I am a Missionary Candidate, in training at New Tribes Missionary Training Center!

Acronyms

NTM = New Tribes Mission

NTMA = New Tribes Mission Aviation

MTC = Missionary Training Center

New Tribes Missionary Training Center (MTC) Information, and Timeline

Why am I at MTC

I want to be a missionary pilot with New Tribes Mission.  In order to become a member with New Tribes, I first had to pass a week-long pilot/mechanic/personality test in April 2012.  I passed!  After passing, I have to attend their Missionary Training Center in central Missouri for 9 months, and then I will be an official member of New Tribes.  

How did I get here to MTC?

I graduated Moody Bible Institute in Spokane Washington with a degree in Missionary Aviation Technology-Flight Emphasis.  I am a certified commercial-instrument pilot, and I have met the technical requirements to be a pilot with New Tribes.

Purpose of MTC

All New Tribes Missionaries have to go through New Tribes Missionary Training Center.  This is a ground-based training, meaning I will not be around airplanes for this training.  I am learning how to be a tribal missionary, and this is so I can know what I am supporting--a missionary pilot is a support role.

Classes

Child protection

I have seen the importance of children, and the impact we have on them.  With every child you encounter, no matter how short your time is with them, you have the opportunity to build up or to destroy, and encourage or to tear down.  This is huge, and we should begin at a very young age to include them in everyday parts of life.

Foundational Bible Teaching

This is New Tribes Mission’s primary focus, to teach the Bible foundationally, emphasizing God’s character and over-arching biblical themes, so that when people do believe the Gospel, they have a firm foundation in their faith.

Worldview Analysis

This class shows how to teach at the worldview level, which is a person’s core beliefs, out of which flows all of their opinions on culture, behavior, and everyday life.  An example:  if someone believes God does not exist, then this life is all there is, and it should be lived to the full--do whatever you want, no matter how many people get stepped on; sin is relative and no one should tell others what they should or should not be able to do.

Stewardship

God has given us many resources, and we are supposed to be good stewards/caretakers of them, including time (very important), and money which many people already have a good concept of.  Time is also a very valuable resource God has given all of us recently.

Love and Respect

An excellent class, based on the video series by Emerson Eggerich, we sat through about 8 hours of learning how to have a good or better marriage.  As a single man, I still learned plenty of how to properly interact with ladies--single or married.  And I highly recommend this video or audio series (or the lower-cost book!) for all married couples of all ages.  All can make their marriage better.

Elinc

I call this a growth group for simplicity in explanation.  We meet in small groups of students with staff twice a week, and intentionally go through life together, like mentoring or discipleship.

Work Detail

All students here at the Missionary Training Center are required to contribute 7.5 hours of what I call mandatory volunteer work, helping out around campus.  Many are janitors or groundskeepers, some work in the car garage, and I work in the Tech Center (not computer related).  In the Tech Center, we build electronic things and send them to missionaries in remote tribal locations all over the world.  Tribal missionaries usually have solar panels, batteries, generators, and all of the problems that go along with them.  They also have their own plumbing and build all of their own buildings (or a tech specialist comes out to help them, when needed).

Ministry Practical

I am required to have a local ministry, and I love what I am doing.  I am helping with a church plant, and I would do this even if it was not required.  I wish I had more time to spend helping with it.  In general, I help out with the youth.  We do not have any sort of official youth group, but some of us spend time hanging out playing football, and talking about God and the things of God.  They are receiving some very firm foundational teaching, and it is so amazing to see them profess truths of God.

Future

I will graduate the Missionary Training Center in May 2013, and I will then be a member of New Tribes Mission.  My first assignment will be to receive advanced aviation training in southeast Arizona, where the aviation headquarters is.  Yes, I am already a pilot, I can fly solo, and I can get paid to fly (commercial pilot).  However, I am not adequately prepared for the bush flying that is done in remote, jungle areas.

Bush airstrips are often hazardous: mud, large rocks, potholes, slope, wild animals, high wind, unpredictable weather, and steep terrain.  It takes so much more skill and good judgment to land at these airstrips (notice I did not say “runways”). New Tribes Mission Aviation in Arizona (NTMA) teaches specifically for these types of locations.

Even the normal airliner that you have probably ridden in is complex, though it may seem simple to you: takeoff, go straight for a long time, and then land.  These are, in a way, more simple to fly (although they are very complex machines), because they have so much automation, radar, air traffic control, and sophisticated equipment.  But they are complex to operate in their own right: flying through clouds requires a special rating (I have one), and the pilots have to intimately know all of their fancy systems and equipment, and be able to troubleshoot most conceivable problems.

With the exception of the Kodiak, the average mission airplane usually does not have much automation, nor fancy equipment.  The pilot of a mission airplane flies manually most of the time (airliner autopilots can land the aircraft!).  To land on a bush airstrip, everything about the aircraft configuration and approach must be perfect, let alone the pilot needs someone on the ground to confirm the strip is safe to land at.  The pilot also must evaluate the field from the air, to see if it is clear, firm enough (not muddy) to verify the aircraft will be able to takeoff again after landing.

Why additional training?  Aren’t you certified and able to go to the mission field already?  Yes, i am .  However, going to NTMA will train me to fly into near-replicas of what we have overseas, and at a fraction of the cost.  The Bible says there is a time to reap and a time to sow (Ecclesiastes 3:2).  Now is the time for sowing, because once I get to the mission field, I need to be at my best.  All training must be done before I get to the field (but once there I will receive airstrip-specific training).  Once I am there, it is similar to giving a long-prepared-for presentation: everything must be in place, and the presenter (pilot) must be prepared; the show is about to happen.  I am now preparing for that show.