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Fighter Pilot learns peace:the story of Javier PinzónJavier was a colonel for the Colombian Air Forcefor over 30 years. He had a very successful militarycareer and even became pilot for the presidentialaircraft. Javier had been a Christian for manyyears, but in his church, believing in Jesus did notconflict with actions that hurt others. He had alsobeen disappointed with this church time and timeagain because of hurtful divisions and conflicts.Javier in theColombianAir Force.Looking for a different church experience, Javierarrived at the door of a Mennonite Brethren congregation.He began to understand the practical implications of following Jesus.What challenged him the most was the idea of following Jesus in his way of peace, nonresistance,and love for the enemy.It was during this time that he and his family were victims of a bomb attack at the handsof one of Colombia’s illegal armies. They had gone out to spend the evening in a recreationclub in Bogotá. An insurgent group had placed a bomb that blew up and destroyedthe building just minutes after they arrived. The family was engulfed in flames and smoke,but, miraculously, God rescued them!Facing such an experience could have hardened Javier’s heart; he might have decided torespond with resentment and military action against illegal armed groups in Colombia.Instead Javier became even more convinced as a pacifist. He eventually renounced his militarycareer, and now he serves as a Mennonite Brethren pastor.The Mennonite church in Colombia has been engaged in efforts to uphold the right toobject to military service by reason of conscience. This has included lobbying the governmentand facing legal battles to protect seminary students from being conscripted. Severalyears ago when the Colombian government closed down a Mennonite seminary, it wasonly thanks to hundreds of letters from North American churches to the Colombiangovernment that the seminary was reopened.Activism bears fruit: the story of Richard SteeleRichard Steele is a South African former anti-apartheid activist who draws a close tiebetween his CO experience and the successful struggle to end apartheid. He was part ofthe Baptist church, but during the 70s he learned about peace and non-violence fromMennonites when he came to study in North America. Some people think that Richardserved as a personal channel through which the Anabaptist position on militarism wasconveyed to South Africa.Richard, who went to prison for resisting conscription in the South African military,believes that his “End Conscription Campaign” became a seed to empower white antiapartheidactivists. It helped them realize that the system they had been taking for grantedcould be challenged. This was a time when the military apparatus was identified by criticsas a chief pillar of apartheid, the government’s scheme of social engineering along raciallines.As history unfolded, apartheid came to an end and South Africa became a witness to theworld that truth and reconciliation are a viable political alternative to violence.13 Stories and reflections