Flying High at the MAFI Global Forum

MAFI CEO, Dave Fyock, opens the Global Forum meeting

You may know all about the historic ministry work of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). But you may not be aware that today there are some fifteen MAFs around the world. Besides the MAF organizations in the United States and Canada, all the rest have organized themselves as spokes around the hub of a single flight operations group called MAFI (International) with headquarters in Ashford, UK. Every year, representatives of all these groups gather for a global forum to praise God for what is happening and discuss the challenges of future ministry service.

Challenging everyone with what the future of MAF might be

I was privileged this year to be the keynote speaker for the Forum plus spend a couple of extra days facilitating strategic planning discussions. Altogether, I come away with a new appreciation for this great, committed group of organizations and impressed with the way they are grappling with the challenges of future relevancy.

Here are a few of my observations from the past four days:

• ·        New MAF resource groups are emerging from countries that have not been traditional “players” in the mission aviation world. Gathered with us were members of MAF Italy, France, India, Singapore, and Philippines.  

  

  MAFI leadership team grappling with a SWOT exercise

• ·        Although MAF-UK has been the dominate resource entity for MAFI for both funds and technical staff, MAF Switzerland is now supplying as many new pilots for field operations as anyone. This is partly due to great marketing efforts by Hans Leutwyler, MAFS CEO, and partly to a Swiss government policy that offers to pay for half of a future pilot’s flight training.
• ·        There is a strong effort to recruit pilots for MAFI from developing countries of the Global South. A pilot training center in Australia is focusing on this right now and

  

  Board members of MAF UK, Switzerland, Italy, and Norway
  enjoy some Rhone valley red Beaujolais before dinner.

  there is even the possibility that young pilots might have a chance to build experience by being employed short term as flight instructors in Singapore Airlines' basic flight school.
•        Although everyone believes it is still a long ways off, a joint Technology Task Force headed by MAF Canada CEO, Brad Bell, is already studying future mission applications of such things as drones and electric-powered sky taxis.

I was delighted that all these initiatives of MAFI validated the key conclusions I had prepared for my plenary talk—namely that the next season of mission aviation will demand thinking in new and creative ways in order to continue “crossing barriers” and advancing God’s Kingdom around the world.

 I don’t know if I’ll ever be invited back to another MAFI Global Forum, but if they ever decide to hold it again in Lyon, France, the capital of French gastronomic cuisine, (well-proved by the chefs at our hotel!) I won’t hesitate to accept!

Insights into African Leadership

If there is any cry that I have heard loud and clear from the continent of Africa, it is the need for leadership development. And it seems that despite the plethora of courses, curricula, and consultants pouring into the African continent from the US and other nations, it never seems to quench the thirst for more help in training and preparing Christians leaders. That is why the results of the recent African Leadership Study (ALS) sponsored by the Tyndale House Foundation is such a timely resource for getting a better grasp on the dynamics of African Christian leaders.

Recently, I was sent an advanced copy of the study results packaged in the book, African Christian Leadership and its accompanying pamphlet 17 Insights into Leadership in Africa. Right away, I got a sense of the significant effort that was expended over several years to accomplish this research—a clear tribute to academic rigor. I also loved how the leadership team for the project involved 32 experienced participants, a majority of which were African themselves.

The study involved gathering input from 8000 Africans in three countries via a 93-question survey to inquire about the types of leaders and leadership qualities that have the greatest impact in the African context. Most significant to me was that the planners choose their target countries so that they represented all three major language groups of Africa: English, French, and Portuguese. Since my experience is that Anglophone regions of Africa always get the predominance of attention from the West, it was very encouraging to see this attention to better balance.

Sharing about ALS at a leadership workshop in Senegal

During my last trip to West Africa, I had the chance to share about the ALS with leader friends in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Needless to say, there was immediate enthusiasm and interest in learning more about the study results. And, fortunately, the project is creating an interactive website in all three languages that will provide for that sort of on-going learning and dialog to happen. You can check it out yourself at: http://www.africaleadershipstudy.org/

As you might expect, however, I also heard some healthy criticism as some leaders questioned how broad conclusions about African leaders could be made from just surveying three countries. As one friend put it, “Do you think I would fully understand America if I interviewed a few people only in Maryland, Kansas, and Oregon?”  Nevertheless, my sense is that the ALS has produced a valiant effort that certainly opens the door for more discussion and learning. I believe this initiative deserves as much exposure as possible and will be a welcome addition in the continued effort to encourage the healthy development and training of the emerging generation of African Christian leaders.

