In 1954, Roy LeTourneau began a road
building project in the Peruvian jungle for his
father–famed industrialist R.G. LeTourneau. Roy and
his crew started the project by steaming boats of
equipment up the Pachitea River and landing them at
a site that they called Tournavista. From there they
began the long arduous task of building a road from
the middle of nowhere toward civilization.
Yet even in this remote jungle
location, Roy found it crucial to be in constant
communication with people in Peru’s capital city of
Lima. Utilizing a corporate plane, he flew back and
forth from Tournavista to Lima continually. He
quickly realized the power and influence of that one
city on even the remotest parts of the country.
In the fifty years since, the
influence of Lima has only grown. Today, one-third
of Peru’s population resides in the capital city. It
is the center of government, commerce, education and
communications. The same is true of the capital
cities in virtually every other country in Latin
America.
The massive size and influence of
these urban centers are the primary reasons why CMI
focuses its ministry on the capital city. It has
been said that in Latin America, everyone has at
least one contact in the capital. It truly is the
hub of the nation. While hundreds of people move
into the capital each day, change and influence
radiate out.
As such, the capital city is a
crucial beachhead for discipling the entire nation.
“In Latin America,” notes
international evangelist Luis Palau, “it is an
absolute fact: if you reach the capital city you can
touch the whole nation. It’s amazing. In Latin
America the capital city has enormous influence in
contrast to the USA where Washington is influential
but New York in some ways is more powerful. Not so
in Latin America. In every single republic the
capital touches the nation.”
“If we reach the cities, then the
cities themselves will reach out into other areas of
the country,” says C&MA Missionary David Peters.
“For years in Latin America we worked in the smaller
towns and villages, trying to evangelize the country
in that way. As North American missionaries we felt
that this was the way to go. But if we can go into
the cities, into key cities, and plant strong
churches in those cities, then the people in those
churches go out and evangelize their family members
who live in the small towns and the villages.”
