Why Missions?

Many Christians recently have emphasized the importance of making disciples in their own towns. This emphasis is terrific, because God wants us to make disciples wherever we are. At the same time, this emphasis is not the whole story. There is definite need for more Jesus-followers to go into cross-cultural missions. Here's the reasoning why I'm training to go as a cross-cultural missionary.

A Few Quick Biblical Reasons for Cross-cultural Missions

• Jesus commanded it. Jesus told his disciples to make other disciples “of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

• Jesus prophesied about it. Jesus listed the task of preaching the gospel to all nations as a prerequisite to the end times (Mark 13:10). After 2000 years, we have not yet finished that task.

• Jesus will accomplish it. One way or another, a HUGE number of people will be redeemed from every nation, tribe, people, and language (Revelation 7:9-10). God can redeem people from the most remote and most hostile groups without us lifting a finger; however, He allows us and wants us to take part in the rewarding work. We can't bring our possessions with us to heaven, but we can bring people by the thousands. Wouldn't it be awesome to see an entire tribe singing God's praise in Heaven, and know that He used you to invite them?

So what?

Whether you go or stay, there is still work yet to be accomplished. 2000+ people groups still don't have a Bible in their own language, don't have churches, and don't have anybody making disciples. If God is pulling on your heart to change that, follow Him where He leads.

An Update

After two years of flight training, I'm finished with a big requirement for becoming a missionary pilot: I have my commercial pilot's certificate!

One main requirement remains before I can join a missions organization: flight hours. The best way I see to get those flight hours is as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) and Certified Flight Instructor – Instrument (CFII). I just finished the ground school class for CFI, and by the time you read this, I should have started my CFI flight training at Moody Aviation. I'm very glad to learn how to instruct from the example of some incredibly skilled and self-sacrificing instructors. Why become a flight instructor?

• Honed training – A better grasp of flying, which can help make me a safer pilot in the remote environments overseas.

• Ability to replace myself – I'll have the chance to pass on what I've learned to future generations of missionary pilots.

• Of course, flight hours – Most missions organizations require 350 – 500 hours minimum. I have 300.

Two Prayer Requests

1. So far, God has provided for every step of the training I've needed. Between financial aid and working in the shop at Moody for about 3 months, I have around 65% of the funds to finish CFI and CFII. Please pray that God continues to provide.

2. Please pray that I grow by investing Christ's love in the people that God brings my way.

A Story of God's Faithfulness

Recently I met a Philippine man by the name of Nard Pugyao, who told me his story:

While Nard was still being formed in his mother's womb, God was calling an 18-year-old young man from Iowa into missions. That young man, Dick Roe, got his linguistic training, traveled to San Fransisco, and took a ship to the Philippines. After a month's ship ride, another week traveling up a river by canoe, and an 8-hour hike, that missionary reached a tiny village where the Isnag people lived. In that village, he met Nard.

The missionary made his best effort to tell the people that he was there to learn their language. They didn't trust him at first, and kept asking him why he had come to their village. Eventually, he knew enough of their words that he was able to communicate that he had come to learn their language and tell them about God. They asked if the missionary's God was powerful, more powerful than the witch doctors and spirits. He told them that God is more powerful.

Eventually, Nard Pugyao received his very first copy of the Gospel of Mark in his heart language. He read the book as quickly as his 13-year-old eyes could scan across the page. When he got to the part about Jesus being betrayed, mocked, and crucified, he wondered what Jesus had done to deserve that kind of punishment. He threw the book on the ground in anger at God.

"Why should I ever believe in You," Nard yelled upwards as he shook his fist in the air, "if you can't even protect Your own Son?"

Nard walked away in disgust, but as he did, God struck his heart with the realization that He did it because He loved Nard so much, and for the first time Nard understood grace. God gave His very Son, His perfect Son, to die in Nard's place, taking Nard's punishment. Jesus hadn't done anything to deserve His death, but He died as a substitution for those who believe in Him for eternal life. Nard was made new that day. And then he read further about the power of the resurrection.

Eventually the missionary said he had to go, which disappointed Nard tremendously. But he told Nard that if he came along and continued to help the missionary with the rest of the translation work, he would pay for Nard's school. Nard did go to school, and later went on to Moody Aviation to become a missionary pilot. He joined Wycliffe bible translators after graduating, and in the mid-1980's, he flew in the first 500 New Testaments to his very own Isnag tribe in the Philippines. Thanks to Dick Roe's willingness to go as a missionary, Nard and others from his tribe believe in Jesus for eternal life.

