Van C. Evans served a church mission in Peru (’79–’81) and is founder of Southern Cross Expeditions and Generations Humanitarian. He has led dozens of tourist, humanitarian, and archeological expeditions to Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia since 1998. More than 900 people from 8 to 80 years old have joined him on these adventures, and so far, everyone has survived. And quite a few have come back several times more! He owned an ecotourism resort in the Peruvian Amazon from 2000-2006 and as of 2024 has been to Peru 82 times. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese and Quechua (which he learned as a missionary on horseback in the high Andes).

He has graduate degrees from the University of Utah and the University of Pennsylvania. He was trained as a research sociologist (similar to anthropology) at Indiana University–Purdue University, where he received his doctorate in Philanthropic Studies. He has published academic articles and book chapters. He is the author of Willka Wasin Wiraqocha — The House of the Lord.