Repurposing Retired Tires

It's not every day you find an indigenous African project that is dedicated to cleaning up the environment. But that's just what I found today here in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. Walking across the compound of the church center where I'll be giving a leadership workshop tomorrow, I ran into Iolanda and her youth group project. She has inspired her teenage kids to repaint old tires and, with the help of three metal posts, turn them into recycling receptacles. She showed me how the tires, stacked in the colorful symbol of the national flag, can then support a large plastic bag that can then collect spent water bottles, pop cans, etc. "We've already gotten permission from the city authorities to place them around Bissau," she explained. "And they were so enthusiastic that the regular city trash collectors have agreed to empty them out on a regular basis." Sure enough, on the way to lunch, I spotted several of the eye-catching containers even on the prominent city round-point in front of the main government house.

Trash-free streets is not one of Africa's assets, especially in really poor and developing countries like Guinea-Bissau. Old habits of throwing a banana peel on the ground were fine when most folks lived

in the forest. But today in towns and crowded cities, that has translated into people freely tossing their bottles, cans, and plastic bags anywhere. Piles of trash have become one of Africa's greatest social plights, in some places becoming breeding grounds for disease.

That's why I have been making environmental care one of the key topics the past couple years in my workshops on being a Faithful Steward. It's challenging enough for many African friends to think about applying stewardship theology to their ministries and marriages, but stewardship of the environment is often a concept they have never considered at all. Until now, I haven't have any good illustrations in an African context of what that sort of stewardship could look like. Thanks to Iolanda and her "juventude evangelica" of Guinea-Bissau, I can start showing what can happen when a little creativity connects with a passion to care for the Creation God has given us! 

Quiet Giant

On Wednesday evening, at 7:30 PM, this world said "good bye" to a man who I would like to call a "quiet giant."

Norm Olson was one of the most unobtrusive men in the leadership of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) but also one who probably had more to do with shaping the organizations direction during the 1960s to 1980s as anyone else.  Most of all for me, his influence in shaping my own career in MAF and ultimately in the mission world, was huge. 

When Anita and I first showed up at MAF's doorsteps in February of 1977, it was Norm Olson who decided right then and there that I should work for him. He proceeded to negotiate with Don Berry, the director of personnel, to alter the rules of becoming an MAF pilot just so that I could join the organization immediately and then later, fly as an MAF pilot. Within a few hours of my first interview, he handed me a piece of paper that had a joint commitment on it that if I worked for his Development Department for four years, and if I completed all my flight ratings, that MAF would accept me as a field pilot - even without an A&P mechanics license. Two weeks later, Anita and I accepted the proposal. 

Have you ever had anyone who believed in you that way so quickly that they were ready to make a major commitment to your personal development?

Those four years stretched into five, and during that entire time, Norm mentored me as a young leader. I learned about time management, about strategic planning, and about ministry effectiveness. Few people I knew where as creative as Norm and he ultimately demanded that same creativity in me. More than once, I went to Norm to ask how to do something and he would simply reply, "We've never done that before, so you'll just need to figure out a way to do it yourself."

By the time those five years were up, I was responsible for all aspects of MAF's Development Department except for the direct mail letters. My group included people like Dennis Whitlock for banquets and Bill Rakozy who helped me launch the first Ministry Partnership department. Norm strongly pressured me to take his place as VP of Development in 1982, but I had just qualified for a field pilot role and was ready to head off to Africa. That was the dream that I needed to accomplish, so I turned Norm's offer down.

Nevertheless, Norm, along with his wife, Cathy, remained special friends throughout the rest of our MAF career and even beyond.

As sad as it is to see a quiet giant like Norm pass from our midst, it is also wonderful to pay tribute to a man who lived his life to the fullest possible extent and though never becoming a big name known by all, finished his life well as a faithful servant of others and of His God. I am proud to be a tiny part of his legacy.