The Encounter Story
A Big Enough Machine
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Roy LeTourneau and Kenn
Opperman |
It was another late night as the two
men stepped out onto the street. Their late hour
conversations were now commonplace and, as often
happened, they had lost track of time.
As they stepped outside, the
familiar sights and smells of Lima, Peru confronted
them. For both Roy and Kenn the same thought plagued
them, “There has to be a better way!”
Roy LeTourneau was a Christian
businessman living in Lima while he directed the
construction of a new road through portions of
virgin Peruvian jungle. Kenn Opperman was a veteran
missionary assigned to minister in this burgeoning
capital city.
As usual, the evening’s conversation
had centered on a common theme—how can you impact an
entire nation for Christ? Both Kenn and Roy were
frustrated with the meager evangelistic results
achieved despite years of missionary effort in Peru.
Each was convinced that a new
strategy was needed if there was to be any hope of
transforming the entire nation for Christ.
The task of discipling an entire
nation seemed so monumental that many people had
written it off as an impossible dream. But growing
up as the son of the earth-moving and manufacturing
pioneer R.G. LeTourneau, Roy was taught not to
believe anything was impossible.
The LeTourneau Legacy
Roy learned a lot from his father.
R.G. had a saying: “There is no such thing as a big
job, only small machines.” The statement was one of
R.G.’s favorites and it proved to be the testimony
of his life and work.
R.G. delighted in building machines
capable of doing more than anyone ever thought
possible. Even his competitors marveled at his
ability to find ways of accomplishing feats that
they had already written off as “impossible.”
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R.G. LeTourneau |
As a result, R.G. seldom built
anything small. His last earth scraper could haul
360 tons of dirt at one time. It had 12 tires that
were each 3.5 feet wide and almost 9 feet tall. Each
tire was powered individually by an electric motor
within the hub.
His machines revolutionized the
logging industry. He invented a log stacker able to
handle a 65-ton truckload of logs in a single scoop.
He also created the “tree crusher” capable of
cutting a 20-foot swath through the jungle—knocking
down trees as if they were toothpicks.
He pioneered the design and
manufacture of the first mobile, deep-sea oil
drilling platform. The triangular platform could be
towed to the desired location and the legs could be
run down as far as 500 feet to the ocean floor.
Yet more than his passion for
building big machines, R.G. had a passion for Jesus
Christ. Despite his tremendous achievements in the
manufacture of heavy machinery, his commitment to
Christ far outweighed his worldly accomplishments.
A multi-millionaire, R.G. gave away
90% of his income to support numerous churches and
ministries. He established a Christian technical
school in Longview, Texas known today as LeTourneau
University. He was one of the original founders of
the Christian Business Men’s Committee and supported
missionary efforts worldwide. R.G. traveled the
world encouraging others that “God needed
businessmen as partners as well as preachers.”
A New York Times tribute written
upon his death said, “Robert Gilmour LeTourneau
liked to do two things: One was to design machines,
turn on the power and see them work; the other was
to help turn on the power of the Gospel and see it
work in people’s lives. He did both in a big way.”
R.G.’s evangelistic fervor and drive
to take on the “impossible” impressed itself upon
his son Roy.
Tackling the “Impossible”
In 1954, R.G. assigned Roy to direct
a road construction project through the jungles of
Peru. In exchange for the road, the Peruvian
government agreed to give them one million acres of
virgin jungle. However, the construction project
provided an opportunity for an even greater work.
Roy took only Christian men with him on the project
in order that they might carry on a lay missionary
effort. They called themselves “industrial
missionaries.” Today, we call them “tent makers.”
After 3 years in the jungle, Roy
moved his office to Lima, in order to be closer to
government contacts. It was there that he met
Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary Kenn
Opperman.
Kenn and his wife Joyce had been
missionaries in Peru for several years. In 1957,
they moved to Lima to direct the first C&MA effort
in the capital city. Kenn held a deep burden for
Peru and desired to see the entire nation changed
for Christ. With that vision in mind, Kenn became
increasingly dissatisfied with the traditional
missionary methods that grew too slowly to produce
any significant impact on an entire nation.
Kenn found a sympathetic ear in Roy.
Prior to his father’s inventions, most earth-moving
was accomplished with tools that hadn’t been
improved upon in centuries. But where others merely
followed time worn paths, R.G. blazed a new trail.
