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Drew was born and raised in New Jersey, and is the fourth of five children born to
Louis and Carolyn Baker. He received his B.A. in Psychology from West Virginia University
and his M.A. in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He
has also taken some Biblical Studies classes from Freedom Bible College and Seminary.
In 1985 Drew graduated from the United States Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training program and spent twenty years flying multiple aircraft for the USAF. It was during his early years in the military that he met and married Carla (Syrjanen). They have two lovely daughters, Caitlin Laurie (12/28/92) and Christin Leah (5/29/01).
Drew and Carla felt called to Mission Aviation for many years before God finally said "Yes" and allowed them to serve for nearly five years with Mission Aviation Fellowship. During that time, they were assigned to Central Asia, where Drew flew and managed the flying operations.
In the summer of 2009, following the Holy Spirit's leading, Drew and Carla came to Alaska to visit MARC. It was during that visit that the Board of Directors asked Drew to become the next Field Director of MARC.
The Bakers have claimed 1 Thessalonians 2:8 as the epitome of their family's approach to ministry. It reads, "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." (NIV)
Michael is originally from Minnesota, however growing up as a missionary kid, where
you are from is often a relative term. Michael is married to Cayla (Persons) and
they have 3 children: Alissa (6/12/07), Titus (7/5/08), and Eli (10/4/09). They currently
make their home in the community of Soldotna, Alaska.
When he was a young boy, Michael's parents were missionaries in a remote part of Bolivia. It was here that Michael saw just how important missionary aviation could be. At times he would see the mission plane from Wings of Peace fly over his family's house and drop their mail and much needed vehicle parts for the family's Toyota Land Cruiser. He and his Bolivian friends would have a competition and see who could catch the mail (not the vehicle parts!) before it hit the ground. Even at this early age Michael started feeling the Lord pulling him towards missions.
In was during middle school that Michael felt a definite call to missionary aviation. The Boettcher family had moved back to Minnesota and a missionary pilot and his wife came to share about how aircraft were a tremendous ministry tool in remote parts of the world. It was on this day that Michael felt the Lord leading him to serve as a missionary pilot.
Michael started working towards being a missionary pilot. He earned his pilots' license at age 17. After high school he attended Crown College, a Bible school in Southern Minnesota. It was here that he earned a BA in Intercultural Studies (missions degree) and met his beautiful wife to be, Cayla.
In August of 2003, Michael and Cayla were married. Michael still had one year of his college degree to finish and Cayla was in the process of going to school to be a Registered Nurse. Both Michael and Cayla knew that God had called both of them to the mission field and they both worked hard to get there.
In 2007 Michael had finished his instrument and commercial pilot's certificates and Cayla had finished her RN degree. Michael was working on getting his Airframe and Powerplant Aircraft Maintenance Certificates at Southeast Technical College when they received information that there was a Bible camp in remote Western Alaska that desperately needed a pilot and camp nurse. They sold their house, packed up their belongings, and moved to Alaska to be missionaries and answer the Lord's call. After serving with Kako Retreat Center for a year and a half, Michael and Cayla moved to Soldotna to serve with Missionary Aviation Repair Center.
Michael serves as a pilot and mechanic at MARC. Cayla is kept very busy with their three small children. Michael and Cayla are very excited to see the work that God is doing in Alaska. They also feel privileged to be a part of the ministry at Missionary Aviation Repair Center.
Don was born in Alberta, Canada and lived on several Canadian Air Force bases while
growing up. After attending Royal Military College and graduating with a Bachelor
of Engineering he underwent pilot training back at some of the same bases. After
a tour on fighters Don attended the US Navy Test Pilot school and spent the next
8 years as a test pilot. It was during a tour at Edwards AFB in California that Don
and Cat (Bean) met. They were married on July 29th, 1995.
After his tour at Edwards, CA he retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and worked as a flight test engineer for the US Navy for twelve years. Four more years were spent back at Edwards, CA still in flight test. From 1995 on Don wanted to fly missionaries. His move to Turlock, CA some 200 miles by air from Edwards gave him the justification to buy a Cessna 172 so he could commute.
On recommendations from several church members Don and Cat came up to Soldotna in December 2003 to visit Mission Aviation Repair Center (MARC) and Alaska Christian College (ACC). In September of 2004 Don and Cat moved to Soldotna to start their mission work with MARC.
Don and Cat have four wonderful children - Jon, Cheramie, Christine, and Megan and one beautiful grandchild!
Website: www.donandcat.com
Brian grew up in Chandler, Minnesota, and attended Chandler Reformed Church. His
parents were active in the church and often hosted visiting pastors and missionaries.
“That gave me a view of the down-to-earth, day-to-day work that missionaries do,”
says Brian. Elizabeth grew up in the African bush, in the Belgian Congo, as a “missionary
kid.” Elizabeth’s stories of her childhood in Africa influenced Brian to take up
full-time mission work.
