Have you ever felt nervous about a job interview? Were you confident you wanted the job but uncertain what impressions you would leave as you interviewed for the position?
I still remember having similar feelings as David and I
interviewed with Ethnos360 Aviation in January of 2019. We had already visited
McNeal, Arizona once before and spent a week with the McNeal staff while David
worked in the hangar alongside other mechanics. Eight months later, we had
added our second child to the family and begun attending the training classes
required to apply for membership with the organization. We came for candidate
evaluation a little out of the usual order. Most candidates participate in
evaluation before they attend the training center in Missouri and then interview for
membership.
The Candidate Evaluation week at Ethnos360 Aviation
headquarters isn’t a final interview. It is an official part of the interview
process before you can become a career missionary employed with Ethnos360 and
be assigned to serve within the aviation department. To start an evaluation
week, Ethnos360 Aviation leadership at McNeal’s international headquarters spend a
few days with the pilots, mechanics, and spouses explaining our ministry vision
and purpose. The pilots fly with our instructors and complete specific flight
challenges. The mechanics are given tasks to complete and are evaluated on
their ability to problem solve, complete the task efficiently and quickly, and
resolve the maintenance issue correctly.
In the midst of the meetings and technical evaluation, a
candidate spends time getting to know the aviation staff who serve Ethnos360
from McNeal, Arizona. Our staff families, and members in training, are given
the option of hosting candidates and their families for lunch or dinner. Many
staff host a different family each day. The candidates and their families begin
relationships with the men and women who form the “home” team of missionaries
and support the global team we send overseas. Relationships are monumental
within the body of Christ and candidates are our brothers and sisters in
Christ. Lord willing, we will continue serving his body, the global church,
alongside these pilots and mechanics whether they become members of our
organization or serve with a different aviation ministry someday. Our family looks forward to hosting and
building these relationships every year. Some years, we make friends we will
welcome back to McNeal in a year or two. Sometimes, we make friends we will not
see in McNeal but can support through prayer though we do not know a time and
place we will fellowship together again.
Our desire is to welcome these candidates with open hearts
and arms. We want to see how God is directing their steps in pursuit of
aviation ministry and help encourage them on the way. One of the blessings we
experience as we host candidates is the opportunity we have to share our
viewpoint about the ministry of Ethnos360 and its distinctives. We have the
privilege of telling these men and women how God led us through making the
decision to join Ethnos360 for our professional career. We enjoy sharing our life
experiences and biblical convictions with other believers who carry similar convictions.
This year, we were able to answer the questions our guest
was asking about God’s direction in our choice of ministry. In the process, we
were able to encourage this candidate with two assets we appreciate about
Ethnos360 Aviation. First, we expressed our appreciation for how God has given
our leadership a clear commitment to a stated vision and purpose. Second, we
shared how God has guided our leadership to remain faithful to that vision and
purpose. We feel privileged to serve with an organization that has not
compromised or deviated from the purpose God set before its members. Another
quality we appreciate about our organization is the atmosphere of connected
community within the teams in each field overseas and here in the US. The
members of the aviation department love one another well, and the candidates
feel welcomed into that community! What a privilege to be part of this
community and ministry team.
Our leadership continually seeks to invite qualified
individuals to attend our evaluation and consider joining our team. We need
more employees for multiple reasons. Only God knows when a missionary
might need to step into a different role. We have coworkers who needed to
change their location or even end their career in missions for medical reasons,
family needing additional care, visas being denied, a pandemic, or simply
because God transitioned them to a different ministry.
One reason we need to increase our staff in McNeal and
overseas is that our committed and faithful team includes leaders and members
who are well past retirement age. These men and women are capably continuing in
their positions of leadership and ministry. Somehow, the positions will need to
be filled before the roles become suddenly vacant because God decided to
“retire” someone to a home that is not in this world. Our leadership has been
diligently pursuing those who need to step into their leadership positions.
Transitions have begun. However, every man or woman who steps into a position
in leadership on the McNeal staff has to leave the position they were filling
previously. Who will step into those roles and fulfill those responsibilities
whether in the US or another country?
When David and I came to candidate evaluation, we had
already committed to serving in missions for the remainder of our lifetime as
God allowed. We already had invested years in training to gain skills and
develop qualifications for serving as part of a team of aviation personnel. The
candidates we welcome to this evaluation week each January are on a similar
journey. They have made decisions to commit to and invest in a lifetime of
serving our Savior, Jesus Christ. They have a desire to grow as individuals
whose qualifications as a professional (pilot, mechanic, accountant, nurse,
teacher, etc) will enable them to partner with other professionals in
delivering a message of hope and life. They have followed God’s word in making
a commitment to know Jesus and the one who sent him and to tell the world that
Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father [God]
except through me [Jesus].” John 14:6
Will you pray with us for our staff who are involved in
recruiting professionals to join our ministry? Will you pray for the candidates
who are pursuing the necessary qualifications to join our team? Please pray
with us that God will continue to direct our organization and those who are
interested in joining the ministry to provide pilots, mechanics, IT personnel,
and any other professional whom God might choose as his instrument to reach the unreached people of the world
through aviation ministry.
