Sometimes a single sentence lands like a spark in dry timber.

For me, that sentence came in 2006 from veteran missionary Frank Drown.

“Canada! These men are the future missionaries to Canada!”

At the time, we were standing in a room full of young men in our church’s pastoral training program. Frank Drown had come to speak about his years serving in Ecuador, working with the Ecuador 5 as told in book and movie, The End of the Spear. I assumed he would simply share stories from the mission field. Instead, he cast a vision that would shape the next decade of ministry in ways I could never have imagined.

The Beginning of the Story

The journey really began a year earlier.

In 2005, my wife and I watched The End of the Spear, the film recounting Operation Auca and the deaths of five missionaries attempting to bring the gospel to the tribes. Deeply moved by the story, I thought, Why not show this to our church and invite someone who actually lived through those events?

Frank Drown was not merely a missionary connected to the story. He was the missionary allowed safe passage to recover the bodies of the men killed on the beach. His memoir, Mission to the Head Hunters, chronicled years spent pioneering the gospel in Ecuador. Since Frank was also a family friend, I reached out to him, and he gladly agreed to come speak at our church.

That evening changed everything.

An Unexpected Mission Field

When Frank met the young men in our Pastoral Training Academy, he saw something none of us expected. He did not see future pastors in suburban churches. He saw missionaries to the First Nations communities of northern Canada.

Frank had spent time in remote fly-in communities populated largely by First Nations Peoples. These communities were scattered across vast stretches of wilderness, isolated and difficult to access. Yet Frank loved the people deeply and believed they needed the hope of Christ.

Unable to physically reach every village, Frank helped launch a radio ministry. Years of labor eventually resulted in the creation of radio station CJTL, standing for “Christ Jesus The Lord.”

But Frank believed radio alone was not enough. He longed for missionaries on the ground. And when he looked at our training program, he believed he saw them.

“Pray for Problems You Cannot Solve”

Over the following years, Frank continued to challenge me.

He would send notes. He would call. He refused to let the vision drift into the fog of forgotten ideas. Whenever I felt overwhelmed by the size of the task, Frank would say things like:

“God always puts us in situations where we do not have the power to do anything so that we would walk by faith.”

And one statement especially stayed with me:

“Pray for problems that you cannot solve so that when God solves them, you will walk by faith.”

That sentence became a kind of compass for the journey ahead.

Enter To Every Tribe

In 2010, another key piece fell into place when I got connected with To Every Tribe. I was invited into a project to help train local pastors in one of their mission fields.

As I became more and more involved in understanding the ministry in Canada, I realized that I needed to partner with a mission agency to help send the missionaries. At the time I was a pastor of a church with a heart for missions, but I knew our church could not bear the weight alone of sending. After processing with the leadership of To Every Tribe, we were able to develop a plan to partner together, a local church and a mission agency to send missionaries to the First Nations Peoples.

Suddenly, there was not only a vision, but also a mission agency willing to help carry it forward.

The Couples God Prepared

In 2010, God brought two young couples into my life: Ron and Jen Keres, and Matt and Ashley Klockenga. Both couples sensed a calling toward pioneer church planting among unreached people groups.

At first, Canada was not on their radar.

When most people think about unreached peoples, they do not usually think about northern Ontario. But over time, these couples began to recognize both the spiritual need and the opportunity. Eventually, both families enrolled at To Every Tribe’s training to become cross-cultural church planters. By sending them to To Every Tribe, I believed they would be prepared to take on this mission.

It felt like puzzle pieces slowly sliding into place across a table only God could fully see.

We had:

A mission opportunity from Frank Drown
A church willing to send
A mission agency willing to help
Missionary couples willing to go

The First Exploratory Trip with the Team

In June 2013, we made our first exploratory trip into the region with the mission team.

We drove from Illinois to Sioux Lookout, Ontario, connecting with key individuals who would eventually help establish the infrastructure needed for long-term ministry.

Before we left, I called Frank to ask for advice.

His counsel was not strategic. It was pastoral.

“Listen first, talk second. If you do not listen to the people, you will never know how to love them.”

Then he warned us about something missionaries often overlook:

“The gospel cannot be preached from a bitter and resentful heart.” He challenged us to deal with any sin or lack of forgiveness that might get in the way of ministry.

That wisdom still echoes in my mind today.

God Opened the Door

In February 2014, God opened the door for the team to move to Cat Lake, a small First Nations community in northwest Ontario.

Looking back, the story feels less like a carefully engineered strategy and more like watching God slowly assemble a bridge across impossible terrain.

Every major step required faith before clarity.

Every advancement came through relationships.

Every open door arrived in God’s timing, not ours.

Carrying the Baton

One of the great lessons I learned through this journey is that missions is rarely about starting something from scratch.

More often, it is about receiving a baton from faithful saints who ran before you.

Frank Drown carried that baton faithfully for decades. We simply picked it up for a season. One day, others will carry it after us.

That is how the mission of God moves through history. One generation telling the next:

“Keep going. Keep praying. Keep preaching Christ.”

And perhaps that is the deeper story behind all of this.

Not Ecuador.
Not Canada.
Not strategy.
Not logistics.

But the faithfulness of God to keep advancing His gospel through ordinary people willing to say yes.