Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Meet Meghan and See Our Anemones

Keith & Karen Mobilize Missionaries for Full-Time Service 

With MMS, Karen and I handle the front side of the ministry. That means we're responsible for Mobilizing (discipling/shepherding/preparing) candidates to flow into the MMS Apprenticeship Pipeline. This includes several steps: 1) initial contact, 2) candidate development, 3) handling all preapplication communication and processes, 4) overseeing completion of the application/reference forms, and 5) coordinating/participating in their week of In-Hangar Evaluation. 

Keith & Karen Train and Coach New Candidates Through Partnership Development   

Should the candidates be "Approved for Service" at the end of the evaluation week, Karen and I immediately shift into our Partnership Development roles to train and coach the new candidate to raise the funds necessary to fulfill their vision for full-time service as part of missionary aviation.

Meet Meghan

Meghan in the air over North Carolina 

We've mobilized Meghan since her first contact with MMS in August, 2022. Meghan is called to be a missionary pilot/mechanic and has a heart for remote peoples in Alaska and Eastern Russia. It's taken a year and a half to reach the point where we can initiate paperwork with Meghan towards apprenticeship with us but the paperwork IS initiated! 👍

Meghan's vision is to complete 30-months of missionary maintenance service with MMS in Coshocton, OH, and transition to Burlington, NC to gain her flight qualifications with Missionary Air Group. There are a few steps to take before that vision can become reality and that's where Karen and I continue to walk beside her.

After years of email, we were blessed to finally meet Meghan in person when we drove down to JAARS Center in Waxhaw, NC. We met Meghan for lunch and enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship, food, along with Paige and Kayla who oversee JAARS Next Generation Fellows Program. It's a wonderful, pre-field prep program for young men and women called to service. Meghan will finish Fellows in early June and Lord willing, we'll have her up at MMS for eval the middle of June. 

Keith, Meghan, Karen in front of various Bible Translations at JAARS Center.

The older we get, the younger our candidates become. Go figure. Thanks for being part of developing this young lady into a fully-qualified, field-read, Pilot-Mechanic. We'll keep you posted as the process progresses.

See Our Anemones (NOT Sea Anemones)

Our first flowers that bloom in late winter/early spring are Anemones. You've seen our birds in our backyard but these are flowers in our front yard near our front porch. They're one of Karen's favorite flowers. You can stop by to see our anemones but you can't stop by to sea anemones...if you get my drift.




Thank you for for loving and encouraging us as we love and encourage other to service. It's such a blesssing to be preparing missionaries to be prepared for service. 


He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

Matthew 9:37-38 NLT

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Backyard Birds: February 2024 AND A PICTURE OF KAREN!

Some unusually nice weather enabled me to sneak outside Saturday to take some snapshots of birds who stopped by our backyard for a snack. As I looked over the past year of blog posts...I realized I haven't blogged bird photos since LAST February! 

It was nice to get reacquainted with my camera and our local, and transient, feather friends. Enjoy.

Northern Cardinal: Female

Northern Flicker: Male

Butterbutt: Female

Chickadee

Eastern Bluebird: Female

Northern Cardinal: Male

House Finch: Male

Titmouse

Butterbutt: Male

Pine Warbler

Eastern Bluebird: Male

As a quick update: Karen and I are doing well, there are so many exciting things going on at MMS Aviation, we're set to play ukulele's for church again next month, we're coaching three families raising support to serve, and none of this would be happening WITHOUT YOU!


Karen at her potting bench during a moment of early "spring." Karen likes her potting bench.