Elizabeth and Brian met in 1981 during summer mission work at Jackson County Ministries (JCM) in Annville, Kentucky. Elizabeth then attended Cedarville, Ohio, and a nurses’ training school in Cumberland, Kentucky. Brian has a B. A. from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.
Several years after they married in 1983, Brian and Elizabeth returned to JCM, where Brian served as operations administrator, and Elizabeth had responsibility for upkeep of the guest house.
Brian serves as a pilot/mechanic and a flight instructor at MARC. In his work for the mission, he also draws on past experience as an electrician, lay pastor, administrator, firefighter, and public service representative.
Brian and Elizabeth have been blessed with four children: Brianna (10/30/86), Michael (9/26/89), Lucas (7/2/94), and Jonathan (7/7/96).
Greg was born in Minnesota to Jerry and Louise Hess. He became a believer in Christ
when he was in first grade. His aviation training began with an Associate's Degree
in Aviation Maintenance which included an Airframe and Powerplant license from Minneapolis
Technical College. He also earned a B.S. in Missionary Aviation from Moody Bible
Institute, where he received his flight training.
Greg met his wife Melanie (Cervin) during his time at Minneapolis Technical College, and they were married while he was studying Bible at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. It was actually Melanie that introduced him to missionary aviation through someone from her home church who worked with Mission Aviation Fellowship overseas. That was when Greg felt that God was leading him into this service and started pursuing that path by applying to Moody. During that time, Melanie graduated from the University of MN with a B.S. in Agriculture/Horticulture. After graduating from the Moody Aviation program in Tennessee in 1999, he worked there for a year as assistant shop supervisor.
In 2000 Greg and Melanie joined Mission Aviation Fellowship and were assigned to Mozambique, Africa. Their daughter Hannah was born (06/12/02) during their time in language school in Lisbon, Portugal. After two and a half years in Mozambique, God moved them to Central Asia with MAF, where they served for three years.
In the spring of 2007 God opened the door for Greg and Melanie to do something that had been in the back of their minds since college days—serve in Alaska. They applied and were accepted with MARC and in July of 2007 they arrived in Soldotna, AK to begin serving as a pilot/mechanic.
Bob and Sue met on New Year’s Eve in 1979 and married in 1982. At the time of their
marriage, they were both pursuing degrees at Michigan Technological University. Sue
graduated in 1984 as a Medical Technologist and Bob graduated in 1985 as a Mechanical
Engineer.
Following graduation, they moved to Zeeland, Michigan where Bob took an engineering job with Herman Miller, Inc. Seven months later God blessed them with a beautiful little girl, Jessica. Twenty two months after Jessica's arrival, they were blessed with another beautiful little girl, Nicole.
In 1991, both Bob and Sue attended Walk to Emmaus Spiritual Renewal Weekends. Soon after Bob's weekend, he began to talk and pray about serving the Lord full-time. For nearly four years they continued to wait on the Lord to see if He had something different for them to do. While Bob was working on a Chrysalis Weekend for high school boys in 1995, he learned from one of the boys that God was using pilots to help spread His Gospel message.
In 1996 Bob and Sue stepped out in faith. Bob left his job with Herman Miller, their family moved in with Sue's parents who were living in Ludington, Michigan, and Bob began taking Bible courses through Moody Bible Institute. After two years of course work, they moved to Elizabethton, Tennessee where Bob began attending Moody Bible Institute's aviation training school.
Their family had an opportunity in 1999 to spend two months in Nairobi, Kenya on a short term mission trip with Africa Inland Missions. In the same year they also learned how God was using Missionary Aviation Repair Center to help take His Gospel message to the people in rural Alaska. In 2000 they traveled to Alaska and spent five weeks working at Missionary Aviation Repair Center. Following their visit they applied to serve at MARC full time. They were accepted and following Bob's graduation in 2001 and some time spent raising support, they moved to Alaska in the summer of 2002.
Bob began serving as an aircraft mechanic, but was later asked to take responsibility for the parts department, where he continues to serve today. Since their arrival in Alaska, Sue has worked part time at the local hospital in Soldotna. She works in the lab and has recently assumed the position of supervisor of the Point of Care program.
Jessica graduated from the University of Alaska-Anchorage in May 2009 and is an elementary teacher in Anchorage. Nicole married Jeff Rice in July 2009, and they are in now living in Soldotna where Jeff works for a local commercial airline and where Nicole is employed at the local hospital.
Travis was born in South Carolina as the oldest son to Wayne and Cheryl McCullough.
His family then moved to Georgia where he lived until college. Travis was very active
in Boy scouts and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He was also very active in his
church usually serving in the youth group, or playing his viola in the church orchestra.
