Childhood in Ecuador
Born in Quito, Ecuador on January 30, 1951, Steve Saint couldn’t have known how his life would paint a picture of God’s redemptive grace. When he was five years old in 1956, Saint’s father, the famous missionary Nate Saint, along with four other young missionaries, didn’t return from a friendly effort to make contact with the savage, stone-age Waodani tribe deep in the Amazon jungle. The tribal warriors had speared the men on the beach where they had landed their little yellow plane. Saint’s aunt, Rachel Saint, and the wife of Jim Elliot, Elizabeth Elliot, went back to the tribe who had killed their loved ones and peacefully began establishing a relationship with them, living with them, and bringing them the Gospel.
At 10 years old, Saint began visiting his aunt in the jungle with the Waodani every summer. There, he learned from the tribe how to hunt, fish, and follow trails. Amazingly, he developed a close relationship with Mincaye, the man who delivered the blow that killed Saint’s father. Saint describes Mincaye as his adopted father and loves him, as well as the rest of the tribe, who have adopted him and call him Babae. Through the painful deaths of those five missionaries, the Waodani have come to love the Lord and make peace with the people they tried to kill.
At 14 years old, Saint and his sister Kathy were baptized. They gave their life to God in the river next to the sand bank their father was killed on. They chose some of the Waodani to baptize them. Later in life, when Saint was hospitalized from an accident, he said, “I think God is teaching me that He writes His best stories from the hardest beginnings.” His childhood struggles and the redemption of the Waodani give honor to God’s providential plan, and it only prompted Saint to “follow God’s trail” and walk in his father’s footsteps as a missionary.
Back to the Jungle
After high school, Saint went to the states where he attended Wheaton College. In 1973, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. For a short while, he returned to Ecuador as a tour guide and met his wife, Virginia Lynn Olson (known as Ginny). They now have four children. The family moved back to the states where they would set up home base in Ocala, Florida. Their marriage would stand the test of many trials. Saint continues to talk about his wife as a wonderful, lovely, and amazing companion.
In 1994, Saint’s aunt Rachel died in the jungle in her 80's. He flew back to help bury her with the Waodani. The tribe asked him to stay and live with them, not as a missionary, but as one of their own. Saint recounts how it was the Waodani people who wanted to learn the skills to fix the “felt” needs of their people and the nearby tribes so that they could teach them how to follow “God’s trail.” The Waodani wanted to learn medicine, dental work, and how to fly planes, among other things, but were frustrated when Saint wasn’t confident they could. However, this experience inspired him to understand the need for indigenous peoples to learn how to be self-sufficient and the missionary’s role in this. The Saint family lived in the jungle with the Waodani and gave them the skills to take care of their own.
Starting ITEC
A year later in 1996, the Saints moved back to Florida where Saint founded the Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center (ITEC). This organization’s mission is to equip “indigenous Christ followers for meaningful participation in His Great Commission.” Saint describes the goal of missionaries to other parts of the world:
“There is a great need in missions today to equip national/indigenous believers with the tools they need (training, technology, industry, and a cheering squad) so they can take their rightful place of responsibility in building the churches that missions plant!
"Unreached peoples like the Huaorani are struggling to maintain their culture and a sense of dignity against great odds. They need to know that we stand with them in their desire to reach the rest of their tribe with the Good News that has transformed their lives. But we need to get out of their way and give them the chance to prove that they have the capability and the will to get the job done. Hidden peoples from “Jerusalem to Irian Jaya” are waiting to fulfill their role in God’s Great Commission.”
ITEC works with many types of technology to aid missionaries in helping indigenous people meet the physical and spiritual needs of their own people. Today, Saint is still very involved and the ministry is expanding around the world.
Saint Today
On June 12, 2012, Saint suffered a life threatening accident while testing an airplane wing, which fell on his head and seriously damaged his spinal cord. This accident resulted in incomplete quadriplegia. In a series of YouTube videos put out by ITEC, documenting Saint’s slow and painful recovery from his injury, he shares how this difficult providence has taught him a new kind of faith: “It’s either going to be my story or God’s. When we let God write our story, He doesn’t promise that all the chapters will be easy. …God frequently starts his best stories with the hardest chapters. Trusting God to take away pain is acceptable, but trusting God’s will and His love when He doesn’t take away the pain, that’s our greatest opportunity to demonstrate faith.” Over time, Saint has learned how to drive, fly a plane, and ride a bike again. He continues to work at ITEC, contributing to the work he started. While incredibly difficult, his faith has strengthened him to continue “following God’s trail.”
Before his accident, Saint went back to Ecuador three to four times a year. Since his accident, he hadn’t been back for six and a half years. In June 2018, he traveled with Ginny, three of his sons, and 17 of his grandchildren to his homeland. He was able to introduce his grandchildren to the Waodani tribe who was his adopted family, and the jungle that his father died in.
Saint narrated the 2004 documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor. He also wrote his memoir, End of the Spear, which was adapted into a major film in which he was the stunt pilot flying a replica of his father’s plane. Saint has written many other books and travelled around the world with Mincaye, one of the Waodani, for interviews and to speak at Christian events. Saint’s testimony is one of incredible redemption and grace. His life continues to glorify God and bring others to trust in Him.