Arctic Hope

For years I dreamed of becoming a pilot. One day I had realized my dream and became a B-52 pilot in the USAF. Yet it seemed I spent so much of my time as a pilot in the B-52 frustrated. (more…)

The last step before taxiing away from the parking space in an airplane is to pull the chocks. Yesterday, we pulled the chocks on our great summer adventure. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago, in ‘Off We Go … Part 1′, I relayed how God had provided amazingly as I meditated on 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed …” I told how we had confidence that God would provide our operational budget for the summer. I spoke of assurance of God’s faithfulness in providing the necessary support for us to operate a Cessna 310 and take the Good News to the isolated communities of northwest Canada. Well … (more…)

Years ago, as a cadet at the US Air Force Academy, I learned the words of the Air Force Hymn. The opening line describes our next steps in our journey very well. “Off we go into the wild blue yonder.” In the next couple of weeks, Michelle and I will begin a three month journey to begin our work in the Arctic Circle.

Our days of uncertainty have been replaced with assurance. Our moments of doubt have been replaced by faith. What event led to such confidence? God has used many events over the last couple of weeks to show us how He is providing the resources necessary to take the Good News to the isolated communities of the extreme northwest corner of Canada. (more…)

It’s been over a month since my last blog. We’ve had a busy month. The highlight? We participated in an amazing church planting trip to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. God allowed us to partner with 25 other North Americans and local Bolivian believers to plant eight new churches, lead many to faith in Christ and begin the discipleship process for these new believers. Unlike trips where the focus is building construction, this trip focused on door-to-door evangelism and follow-up discipleship. Each time I have gone on such trips, I have seen the power of partnering with God’s children to plant new churches as Christ builds His church.

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We often see that famous warning, “Trained professionals, don’t try this at home!” The clear instruction is that mere mortals should not attempt this seemingly easy, but amazingly dangerous task. We are told to ‘hire a professional’ when dealing with finance, medicine, law, plumbing, auto repair, air travel and many other areas of our lives. Often there is good reason to listen to such advice. Ignoring it can be harmful to you and your loved ones. (more…)

Recently I relayed how God has blessed us over the last couple of weeks. God has been amazingly gracious to demonstrate His control and provision over our lives. But the question remains, how do you get there from here?

The short answer? God will provide. God will move the mountain as we maintain our faith in Him. One way God provided for the Israelites in the past was through manna. But since we are going to the Arctic rather than the desert, I don’t really count on manna. Fudge Sickles maybe? Probably not. (more…)

A number of years ago, way back in the days before the internet and Google maps, I was traveling with my friend Jeff to a band competition in Nacogdoches, TX. Having arrived in the area, but unable to find our destination, I stopped along the side of the road and asked a passer by for directions. He started with a series of ’straight aheads’ and ‘lefts’ and rights’. Then stopped, corrected himself, and gave a different series of directions. After four or five attempts, our local expert stopped and declared with complete finality, “You can’t get there from here.” (more…)

We could offer several answers. We should go because of the need:

• Isolation - there are relatively few people scattered over a large area in a few isolated communities at the “end of the world”. Transportation is difficult. There is really only one road which provides access to three of these communities for nine months of the year.

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January has been an exciting month. We accomplished several milestones and began to firm up our schedule. Highlights of January include:

• Developed a schedule that departs Orlando in April
• Created a training plan to help us arrive in Ft McPherson equipped and ready
• Developed a three year budget that provides the resources to enable us to visit each community twice monthly
• Began conversations with the Canadian airport authorities to site an aircraft hangar in Ft McPherson – these went very well
• Began support development to meet our budget
• Traveled to Burundi, Africa to share the good news with over 11000 people – 4500 placed their trust in Christ

Now what does Burundi have to do with Canada? God presented an opportunity to be a part of a team that planted 13 churches in the capital of a civil war torn country. We could not say no.

God is directing our path and orchestrating an amazing work in the Northwest Territories – I look forward to reporting the wonderful progress He has revealed in the next couple of weeks.

Prayer Requests:

• Thank God for His revealed will and provision to this point
• Ask God to raise up a prayer team of 100 people for each community we seek to reach – ask God help us communicate effectively with each person
• Ask God to reveal His clear will concerning a home for us in Ft McPherson
• Ask God to provide resources/commitments for construction of a hangar
• Ask God to provide resources for our move and aircraft needs
• Ask God to begin preparing the hearts of the people we will meet and share the good news with in each community