asking you to get in the game and get involved. So, peter, we always pray for our guests at the end of our podcast episode. So would you mind praying for us now?
Speaker 3:yeah, absolutely, lord, thank you. Thank you that you're on your throne right now and that you have complete sovereignty, authority and complete, unimaginable, immeasurable love, that you're operating on all those fronts. Lord, thank you that you care about people in remote villages along the Amazon River, that your eyes were on them Funny enough, when our eyes aren't on them and we didn't know where to go, your eyes were on them and you had a plan, and so thank you for being that sort of God. Thank you for our listeners that your eyes are on them, that Lord, holy Spirit, if you are speaking to them in some specific way, lord, that is your care and concern for them, that you want to do something in their lives. So, holy Spirit, I ask you to just move through these words as you desire Encourage, convict, challenge, bring joy, worship, whatever you desire, lord. Thank you, holy Spirit, that you're personal, that you are intimate, that you do want to move in our lives. So I ask you to do that.
Speaker 3:Thank you for our Brazilian brothers and sisters. Thank you for your work in the Amazon. Thank you for people who are faithful and have a love for Christ, broken, imperfect people that you have indwelt with your spirit to use, and not just use but to partner with, to share the beauty of Christ. And Lord, thank you for being the father that asks us to grab the hammer and try hitting the nail, and you smiling at us when we do imperfectly. We do things imperfectly, but, lord, you got it. You're the one that hammers the nail, you're the one that builds your kingdom and we praise you for that. We thank you, for your grace, we thank you for this time.
Speaker 1:In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Thank you for listening to Unreached. Our sincere desire is that what you've heard today will cause you to see the mission of God differently and your role in it more clearly. If this adds value for you and we hope it does would you please rate and review the podcast wherever you listen. Also, share with your family, your friends, your church, your life group, small group, D group wherever you do life, and if you want to connect with us, find us on Instagram at unreachedpodcast, or email us at unreachedpodcast at gmailcom. Thank you you.
