by Karen L. Willoughby

Maybe you like to hike, hunt, fish and the denser the foliage, the better you like it. Or maybe you’re a “big city” person comfortable with public transportation, museums and concrete canyons.

Both work, as long as you’re a sold-out Christian ready to rely completely on God.

“I felt the call to missions for a long time,” second-year student Caleb Spannagel told Seminary News. “Ever since I was 8 years old God has been opening doors for me to invite my friends to Christ and to learn to share the gospel.”

Preacher’s kid Spannagel – his father pastors Richmond Hill Baptist Church in Calgary – returned July 31, 2025, from a two-year stint as a Missionary Explorer with the International Mission Board. He served in the Amazon and the Andes, carving out connections with unreached, unengaged people groups in Columbia and in Peru.

The Amazon starts where the Andes ends.

Spannagel was #9 of an anticipated 300 Missionary Explorers to serve within a five-year period that started in 2023. His assignment: find isolated communities of people who never have heard of an Almighty, All-Powerful God who loves them unconditionally, and tell them stories about Him.

This was not as easy as it might sound, the seminarian said.

His two-year term of service started with six months of preparation: two months at Field Personnel Orientation at the IMB’s Missionary Training Center in Richmond, Virginia; three months of intensive Spanish language training in Bogotá, Columbia; and a one-month immersive experience at an indigenous training camp

“This was to help us physically; get us in shape culturally by experiencing an indigenous lifestyle; and third, learn how to share the gospel in an indigenous context,” Spannagel said.

“It’s an oral culture, so most learning is done by listening and repetition, Bible storying. Taking Bible passages and applying them to their context, using no words or animals or Bible words that wouldn’t make sense, and repeating it over and over to them, so they memorize it and can tell it to others.

“In Canada, most people probably have a bit of Bible knowledge. They’ve probably heard the name of Jesus. They probably at least know about Christmas,” Spannagel continued. “In an oral culture, a verse out of context, even John 3:16, would confuse them more than anything.”

In February 2024, Spannagel and his partner, Colson Brooks of Louisville, Ky., and their indigenous partner Willer took off for a place about 150 kilometers as the crow flies from Bogotá. They had found their destination by searching via satellite for a clearing or patch of thatched huts, comparing that with other data and confirming with their “boss,” an IMB missionary unnamed for security reasons.

A non-denominational missions organization was ministering in the area to one group. Spannagel and Brooks were interested in other not-yet-reached or -engaged people groups in that locale.

To get there, the three-person team traveled by air from Bogotá to a small town in the jungle next to a main river. Then, a moto taxi (3-wheeled motorbike) for six hours on dirt roads followed by a 7.5-hour hike through the jungle, a day-long boat ride and another 10-hour hike to the remote community they had selected.

The backpack Spannagel and Brooks each bore weighed about 75 pounds.

“One of our first nights in the jungle, we’d just hiked the whole day. We’re setting up hammocks and Willer’s looking real intently at our bags,” Spannagel said. “He says, ‘I can never live like you. You guys have so much stuff.’

“Here I am in the middle of the jungle having left my family, my job, all my stuff, and I’m living out of a backpack and this indigenous man tells me I have too much! I look at Willer’s pack. He’s got just a couple things: his hammock, rubber boots, a machete and two other items: a small wind-up flashlight and an old Bible.

“Every night Willer would lay in his hammock, wind up his flashlight and read his Spanish Bible, and he would ask us questions about the verses he was reading. Over the course of the five weeks, he read through the entire New Testament,” Spannagel continued. “After seeing that, how he relied entirely on the Lord, every single trip afterwards, Colson and I would take one less thing with us. Willer taught us to rely more on the Lord and less on ourselves. We went from a 70-lb. pack to a 15-lb, pack.”

Upon arrival near dark, Willer spoke with the leader at the community – which consisted merely of fewer than a dozen thatched huts – and gained permission for the three men to stay several days and tell some stories.

“This community wasn’t near a river and the people were considered to be the lowest caste; that meant they had very little food to share with us and very little hunting or fishing to be done, so we ate rice, lentils and lemons for a week,” Spannagel said. “We had rice and lentils with us, and we found lemons. Fruit is abundant; what they lack is protein. We brought popcorn to share as well as salt, sugar and coffee.

“The people very shy, quiet, fearful. We got them to gather and listen to stories three nights in a row: Jesus calming the storm, prodigal son, and the story of the great catch and the calling of the first disciples.

“They seemed to enjoy the stories and liked them. We like them because they’re very short, easy to memorize, show Jesus’ power and authority – Jesus’ power over nature, spirits – and there’s a call to repentance.”

There were no known converts but the missionary explorers were able to achieve their objective.

“We were able to see the people group in person, share Bible stories and plant seeds and now there is an open door for missionaries to follow up behind us,” Spannagel said. “Right now there is a very small chance of that happening because there are very few people who feel called to work in these contexts.

“Our main challenge is we just don’t have people,” the missionary explorer continued, speaking of the IMB. “We have the budget, knowledge, research, and ability to be there, but we just are missing the people. As the Bible says, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. My prayer is that God would raise up people who would be willing to step out in faith and continue to do the work God has prepared.”

The missionary explorers visited three other isolated communities, a week in each, then received word of armed insurgents in the area. Their IMB boss chartered a flight to get them back to Bogotá.

Spannagel said the people group they met in the Peruvian Andes was the high point of his two-year adventure.

“We got to share Bible stories on a 15,000-foot mountain in Peru on a site where this group we were looking for still actively worships the sun and moon gods and we got to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ.”

The missionary explorer talked about his lasting impression of the two years he spent between college and seminary.

“It opened our eyes to the lostness that still exists, for the great need there is to be sending missionaries. We learned to rely on God and how He goes before us, beside us, and behind us. We experienced the importance of prayer and just how beautiful the people of God are around the world.”

Spannagel anticipates graduating from Canadian Baptist Theological Seminary in 2027, followed by international missionary service.