From Jungle Pilot to Tundra Maytag Repairman

For the past three days, I’ve been hanging out with a bunch of pilots.  Mission pilots, to be exact. Even more correct, leaders of mission pilots.

Each year, the International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA) gathers key representatives of its member organizations for an annual conference. This year, the event was hosted by Mission Aviation Fellowship at its headquarters in Nampa, Idaho. Since leaving the ranks of MAF back in 2003, I have been somewhat disconnected from this special world of men and women dedicated to providing air transport for missions, so it was a real privilege t to be invited as IAMA’s keynote speaker.  Asking for my thoughts on the state of the mission world, I’ve presented three plenary sessions on the following topics:

My Talks	Translation for non-pilots
1.       The Mission World’s new “C.G.” (Center of Gravity)	Describing the major shift of Evangelical Christianity from the Global North to the Global South
2.       Calculating a new “Weight and Balance” for the Mission Aviation Enterprise	Implications of this major shift in the mission world on mission aviation organizations
3.       Possible Models for Future Mission Aviation Service	Suggestions of ways mission aviation might re-invent its service ministry to thrive in the new mission world context

Judging from the feedback I’ve gotten plus the number of invitations to share these talks elsewhere, I think I’ve succeeded in scratching a few folks where they’ve been itching. Clearly, the significant way in which mission work is now happening in the world has forced mission aviation leaders to wonder how to continue being relevant.

One thing that has surprised me was just how many organizations are now part of the IAMA family.  From one-plane/one-pilot operations to multi-national ministries with sixty-plus aircraft; from helicopters to pressurized, mini airliners; from the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea to the tundra of northern Canada, these agencies truly cover the globe with their service ministries. Here is a list of member agencies mentioned in the conference handout. Even without knowing all the acronyms, I think you’ll be impressed.

Air Calvary	MAF – USA	New Tribes Mission Aviation
Covington Aircraft	MARC	Proclaim Aviation Ministries
Fellowship of Christian Pilots	MMS Aviation	San Diego Christian College
Flying Mission	Mission Padamo Aviation	Spokane Turbine Center
JAARS	Mission Safety International	SEND North
LeTourneau Flight School	Missionaire International	SAM Air
Liberty School of Aeronautics	Missionary Air Group	King’s Engineering Fellowship
MATA	Missionary Flights International	SOAR International
MAF – Canada	Moody Aviation	SMAT

Mission Aviation service in western Alaska
(Picture from the MARC website)

 A couple of programs that particularly impressed me were those based out of Soldotna, Alaska. MARC and SOAR International are working together to help local pastors in remote churches located throughout the vast region of Western Alaska as well as in eastern Russia. Touching communities with no roads at all, and therefore no ground transportation to speak of, these aviation groups are regularly transporting people, supplies and equipment throughout the year to these isolated locations as well as bring teams who come to offer special conferences, programs and training. In many cases, the pilots are the only outsiders these pastors interact with for months on end. So the pilots have become self-appointed pastoral counselors and encouragers, not to mention repairmen for washing machines, snowmobiles and whatever else the church communities need to have fixed.

I’m delighted to have this chance to link back into to the world of mission aviation and hope that I can both represent it well to those needing to use their service as well as provide occasional help and insight to the leaders who make up the ranks of IAMA.