Word from Every Tribe Entertainment

From the Mailbag of WORLD magazine, April 8, 2006 issue:


Word for God

“St. Francis of Assisi implored us to ‘preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.’ Some observers are concerned that the name of Jesus was not directly referenced in the recent motion picture End of the Spear (‘Walk this way,’ Jan. 21). But the story was told through the eyes and voices of the indigenous tribe that took the lives of five missionaries in 1956, and a native language was used. The Waodani word for God – Waengongi – was repeated early and often. And not the scene where Dayumae, the young Waodani woman who had fled the tribe years earlier due to the violence, was confronted by a Waodani warrior in the jungle who wanted to know why the missionaries did not fire their guns. ‘Waengongi had a Son who was speared,’ Dayumae told him. ‘He did not spear back, so that those who speared him would one day live well.’”

– Randy Swanson
Every Tribe Entertainment
Oklahoma City, Okla.