Lausanne World Pulse – World Pulse Archives – World Pulse Archives

Jim Bowers, his son and new wife are quietly waiting for God to tell them their next move. He has discounted the idea of returning to the country where he and his late wife, Roni, ministered for six years. He reflected with World Pulse copy editor Deann Alford on the state of the church he left behind and If God Should Choose, his and Roni’s authorized biography.

World Pulse: What do you want readers to take away from the book?
Bowers: My intention was that people would read the story of a normal missionary family in a normal missionary ministry, who experienced a very unusual event. Hopefully it will inspire Christians to share their faith more actively. I also felt that a clear explanation of why we were in Peru would get unbelievers to consider what we believe about God.

World Pulse: The book calls the incident a senseless tragedy. Yet you say God did it. Why do you believe it happened?
Bowers: What about the hundreds of people I’ve met, and stories I’ve heard about how this event led people to faith in Christ, Christians rededicating their lives, some deciding to become missionaries? I wonder if some people simply can’t imagine how it’s possible for someone to have a God-centered perspective like this in the midst of personal grief over a huge loss. Maybe not until they experience this aspect of God’s grace first-hand will they understand how I can begin to look past my personal pain and be thrilled about the bigger picture I can see God painting.

World Pulse: Some believe that the political situation has become too risky for Westerners to do missions in many volatile countries, and that national believers should take over the reins of ministry. Is this the case where you and Roni ministered?
Bowers: I don’t think so. I don’t know any missionaries there who were ever threatened. The 30 churches in Iquitos are quite small, but some have 100-150 people. All the evangelical population in the area may be 5,000 or 10,000. That’s not many among 500,000. There’s still plenty to do there.

Then there are the river villages. In our section of the river there were 700 villages and we were going to about 50 of them. There are Peruvians there who have been well trained and can help their church start another church. So there is a beginning, but not even close to what needs done there.

World Pulse: Is there a Shining Path or Colombian FARC guerrilla presence in the area?
Bowers: There were rumors, but we didn’t see anybody or know anybody that was in the Shining Path. We had heard rumors about the FARC crossing from Leticia and trying to find help or safe harbor. We always wondered being on a fancy boat like we were, being Americans, whether we could be a target of people who either wanted our money or could take us hostage. But we had peace about what we were doing. We felt safe with the Peruvians themselves and just figured that God would take care of us if people ever came and took us hostage, which easily could have happened being in the middle of nowhere with no protection.

World Pulse: Will the Cassidys continue your and Roni’s ministry as it was?
Bowers: It won’t be much different from what Roni and I were doing. They’re also going to use the Peruvians to help plant churches. We were considered church planters. We didn’t stay in any place for any length of time. We regularly visited over 50 towns. It was mostly evangelistic ministry.

World Pulse: What’s the church presence in these towns?
Bowers: Bigger towns of 5,000 to 10,000 have a Catholic church, but only one of them has someone who’s staff. One has a Peruvian Catholic priest in Pevas, a town of 20,000, and the other has two or three Canadian nuns. The rest have no Catholic ministry, not even a Catholic church that has a visiting animador, or encourager, which is a church leader but not a priest.

There is an evangelical presence because of Chuck and Carrie Porter, the missionaries we were replacing who had worked 20 or 30 years in that region. Some villages had a group of believers. Some had a church building with maybe 100 or more that attended a regular church service each Sunday led by one of their leaders. Some had only a couple of Christians. World Pulse: Did ABWE pilot Kevin Donaldson’s injuries keep him from returning to the cockpit and the mission field?
Bowers: His legs healed very quickly considering how badly damaged they were. Within a few months he was back in Peru. Kevin can walk almost like before, but probably won’t be able to play sports like tennis and soccer which he played quite well. He certainly has no problems with flying, other than having no interest in flying in the jungles of Peru. The Donaldsons continue in ministry, but have recently left their work in Peru. World Pulse: You say that you won’t return to Peru to live, but what if God should choose for you to go back there?
Bowers: Of course that could happen, and we would gladly go there. We just feel that would not be the best place for Cory and me to start over with Stacie. There are thousands of other similar places in the world where we could serve.