In 1956, six men from the Waodani tribe killed McCully's father, Ed McCully, and four other missionaries. McCully, whose mother, Marilou, was eight months pregnant with him the day of the killings, never knew his father.

Marilou McCully returned to her family's home in Michigan for Matt's birth. Within a year, she and her three sons returned to Ecuador, eventually going to the Waodani and sharing the salvation message of Jesus. Mincaye, the man who killed Ed McCully, became a Christian.

THERE'S MORE

In July 2000 for the first time since he was a small child, McCully, along with his two daughters and his two brothers and their families, returned to Ecuador to meet the Waodani Indians who killed missionaries Ed McCully, Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian and Peter Fleming.

During a 10-day visit to this remote, grass-hut village, McCully said he was filled with happiness and sorrow. One of the happiest moments came when his oldest daughter, Abby, was baptized by Mincaye.

"They really connected," McCully told "Charisma" magazine in the May issue, out now. The full story can be found in the magazine. "It wasn't something we went down there intending to do. I asked her what she thought of Mincaye baptizing her. She loved it," he added.

A documentary titled "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" -- about the missionaries and the Waodani Indians -- releases on home DVD in October (and is available now for church screenings). In January 2006, a full-length film, "The End of the Spear," will be released in theaters nationwide.

For McCully, the journey of horror and honor was complete when two strangers linked by a murder stood side by side, arms draped over each other's shoulders, posing for a photo. Remarkably, he and Mincaye were smiling, each quickly becoming less of a stranger.

But Mincaye, who still lives in a village without electricity and has traveled the United States to tell his story, never said, "I'm sorry for what I did." "He never said that to me," McCully said. "But I don't think he thinks of himself as being the same person. It was like a different life."

For two hours, McCully and 22 of his relatives who made the trip with him stood on the beach where the massacre occurred. Stephen Saint, son of Nate Saint, interpreted the recounting of that day by Mincaye and Kimo, another ex-warrior. Saint -- who as a young boy was baptized, as McCully's daughter was, by Mincaye -- lives among the Waodani today and arranged McCully's trip.

"It was like we were standing on sacred ground," McCully said. "The part of the trip that meant so much to me was hearing Steve Saint -- as he interprets from them -- tell exactly where everyone stood and what happened."