Allison - I grew up believing in God and the Bible but thinking salvation was dependent on how my life pleased God. I was constantly aware of my sin. Shortly after I turned 12, my Bible teacher at church explained the gospel in a way I had never understood before. I came to realize that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was raised again because God was paying for my sin. For the first time, I realized God loved me and intentionally made it possible to give me eternal life. I decided to accept Jesus’ death and resurrection and trust God for eternal life. Previously, I had often prayed for forgiveness but never felt confidence that my efforts had earned it. Now, I have no doubt that I have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Since middle school, God has led me on an amazing journey of faith and following in obedience to his commands. I have seen God change so much in my attitudes and behavior as I learn to depend on him and I am excited for the road ahead to become more like Christ.
Together - In the spring of 2012, David's cousin (a close friend of Allison) asked permission to introduce the two of us. Quote: "I just know the two of you would be great friends because you have so much in common." Allison responded to her friend, "You know me so well; you may be the only person I would trust to arrange my marriage." David didn't speak to his cousin for a month but finally agreed to meet this "cute girl who is really godly." And the rest is history.... After initiating a Facebook friendship, David pursued Allison relentlessly until she agreed to be his girlfriend 4 months later. We dated for 7 months and wrestled with the decision to marry. We had both been seeking to serve God wholeheartedly as singles; we didn't want to pursue marriage merely for personal pleasure. God blessed our relationship with godly counsel and long-distance. It is amazing how different the purpose and nature of our relationship became when our only contact was through weekly phone calls. We spent a total of 12 days in the same state during our dating relationship. David surprised Allison with a proposal in late February of 2013. We married in September 2013 and began living in Denver, Colorado.
After marriage, Allison continued serving as the Children’s Ministry Director at Creekside Bible Church until June of 2014. David has been serving as a missionary with Cadence International in a part-time role at their Headquarters in Colorado. As a result of reflection on his ministry to the military community, David became concerned that he was not the appropriate candidate for the ministry role he held at Cadence International. David evaluated a variety of ministry opportunities within Cadence International during his four years with the organization. During this time, he grew confident that he did not fit the typical role of a missionary teacher/preacher. He began to investigate ways that he could serve in missions with the technical and mechanical skills God gave him.
In January of 2014, we visited JAARS and met with a recruiter to discuss the possibility of ministry as an aviation mechanic. God used this trip to clearly reveal to us that his plan was for David to serve in missionary aviation as a mechanic. We asked the JAARS recruiter for recommendations of places where we could best prepare for this ministry and receive training as well as work experience in the field of aviation mechanics. The first recommendation was MMS Aviation. We immediately began pursuing application and acceptance as missionary apprentice and spouse for the training program at MMS Aviation. Our final evaluation and interview occurred the week of July 13th, 2014. We accepted an invitation to become a part of the organization and began the process of seeking partnership with other believers to prayerfully and financially support this ministry. We trust God's power to raise up individuals to support the ministry he has given us. We believed God would quickly build our financial support to enable us to begin serving in Ohio. God met our needs in amazing ways over the next year as we met with believers and shared our vision for spreading the gospel message through mission aviation. (If you would like to know what the gospel message is, please read the page titled, "How to Join the Cause".)
We spent four months preparing materials for presentations while David completed his work commitments. We prayed for God to raise up individuals who would share in our passion to see people hear about the gospel in all remote regions of the world, especially those most accessible by airplane. We called on a select group of friends to pray for our ministry and our support needs. In January of 2015, we began traveling to visit friends, family members, and churches to share about our ministry vision with MMS Aviation. We experienced God's hand providing safety as we traveled 15, 000 miles and visited 9 states. We saw God extend our savings to cover travel expenses and many gracious friends and family offered free housing over the next eight months. On August 5th, 2015, the Human Resources Director at MMS Aviation called to inform us that God had provided a support team to cover all our one-time and monthly support needs. We were approved to move to Coshocton, Ohio to begin David's apprenticeship with MMS Aviation. God had already provided us with the opportunity to rent a house beginning late August. We moved to Ohio August 24th and David began working in the MMS Aviation hangar as an apprentice maintenance specialist two weeks later. David completed his apprenticeship in March of 2018 and passed his FAA exams to receive the Airframe and Powerplant certification for a maintenance specialist.