It was during this time he felt called to missions and started making strides in that direction. After graduating high school he went to Tanzania with Teen Missions International where God solidified his desire to use Travis in missions. Travis then attended Moody Aviation where he received a degree in Missionary Aviation Maintenance Technologies.
Heather was born as the youngest child to Greg and Elaine Davis in Georgia where she stayed until she was married. Heather was always active in church, and always loved babysitting, or working with the children's department at the church. Heather has served in Poland, and Mozambique with Teen Missions International. She attended Georgia College and State University where she received a degree in Early Childhood Education.
Travis and Heather started dating in 1993 when they were in high school. Even though they had known each other for a long time it was at this point that they wanted to seek a relationship with each other. Six years later they were married after completing college. They moved to Tennessee where Travis taught at Moody aviation in the A&P portion of the school. Heather taught in the Bristol Tennessee City School district. After three years of teaching they felt God drawing them into missions. It was after much prayer and searching that God led them to MARC.
In 2002 Travis and Heather applied to MARC and after their evaluation they were accepted as staff in 2003 and started to raise their support. They moved to Alaska in September of 2005. During that time they were blessed with two wonderful children, Bryce (2/26/03) and Sydney (6/22/05).
Travis served as a mechanic until March 2007 when he was appointed as Director of Maintenance. Heather and Travis both actively serve in their local church. They were recently blessed with another son, Blake (7/28/09).
Website: www.mcculloughmission.com
David & Karin Reese have been wonderfully married for 22 years. Karin hails from
Indiana, while David grew up in a combination of Tennessee & Alabama. They met while
at Bob Jones University, where Karin graduated in 1988 with a B.S. degree in Biology,
and David graduated in 1989 with a B.S. degree in Physics/Engineering Sciences.
Karin is also now pursuing a B.S. degree in Psychology from Kenai Peninsula College, and David holds a M.A. in Air Mobility from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a M.A. in Military Arts & Science from Air University.
David & Karin were married in May of 1989 just before David joined the US Air Force in the fall of 1989. During their military career they were assigned in South Dakota, Okinawa, Hawaii, Turkey, New Jersey, the Pentagon, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. David served in a variety of procurement, logistics, and leadership roles while both Karin & he developed a deep love for taking care of others as they traveled the globe in military service. In their various churches over the years, they both gravitated toward service roles where they were able to minister others, whether in music ministries or simply supporting other workers from a behind-the-scenes role.
Karin has served in a variety of roles in support of Sunday School, children’s church, AWANA, church office, and praise & worship teams over the years. She has also directly assisted the deaf ministries at two churches, including the transcription of weekly sermons for inclusions on their former church’s website for the past eight years. Karin was also a vital part of David’s Air Force duties over their 20 year career, especially during their two command roles where Karin was intimately involved in caring & feeding (literally!) of the people serving in David’s squadrons.
After retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Air Force in 2009, David spent a year with LG Electronics in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey serving as their North America Procurement Director, where he was responsible for the company’s contracts across the US, Canada, and Mexico. However, God used this opportunity to prepare the way for David & Karin to transition into full-time missionary service.
Seeing the need for providing the unconditional love of Christ to the people of Alaska and their many physical and spiritual needs, David & Karin joined the MARC team in September 2010 and are enjoying this chapter of their lives. David & Karin are both involved with development & communication outreach activities at MARC.
They are the proud humans of three extremely spoiled cats named Taspinar, Duchess, and Mo.
Website: www.dkreese.com/alaska
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dkalaska
Mark is from Washington State and Michele is from Pennsylvania. The two met in Chicago
at Moody Bible Institute. They were married in 1992, remaining in Chicago until Michele
completed her degree in International Ministries in 1994. Mark then continued his
training in Elizabethton, Tennessee, receiving his degree in Missionary Aviation
Technology in 1997. After graduation, Mark and Michele spent two years ministering
with Moody Aviation, Moody Bible Institute's Missionary Aviation School. Mark served
as a maintenance instructor, equipping others to use their newly acquired skills
in overseas missions.
God has blessed Mark and Michele with four children: Neakita (7/26/97), Jeremiah (8/22/98), Alaina (6/12/00), and Katelyn (1/5/04).
Early in their married life, Mark and Michele sought the Lord as to where and with whom He would place them to minister. Both having experience with ministries in South America and Papua, New Guinea, these were the areas of the world their hearts were drawn to. But when they learned about MARC and the ministry opportunities in Alaska and the Russian Far East, their hearts became burdened to be a part of it. This was an unexpected turn God made in their life.
They have served with MARC since 2001. Their love for the people of Alaska and their passion for the ministry of MARC have grown to depths they never imagined.
