Paul Jones, MMS Apprentice

Paul Jones is our newest apprentice at MMS. Paul, originally from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, first contacted me in March 0f 2003 to share his calling to serve in mission aviation as a pilot/mechanic. Paul had earned his wings in a collegiate flight program and was working as an airline pilot to pay off his student loans. Paul and I stayed in regular contact over the next three years leading to his application for service with MMS in the summer of 2006. After successfully completing the MMS evaluation in late winter 2007, Paul began raising his support team and reached his quota figure earlier this summer. He moved to MMS and began the hangar orientation process last week.

Here's a picture of me providing the two day HR component of Paul's "pre-service" orientation.Just joking...

While it's really not as bad as Paul and I made it look in the photo, orientation is critical to shaping the perceptions and understandings of the new missionary before they begin to face the realities of full-time ministry. Helping people understand an organization's weaknesses, strengths, dreams, desires, foibles, and sharp edges (and then offering the tools to help that person meet the challenges before them) is part of what Karen and I do. In this instance, Karen was receipting donations for MMS and consequently wasn't able to sit in with us.

Here's a more realistic picture of me and Paul.Something else I'd like to point out is how long Paul's been obediently pursuing God's calling. First he learned to fly in college. He heard God's call in 2002 and began contacting mission organizations. He was referred to me in early 2003 and arrived at MMS in August of '08. He'll serve with us for thirty months to gain his A&P certificate. That takes us to February of 2011. He'll then join a mission with an operational flight program, undergo at least six months of language training and will probably have another six months of field orientation before he finally makes his first solo flight as a missionary pilot.

He started this path in 2002 and it's likely his first flight as a full-fledged mission pilot will be sometime in 2012. Ten years. God will have prepared Paul for ten years before before he ends up where God ultimately called him to be (though he's right where God wants him to be right now). Patience? Sure. Trust? You bet.

Missionary pilots don't grow on trees. Neither do missionary airplane mechanics. But they do grow, and one of the places they do grow is at MMS Aviation. Thanks for being a part of Paul's path to field service through your gifts and prayers for Karen and me. After working with Paul for five years (through initial contact, continued counsel, application, evaluation, orientation, and support development) it's really exciting to have the privilege to finally orient him for service with MMS.

I hope it's exciting for you.