Saying Goodbye to Comrades in Ministry

Within the last two days, I received word of the deaths of two comrades-in-ministry who played special roles in my life.

Phil Arendt, a fellow resident of Spokane, WA, quietly slipped away from his family Sunday morning after fighting a year-long battle with a cancerous brain tumor. I got to know Phil when I became CEO of Partners International and discovered this third-career missionary on staff who was personally modeling for everyone how to live out what it means to be a servant partner. After years as a mission pastor in Modesto, CA and equipped with a doctorate in missiology, Phil and his family joined SIM and spent a decade in Ethiopia pouring his life into national church leaders. He joined Partners International upon his return to the US and, by the time I arrived, was already expanding his role as a Bible teacher and leadership mentor around the world. I immediately asked him to become one of my VPs. Phil was truly a pioneer and expert in the area of orality and story telling, bringing into close relationship with PI such organizations as Scriptures In Use and Harvest International. In many ways, what I am doing today follows the example of Phil in terms of his effort to be available globally as a mentor, trainer, and encourager of national Christian ministry leaders in the least resourced areas of the world.

 Gary Bishop came to Mission Aviation Fellowship in 1998 as President/CEO. For the next five years I served as his Vice President for Research and Strategic Planning. Together, we crafted a new mission statement for the organization and reaffirmed MAF’s historic by-line of “conquering barriers.”, MAF was not an easy role for Gary because of not having had any previous international mission experience.  Although he brought considerable business knowledge from his previous role as director of the Pittsburg International Airport, Gary faced the challenge of leading an organization that was in the middle of many strategic changes.  One of those was partnering with the Packer Aircraft Project, the forerunner of the Quest Aircraft Company that now produces the turbine-powered Kodiak aircraft used extensively in mission aviation. Gary’s presence at MAF had a major impact on my life, and it was his encouragement in many ways that led to my eventual acceptance of the role of CEO at Partners International.

After MAF, Gary and his wife, Donna, returned to Texas where he became president of World Bible Translation Center and eventually CEO of Far Corners Missions. A heart attack took Gary’s life unexpectedly on Monday.

As I reflect on the lives of these two friends, I can’t help but be reminded of both good and tough times we experienced together in our respective journeys of mission service. I am deeply thankful for how God used both men to shape me along the way and influence who I am today.