On January 20th End of the Spear will come out. It is a historical drama about the five missionaries (Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming and Roger Youderian.) who were speared to death by the Waodani. It is sort of the follow up to the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor

Now there is a little bit of a controversy about this film as Chad Allen, a homosexual, is portraying both Nate Saint and later his son Steve Saint. This alarming bit of news hasn't gone unnoticed and here is the response to questions of why a homosexual actor from the director.
Quote
Response from the film company:

Thank you for bringing the front page of sharperiron to our attention. They are reporting a story, and as such they have the choice to report both sides of the story or not. They chose to not contact us, or ask us about our decision to cast Chad. I don’t believe this is a style or reporting that seeks truth, rather I think they have their own reasons for only including the perspective that they have. When the New York Times takes this approach to reporting then Christian reporters take great exception. What happens when Christian reporters do the same?

I am the director of End of the Spear and one of the writers. We cast Chad Allen because he had the best audition of anyone else by far. We know that the character in the film and the actor are not the same. If we were required to cast people who in their own lives exemplified the characters in our film, then we might still be looking for them. If as a film company we could only work with people who were completely sanctified then the film would never have been made. We do not agree with Chad over homosexuality. End of the Spear is not about Chad Allen, but rather it’s about remarkable people who lived their faith against all odds, and dared to reach out at the cost of their lives.

Why am I communicating with you and not them? It is very simple. You asked. Thanks again for the note. Don’t worry about sharperiron, the discussion over sin and working with sinners has been in the body of Christ from the beginning. I am glad that my life isn’t being compared with Nate Saint, I don’t believe I would stack up. God bless and strengthen you.

In Christ,

Jim Hanon

Now I have seen some response to this news that if we "go ballistic" on this film because of this we will just "prove" to the homosexual community that we are bigots. What say you all?

Peter

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. Augustine of Hippo