Ever since he can remember Jim & Chrystal have felt the call of missions on their lives, some stretching back to childhood memories. We believe that we all have been called to play a role in God’s Great Commission. While this call may be fulfilled in each of us differently, the call is nevertheless the same. They had always thought God would send them to Africa… but He had other plans.
As Jim recalls, “Our first visit to Peru was in Chiclayo. We trained Peruvian and Venezuelan pastors, along with a team from our local church, in small groups and church leadership. At the time we didn’t feel any special call to the region. But then I went a second time to do a follow-up training and met a missionary who introduced me to the Amazon jungle. Since our first few visits to the Amazon Basin in 2018 we knew that there was something special beginning to manifest in front of us. First of all, we were comforted by the soft heart of the people we encountered. They have a hunger for knowing God and learning how to follow Him in a righteous and pleasing way. Their attitudes to the Gospel were openly received with joyous hearts. It didn’t take long to see that these communities are in great need of long term discipleship, biblical education, and basic humanitarian care. In August of 2022 Chrystal and I felt the call to begin full time ministry in the Amazon Basin. After selling our worldly possessions, we had boots on the ground in January 2023. Our mission is equip the local churches to make biblical disciples by being the heart, hands, and feet of Jesus Christ. This is done through establishing relationships with short term teams. Our teams provide humanitarian aid (medical, dental, eyecare, construction, water purification, etc). Then we begin creating ties with the local leaders and pastors in the small villages. Our goal is to provide biblical training for the pastors and leaders so that they can go out and be missionaries to their surrounding communities.
Although we began ministry in Iquitos, Peru, our first beachhead was in the tiny village of Cochiquinas, approximately 450 miles downriver and have since branched out over another 350 miles downriver toward the Tres-Fronteras region of the Amazonas. This is on the tri-border of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil; assisting many villages physically and spiritually along the way.
In March of 2024, we came back to the states for a week for some of my very important VA appointments. During this time Chrystal became very ill with pneumonia. When she went to the hospital, they found that she had a severe fungal infection and several large nodules in both lungs. It took her over a full year to begin feeling better, however, after two trips back to the jungle, it is clear she cannot return on a full time basis.
This didn’t stop what God was doing in the jungle however, as a matter of fact He began to intensify, multiply, and magnify the ministry in so many ways.
Through many miraculous God Stories, we met and partnered with another missionary family who had just (three months prior) retired after 70+ years in the jungle. 414 Missions is now predominately based out of CushilloCocha, Peru. This is a small village just 2 hours upriver from the tri-border located on a tiny inlet off the main Amazon River. It is home to a very small portion of the Ticuna people, the largest unreached people group in the Amazonas region.
As of the fall 2025, God has brought over 100 pastors for training, with a growing number scheduled to begin in 2026. There has since been a trained leader who has begun ministry in Brazil, with many salvations, baptisms, and restored marriages. Through short term mission teams, there have been hundreds of people treated medically and even many lives saved through everyday people from the states who just wanted to help the people of the jungle.
In the summer of 2025, God joined us in a collaboration for stateside doctors, nurses, and now nursing students to begin training the medical staff of local jungle hospitals and clinics. This has been an enormous outreach tool for pastoral care and discipleship.
As we move into 2026, we strive to see many more salvations, baptisms, and restored relationships as the love of Jesus sweeps through the Amazon jungle.