Not content with “business as usual,” R.G. designed
machines that could do the work of 1,000 men,
completing jobs faster and more affordably than ever
imagined.
The more that Kenn and Roy talked,
the more they became convinced that the same type of
innovation was needed in missions. Traditional
strategies were too slow and were ill-equipped to
produce the kind of results needed to transform a
country. A new missions strategy was needed—a
strategy big enough to impact an entire nation.
Laying a New Foundation
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Original house church of
the Lince congregation in Lima, Peru. |
As Kenn and Roy surveyed the
missions landscape they became convinced of three
things. First, missionary efforts needed to be
focused in the capital city. By 1957, migration to
the city was already underway. Roy knew from
experience working in the jungle just how
influential the capital was on the entire nation. If
they were to impact the entire nation they would
first have to impact its capital city.
Second, they recognized that for a
church to reach people and have a significant impact
on the city, it would have to be on a main avenue
where it would be highly visible and easily reached.
In those days, few evangelical churches ventured
outside of the backstreets and alleys. Consequently,
most were virtually invisible to the majority of the
population.
Lastly, they knew that if they were
to reach the nation, reproduction would be the key.
To reproduce effectively they would need leaders and
resources. The growing middle class offered a wealth
of people with the education and skills needed for
leadership. Moreover, this group possessed resources
to sustain and reproduce the church.
With this in mind, Kenn found and
secured a piece of property located in the middle
class Lince district of Lima and situated on the
most important avenue in the city. The church moved
into the house located on the property and
immediately began its outreach.
In 1961, Roy returned to the U.S.,
but before leaving he left the funds needed for the
Lince Church to conduct a year-long evangelism
campaign. Evangelistic events were held for two
weeks out of every month for 12 months. By the end
of the year they were stunned by the results. More
than 1,000 people had accepted Christ!
Unfortunately, lack of planned
follow-up and inadequate facilities resulted in the
loss of many of these new converts. Even so, the
church was filled to capacity with over 200 people.
Soon afterward, health problems
forced Kenn and Joyce to return to North America and
for the next 11 years the church maintained itself
with a full-time pastor.
In the ensuing years, however,
church attendance failed to grow and even declined
to 180 people. But a core of believers remained
unsatisfied. They recalled the exciting year of
evangelism in 1961-1962 and began to pray in earnest
that God would use them in that way again.
The Birth of a Movement
In 1973, their prayers were
answered. The church called a new pastor, Alfredo
Smith, from Argentina and the C&MA assigned veteran
missionary Eugene Kelly to help. Roy and Kenn
reunited in North America to coordinate the
financial effort.
They began laying the groundwork for
an unprecedented campaign. As they reviewed the 1961
evangelistic campaign, they realized that for the
results to be enduring they would have to be
prepared to follow-up with new believers and they
would have to have the space in which to house them.
They called the campaign Lima to an
Encounter with God. With initial funds provided by
the LeTourneau Foundation, the church began
construction of a new Christian Education building
with a first floor auditorium equipped to hold 325
people.
They launched a massive publicity
campaign and held special services aimed at readying
the believers in the church. In November, the
four-story Christian Education building was
dedicated and the church initiated the first of its
monthly evangelistic campaigns patterned after the
1961-1962 campaign.
175 people accepted Christ in the
first two weeks—almost as many as were members of
the church. Immediately, construction began on a
1,000-seat sanctuary, dedicated in July 1974.
Fifteen months later, the church was filled.
But that was just the beginning.
Rather than simply adding to its numbers, Lince
began to reproduce through new daughter churches.
The Pueblo Libre Church began in 1975 with 36
believers. Following the same strategy and with the
help of the LeTourneau Foundation, Pueblo Libre
built and filled a 2,000-seat sanctuary in 1978.
In the ensuing years, more daughter
churches were planted throughout Lima. In 1979, four
Encounter churches produced 5,600 decisions for
Christ! Clearly, a movement of God was underway
which would change the history of the Church in Peru
and profoundly influence the course of missions in
Latin America.
A New Vision
Back in the U.S., however, Roy and
Kenn faced a new challenge. In the midst of this
rapid growth, the limited funds of the LeTourneau
Foundation had reached a point of crisis. Demand was
fast outpacing resources.
After much prayer, Roy and Kenn
sensed God’s direction in forming a new
organization, known today as Church Ministries
International, to appeal to North American
Christians to partner in the support of the
burgeoning Encounter with God Movement.