In addition to their ministry with MARC, they home school their children, are involved in the AWANA program and other ministries at their local church, and they serve on the Alaska state board for Child Evangelism Fellowship (Mark as the chairman).
Bob Widman was born in the Belgian Congo in 1956. His parents, Harvey and Ruth Widman,
were career missionaries for the Covenant Church in the Congo. Travel in the Congo
was frequently done by the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) air plane based at Karawa
mission station. Flying on this airplane created an interest in missionary aviation
in Bob when he was a teenager.
While returning home from Africa with his parents in 1972, Bob stopped in Anchorage for two weeks to visit Covenant Pastor Norm Barum. During this time they took a trip down to Soldotna to visit Roald Amundsen and Missionary Aviation Repair Center. Bob never forgot that visit!
Bob met his wife, Joyce, while attending North Park College in Chicago. They both earned a degree from North Park; Bob with a B. A. in Biology and Chemistry, and Joyce with a B.A. in Math and English. They were married while living in Chicago and after graduating, Bob pursued his interest in aviation by getting flight training while Joyce finished her degree. They then moved to Colorado where Bob got his A & P rating.
With his training complete, Bob and Joyce began to seek the Lord's will for a place to serve in missionary aviation. MARC had an opening and a need for a pilot mechanic in Alaska. Bob and Joyce felt the Lord's call and moved to Alaska in August of 1982. They have been with MARC ever since. All four of their children, Anna, John, Ben, and Faith, have been born in Soldotna. Joyce is a home maker and ministry coordinator for the local Child Evangelism Fellowship office.
Bob holds a multi-engine airline transport pilot certificate, instructor, instrument instructor, multi-engine instructor, single engine commercial pilot certificate (land and sea), an airframe and power plant certificate, and an Inspector's authorization. He has logged 15,000 hours of flying time, 14,000 of which have been flown for MARC in Alaska.
Bob's life Scripture is Hebrews 4:14-16 and Joyce's is Philippians 2:1-11.
Len and Cozene have faithfully served at MARC since 1983 when they moved to Soldotna
from Tacoma, Washington after helping build MARC's new hangar the year prior following
the fire loss of our original building.
Len was trained in aviation electronics while in the U.S. Navy in the early 1950s, and they moved to Soldotna to help MARC with their aircraft avionics needs. They were blessed with three children: Erika, Curt, and Greg.
Len followed the founder Roald Amundsen as MARC's second executive director in 1996. Today, Len and Cozene are faithfully involved serving in full-time bookkeeping and facility management roles.
Dave Cochran joined founder Roald Amundsen as MARC's first staff member in August,
1967.
Dave has faithfully served MARC these many years and today serves as our MARC Chaplain.
Kyle and Ellen were both raised in Christian homes in Wisconsin. They both came to
know the Lord as very young children and grew up serving in the church with their
families. Having known each other since they were two years old, they have no memory
of ever "meeting" each other. They became very close friends in middle school and
were married two years out of high school in 2003, after Ellen completed her degree
in Early Childhood from Waukesha County Technical College. Kyle had begun working
as an auto glass technician after graduating from high school, but they both knew
they wanted to serve in full-time ministry. They just didn't know what God wanted
them to do. Both had been on missions trips in high school, which God used to call
them into full- time service; but it was during their first year of marriage that
He first put missionary aviation on their hearts.
Kyle had never thought about being a pilot before, but was a very gifted mechanic. So they looked into schools and felt Moody Aviation would be the best training for what they felt called to.
Their daughter Bailey (4/21/05) was three months old when they packed up and moved across the country to Spokane, WA, to begin what would be 5 ½ years of schooling. They were blessed with their son Owen (12/10/07) during their time at Moody as well.
Kyle graduated in 2010, and as a graduation requirement, had to go on an 8-week aviation internship with a mission organization. As a family of four, they were looking for the most practical and economical location for their internship. They contacted a mission in Mexico and also Missionary Aviation Repair Center (MARC), since both were within driving distance. During their time at Moody, they had never felt God's clear direction to a specific country to serve in, and always told people that they were willing to go wherever He called them.
Interestingly, they had never thought seriously of Alaska. But MARC responded first and most positively, so they drove there at the end of the summer of 2010 for their internship. While there, God began tugging on their hearts as they learned more about Alaska and the ministry of MARC. By the time they had been there four weeks, they were seriously considering asking the director if they could apply with MARC for full-time ministry.
Much to their delight, he said "yes", and their internship was quickly turned into a candidacy and technical evaluation visit. They were accepted as MARC missionaries and are so thankful for God's direction and provision for their family as they seek to serve Him.
Following deputation, the Braband family arrived in Alaska in November 2011. Kyle is now serving as a mechanic in MARC hangar, and he will also serve as a pilot for MARC once he builds the necessary flight time. It is their prayer to reach this goal within 3 years.