Jon and Jen Quast Preparing for Tribal Church Planting in Paraguay 
We took a spur-the-moment mini-trip this week and did a loop around Florida. Not exactly what I would recommend for a road trip when you only have 3 days and when you have a pregnant wife and a one-year old. But that’s beside the point. It the recommendation of several people, including our pastor, we realized the benefit of visiting a ministry in North Ft. Myers FL called ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization)
ECHO is a very unique ministry. They are a team of Christian scientists and botanists who are concerned about the people around the world who are starving. Especially when God has made plants that grow and give food in any environment. They started this ministry to research what plants grow best in what locations to provide the greatest harvest and nutrition with the smallest investment.
Today they are headquarterd in North Ft Myers where they have their "Global Garden". At this garden they grow plants to experiment how to grow them best, test their nutritional content, and harvest seeds for their seed band.
How does this apply to us and tribal missions? ECHO does not have any missionaries. They exist simply to assist missionaries already overseas by sending them seeds, telling them how to grow the plants, and encourages the missionaries to save the seeds from the crop to give to the people they work with. Once the people have seen the crop it will inspire them to plant the seeds the missionaries give them and grow them to feed their family.
In a place like Paraguay, the tribal people have been taken advantage of and exploited for years, hence they are typically closed and stand-offish towards outsiders. However, an outreach like this could be what completely throws the door wide open for relationships. While we would never want our ministry to become about solving world hunger, we will use whatever tool we can to bring people into a growing relationship with Christ.
We are glad we visited for a brief tour of the global gardens at ECHO and are looking forward to seeing how they play a part in planting a church in an unreached people group in Paraguay.