In time, an expanded vision emerged
to see the effectiveness of the Encounter with God
Model spread beyond Peru. In light of this, CMI set
forth its 20/20 Vision—to see the initial Encounter
churches planted in all 20 capital cities of Latin
America and to see 20 Encounter churches in each
capital by the year 2020.
In Lima alone, the first church of
180 people that initiated Encounter in 1973 has now
grown to more than 60 churches with multiplied
thousands attending each Sunday! In addition, the
Lima churches have established at least 10 churches
in the provincial cities of Peru.
The Program Expands
But the growth is not just limited
to Peru. Encounter churches are now active in 10
Latin capital cities with more waiting to begin.
More than 90 churches are now participating in the
Encounter with God Movement with new ones joining or
being planted each year. Some highlights outside of
Peru include:
Quito, Ecuador
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El Batán
Church in Quito, Ecuador. |
The El Batán Church in Quito began
implementing the Encounter Strategy in the
mid-1980’s. Beginning with a congregation of less
than 250 people, Batán has today grown to 1,800 in
weekly attendance. Additionally, the church has
planted two daughter churches.
The first, La República, was started
in 1994 and today has a regular attendance of more
than 1,000 people. República is currently
constructing a 1,500-seat sanctuary on one of the
most visible properties in Quito.
Batán’s second daughter church,
Cumbayá, began in October 1999 with 120 people from
Batán and has grown to 600 people since. Cumbayá is
a powerful testimony to the reproducing effect of
Encounter. In planting this new church, El Batán
provided the first 120 members, two pastors from
their own team, $100,000.00 for the purchase of
property and 20% of their monthly gross income for a
period of two years.
Such a large investment by a Latin
American church is virtually unprecedented, but is
an example of the kind of reproduction possible
through Encounter with God. It is worth noting that
almost all of this has occurred amidst one of the
worst economic times Ecuador has ever seen.
Chile
The Cordillera Church in Santiago,
Chile is a dynamic congregation of more than 400
people located in the most influential district in
all of Chile. The Cordillera district is home to
Chilean celebrities, as well as business and
political leaders. The church has pioneered the
development of an evangelistic outreach built around
the Marriage Encounter program and has helped export
the program to Encounter churches throughout Latin
America and churches around the world.
Church Ministries International
assisted Cordillera in the construction of its
sanctuary in 1998. In 2000, Cordillera was
instrumental in starting another Encounter church in
the nearby city of Viña del Mar.
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Worship Service at the
Confraternidad Church - Bogotá, Colombia |
Colombia
Santa Fé de Bogotá, Colombia is home
to a two-pronged Encounter effort by two church
planting teams. The Los Héroes Church is a
congregation of several hundred people located in
what is perhaps the most strategically visible
property of any evangelical church in Latin America.
The church currently has a partially completed
Christian Education facility with a large
multipurpose room that serves as the temporary
sanctuary until the time that a permanent sanctuary
can be built. The Los Héroes Church has also planted
a daughter church known as Avenida 80.
An OMS International team purchased
well-located land for their first Encounter project
with assistance from Church Ministries
International. Their upper middle-class
congregation, known as the Iglesia Cristiana
Confraternidad (Christian Fellowship Church), moved
from a house-church to the second floor of a book
store to a five floor CE facility on a main avenue.
They held their first major
evangelistic campaign in April 1986 and now maintain
an attendance above 1,000. They dedicated a
sanctuary to seat 1,000 in December 1994. Since then
they have planted two daughter church in Bogotá.
Mexico
A relatively young Encounter work is
underway in Mexico. Like Colombia, Mexico is a
country that is the focus of another two-pronged
effort by the Christian & Missionary Alliance and
OMS International. The Cuauhtémoc Church is located
in the heart of Mexico City and is largely aimed at
reaching the upper-middle class. The church is
presently meeting in rented facilities in the
downtown area of the city.
The Lomas Companario Church begun by
OMS International continues to grow. The church
recently purchased permanent property and
constructed a provisional building that will serve
as a temporary facility until funds can be raised to
construct a permanent one.
New Paradigms
In these cities and more, Church
Ministries International is making an important
contribution to the growth and development of
strong, reproducing churches. Churches that are
impacting thousands of lives and transforming the
image and credibility of the evangelical church in
their societies. These churches represent a new
paradigm in church planting, innovating new programs
and new models of evangelism and discipleship.
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