Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – A God-ordained Appointment with a Listening Group in Nicaragua: Audio Bibles and Salvation

By Jerrid Stetler
October 2008

Here, no one has a first name. Here, obtaining a meal is a matter of fighting off rats and buzzards for scraps of rotten produce. Here, employment means chasing garbage trucks, hoping for first dibs on the prized cargo they bring. Here, children die from eating disease-filled scraps. Here, the only aspiration is survival.

This is the worst part of the largest dump in Managua, Nicaragua, infamous for its acres of filth and the suffocating smoke of countless spontaneously-erupting fires. La Chureca, as this area is locally known, is home to nearly one thousand of some of the most desperate people on earth.

A group of African people gather around to hear God’s word.

This has been his home for the past six years. Like so many of the others, he is a slave to the short-lived euphoria of a hit of crack. He lives for one reason—to somehow get another dose. It’s been months since he has bathed, and he has no recollection of ever having had a full stomach. He has been in jail more times than he can count; there, at least, he is guaranteed something to eat.

He hates this place, of course, but admits that a dump accurately describes what his life has become. Although his childhood was difficult, he does have fragments of happy memories—the smell of his mother’s tamales cooking, the warmth of her embrace, playing soccer in the dusty street in front of his home. But even the best of those memories are now tinged with pain and regret. He knew from the moment he inhaled that first joint at age eleven that he was hooked. He had never known anything like it before: a magical (though short-lived) sense of calm.

As he graduated to stronger, more expensive drugs, he learned to steal and market whatever he could to fund the addiction. He had reached an all-time low, he knew, when he figured out how to take his mother’s tamales and sell them to her regular customers at a lower price. This way, he not only stole her merchandise, but her customers as well. He was almost relieved the day she kicked him out of the house; after all, he would no longer have to deal with the shame of hurting her.

Now, as the afternoon sun scorches everything within its reach, he staggers out of the dump and into the surrounding barrio. He has a “business” deal to attend in an unfamiliar section of town. His attention is suddenly drawn to an unimpressive church building. If it were larger he might wait until the collection is received, then look for a chance to help himself. But this is a small church on a poor street. It wouldn’t be worth the effort.

A God-ordained Appointment
It’s the sounds flowing from the building’s open doors and windows that capture his interest. There is some kind of a show going on inside. Intrigued by the voices, music, and vivid sound effects, he slowly approaches the humble structure and notices a crowd of people intently listening to a simple tape player.

He freezes, instantly captured by the story they are listening to—that of a man healing the sick, raising the dead, and setting folks free from addiction.

Jerrid Stelter‘s nineteen years in vocational ministry include extensive travels in the Muslim world, as well as a variety of teaching, writing, and consulting on missions. He currently lives in New Mexico, USA, with his wife and two children.