What if Dick said “No”?

My Recent Events


Flying a Cessna 185!

Currently I'm studying to become a missionary pilot/mechanic, like Nard Pugyao, at Moody Aviation. Last year I finished my Airframe and Powerplant certification in mid-June, which allows me to be an aircraft mechanic. After three weeks of summer break, I started flight school and advanced aircraft maintenance training at Moody. I received my Private Pilot's certificate in January.


Not only do we fly, but we also learn how to fix the aircraft. Here, I'm fixing a fuel leak on a Cessna 185.

Most missionary aviation organizations require that their missionary pilot/mechanics have their 1) Airframe and Powerplant certificate, 2) Commercial Pilot's certificate with Instrument Rating, 3) at least one year of Biblical training, and 4) at least 300-500 flight hours (depending on the organization). Moody trains us for the first three, and we graduate with over 225 of those flight hours as well. Right now I'm in my fourth year of this five-year degree, and I'm very excited that God has brought me this far!

You might be wondering, “why missionary aviation?” There are several reasons, so I'll divide them into 1) why missions?, and 2) why aviation?

First, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I want to become a missionary because I've been struck with the command that He gave to His first disciples. He commanded them to make more disciples of all nations. “....All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Additionally, I want to do intercultural/international missions because Jesus said something very peculiar while He talked about the end times in Mark 13:10: “The gospel must first be preached to all nations.” From the people waiting to hear about real hope in our own cities to a tiny village in Isnag territory in the Philippines, and to the 2,200 people groups left in the world without the gospel in their heart language, there is work to do. I believe that the gospel can be preached to all nations in our lifetime, if God's people are willing to carry that out.

Second, I want to become a missionary pilot in particular because many of those people groups live in incredibly difficult-to-reach places across the globe. Many of those 2,200 people groups haven't heard the gospel because they're in villages like Nard's, where it takes a week by canoe and 8 hours by hiking to even get there, let alone carry anything with you. In Nard's village, that same week-long trek takes 55 minutes by missionary airplane. That can mean the difference between life and death for someone needing medical attention.

Please Pray!

Please pray to the all-powerful God for me as I continue my training. In particular:
1) That God continues to provide financially for me, so I can reach my goal of graduating from Moody Aviation debt-free.
2) That He brings people into my life to minister to, and share the hope that can only come through the gospel.

Flight comes soon, and so do the flight costs

Above: Missionary Aviation students at Moody Bible Institute wheel a Cessna 337 out of a hangar during their airframe maintenance training. By this summer, they should have their Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanics' certificates, but many wonder how they will pay for their upcoming flight training.

July 13th, 2009.
That's the day. The day my class at Moody Aviation begins their last two years of training. That's the day we become flight students.

The men and women in my class have different stories of how they came to Moody, but the end goal is still the same: using a skill to gain access to some of the most rugged and difficult-to-reach places on earth. Their study isn't about finding a remote area where they won't be bothered by people, it's about reaching the people already in those remote areas. Their study is purposeful: reaching unreached people groups with the gospel. Many missionaries living among isolated tribes know the firsthand experience and advantage of a missionary pilot flying them their much-needed supplies and encouragement. Many tribes have heard the good news of Jesus' life and death on their behalf because missionary pilots dared against their own security to reach them. Many lives have been improved, both spiritually and physically, because someone was willing to go. From flying Bibles, translators, and natural disaster victims to cows, missionary pilots' job are about living out the gospel in real, tangible ways. These men and women in my class aim to take the torch and continue that service.



Above: Wai Wai Indians in the northern Brazilian village of Mapuera gather to greet a group of short-term missionaries just moments after they land. This particular village has been particularly well-reached by missionaries, who depend on regular flights of supplies into their remote village.

As the day for our flight training rapidly approaches, each of us is also counting the cost. Flying across rugged or remote terrain is much more time-efficient than the alternatives (especially crucial with medical emergencies), but the flight training is expensive. We're still not sure on the details, but we've heard up to $35,000 each year for the next two years of flight school. That doesn't include living expenses.

While some might see the looming bills on the horizon as an insurmountable barrier for someone that wants to go into this type of ministry, especially with our economy being as rocky as it has been, I prefer to see this as an opportunity for God to come through in ridiculous ways. Each one of my classmates is facing this obstacle, but that means each one of us is getting ready to see God do something amazing.

Would you pray a bold prayer, that God would provide for my class's upcoming expenses in this rough economic time?