After marriage, Allison continued serving as the Children’s Ministry Director at Creekside Bible Church until June of 2014. David has been serving as a missionary with Cadence International in a part-time role at their Headquarters in Colorado. As a result of reflection on his ministry to the military community, David became concerned that he was not the appropriate candidate for the ministry role he held at Cadence International. David evaluated a variety of ministry opportunities within Cadence International during his four years with the organization. During this time, he grew confident that he did not fit the typical role of a missionary teacher/preacher. He began to investigate ways that he could serve in missions with the technical and mechanical skills God gave him.
In January of 2014, we visited JAARS and met with a recruiter to discuss the possibility of ministry as an aviation mechanic. God used this trip to clearly reveal to us that his plan was for David to serve in missionary aviation as a mechanic. We asked the JAARS recruiter for recommendations of places where we could best prepare for this ministry and receive training as well as work experience in the field of aviation mechanics. The first recommendation was MMS Aviation. We immediately began pursuing application and acceptance as missionary apprentice and spouse for the training program at MMS Aviation. Our final evaluation and interview occurred the week of July 13th, 2014. We accepted an invitation to become a part of the organization and began the process of seeking partnership with other believers to prayerfully and financially support this ministry. We trust God's power to raise up individuals to support the ministry he has given us. We believed God would quickly build our financial support to enable us to begin serving in Ohio. God met our needs in amazing ways over the next year as we met with believers and shared our vision for spreading the gospel message through mission aviation. (If you would like to know what the gospel message is, please read the page titled, "How to Join the Cause".)
We spent four months preparing materials for presentations while David completed his work commitments. We prayed for God to raise up individuals who would share in our passion to see people hear about the gospel in all remote regions of the world, especially those most accessible by airplane. We called on a select group of friends to pray for our ministry and our support needs. In January of 2015, we began traveling to visit friends, family members, and churches to share about our ministry vision with MMS Aviation. We experienced God's hand providing safety as we traveled 15, 000 miles and visited 9 states. We saw God extend our savings to cover travel expenses and many gracious friends and family offered free housing over the next eight months. On August 5th, 2015, the Human Resources Director at MMS Aviation called to inform us that God had provided a support team to cover all our one-time and monthly support needs. We were approved to move to Coshocton, Ohio to begin David's apprenticeship with MMS Aviation. God had already provided us with the opportunity to rent a house beginning late August. We moved to Ohio August 24th and David began working in the MMS Aviation hangar as an apprentice maintenance specialist two weeks later. David completed his apprenticeship in March of 2018 and passed his FAA exams to receive the Airframe and Powerplant certification for a maintenance specialist.
We spent several months pursuing conversations with several aviation mission organizations with whom we had become familiar during our apprenticeship program at MMS Aviation. In May of 2018, we visited the International Headquarters for Ethnos360 Aviation in Mc Neal, Arizona. David spent four days working with the mechanics at the hangar in Mc Neal and meeting with the Human Resources department. We chose to move from Ohio to Missouri in time to complete a year or two of language and cultural study with Ethnos360 at their training center. We continued to investigate options for ministry among mission aviation, particularly searching for a ministry which we believed reflected the intent and purpose of God to reach all nations with the good news that Jesus died to gift eternal life to all who believe. We interacted with several organizations that shared our vision and our passions but not all organizations share a common ministry philosophy. We chose to align ourselves with Ethnos360 Aviation because we believe the ministry philosophy and practices that God has led Ethnos360 to develop was the best fit for how God designed us and the convictions he gave us.
We graduated from Ethnos360's training program in May of 2019 but God guided the Ethnos360 leadership to request we delay our move to the aviation portion of our training for one year. We continued to engage in training and other discipleship opportunities at the Missouri training center until March of 2020. Ethnos360 Aviation invited us to join the organization as career members after our interview the next month. We became members of Ethnos360 Aviation in May of 2020 and moved to McNeal, Arizona three months later. The following June (2021), the leadership offered David a full-time position on staff at the International Headquarters for Ethnos360 Aviation in Mc Neal, Arizona.
Praise the Lord for all he has done to accomplish his work through our obedient faith!
Praise the Lord for all he has done to accomplish his work through our obedient faith!
