Agape Flights FlightLine Spring 2007 He has shown thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 A publication of AgapeFlights 100 Airport Avenue, Venice FL 34285 941.488.0990 gomissions@agapeflights.com www.agapeflights.com Massive outpouring of prayers and gifts Agape’s Caravan — Paid in Full! What a roller coaster ride! It all began with a phone call in mid-December from our insurance agent telling us Agape’s plane insurance had been cancelled because we fly to Haiti. Not only were we notified while our plane was in Haiti, we were also told the insurance had actually been cancelled six weeks before! An email to missionaries and supporters started a chain of prayers across the U.S. and throughout Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Response to an email asking for help in clearing the $85,000 balance on the Caravan was miraculous! God truly works in miraculous ways. He touched the hearts of hundreds of people. Every call and letter brought another message of love, encouragement and support. Responses included a family that wrote, “We’d talked about giving $5,500 to missions. The very next day, Agape’s email came.” Donors included an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, retired missionaries, churches, Sunday School classes, people who’d been on mission trips, and new donors who first heard about Agape when friends forwarded our email to them. Many mentioned realizing that if Agape stops flying, it creates an emergency for them. Donations of all sizes arrived in a deluge. Within two weeks, we were able to clear the remaining debt on the Caravan and acquire new flight insurance coverage! The hand of God is clearly visible in all that transpired. Only His power could motivate such an astounding sequence of events. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3.20-21. Dedicating Agape’s new home Grand Opening and Dedication in Venice Over 300 guests toured Agape’s new hangar and offices at our Grand Opening on February 3. Pastor Tom Bennett, Manatee Southern Baptist Association’s Director of Missions, led in dedicating the facility for the Lord’s service. Guests ranged from volunteers who have been involved with Agape from the beginning to others who just heard about the ministry in newspaper articles the week of the event. We’re excited about all the possibilities ahead and looking forward to all God has in store for Agape Flights. Join us, wherever you are, on the Third Thursday of each month for a special time of prayer for Agape’s ministry and the needs of the missionaries we serve. Those of you within driving distance are invited to join the prayer group at Agape’s Ministry Center in Venice Prayer meetings through the summer will be: April 19, May 17, June 21, July 19 and August 16 at 9:15 a.m. “Prayer is the real work of the ministry. Service is just gathering in the results of prayer.” S. D. Gordon Agape Extends Services to Methodist Habitat Camp Symonette at the Methodist Habitat and Eleuthera Bible Training Center Camp, provide discipleship and pastor training and host short term mission teams. Agape has helped organize teams, such as one from First Baptist Church in St. Mary’s, GA., to work with the folks at the Eleuthera Bible Training Center. The teams stayed at the Bahamas Methodist Habitat, Abe McIntyre, Director. The St. Mary’s team helped square away Camp Symonette, sponsored events for local youth and children, and as a choir, led worship at a local church in Gregory Town. Providing regular weekly flights was a natural progression in our growing relationship with these ministries. We now schedule a fuel stop in Governor’s Harbor near both the Eleuthera Bible Training Center and the Methodist Habitat. Cargo and mail is unloaded while fuel is added for the next leg of the trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. If you would like information about Agape helping organize and lead your mission team to either the Methodist Habitat or the Eleuthera Bible Training Center, please call 941.488.0990 or email gomissions@agapeflights.com. Learn more about these ministries at www.caribbeanministries.org. and www.methodisthabitat.org. Camp Symonette on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas Thanks for the Protein Powder At the moment I have one precious five-year-old with AIDS.  In my 4 years of mission service in Haiti I have had 2 children die of AIDS in my orphanage.  At the moment I am also caring for a family member of one of my children who is dying of AIDS.  Their nutritional status is so fragile that the supplements are really beneficial. As I get down to my last one, I always pray, and so often the answer has come in an unexpected donation from Agape!!! They are also a blessing to the 45 other children I have in my orphanage, most who have come critically ill due to starvation related diseases.  Again I just wanted to say thanks and let you know the gifts you send are making a huge impact.  May God continue to bless Agape.. . . Cheron Hardy, Foundation D’L’Espoir Cap Haitien, Haiti Thanks, Agape As a missionary who many years ago had to depend on uncertain local mail where letters were lost and mailed checks and boxed items were often stolen, I count Agape Flights as a huge blessing.  Agape enables me to bring in much-needed supplies for the deaf school ministry here. And, family is able to send those care packages which mean so much as well. Peggy Blevins Voice for the Deaf, Santo Domingo, DR  Why make a gift that won’t be delivered in your lifetime? Help Agape — Help Yourself “The best thing is we get to enjoy the benefits now and still help Agape after we’re gone.” In January, Agape’s yard was home to a mobile home belonging to Elmer and Adelaide Aldrich, from Oxford, NY, who spend each winter in St. Cloud, FL. This year, their winter schedule fulfilled a long-time wish to spend time working at Agape. Both of them participated in the remodeling of Agape’s ministry center. (See pictures on p. 3) While in Venice they created a charitable gift annuity, funded by the sale of their winter home in St. Cloud, with Agape Flights as the beneficiary. The gift annuity will give them an immediate income tax deduction, regular payments during their lifetime (a portion of which is tax-free), and also provide a generous gift to Agape Flights after their death. The Aldriches first heard of Agape Flights a number of years ago when they began sending packages, from themselves and their church, to the Hodges family, missionaries in Limbe, Haiti. As they used Agape’s services and heard from the Hodges, “We experienced firsthand Agape’s value to missionaries.” During a summer visit to their church in Oxford, Charlie Gardner, Agape’s Executive Director, stayed with the Aldriches and described gift annuities. “He mentioned that by doing this, then after we’re gone this contribution will still be carrying on for Agape. . . We love the Lord and are doing it for Him and the work of Agape.” If you’d like to learn more about a gift annuity, contact Charles Gardner or Carol Ann Wilkinson. Just the Facts . . . about Agape’s flights Agape’s regular weekly flights leave Venice at six a.m. on Wednesday and returning mid-afternoon Thursday. Agape’s Caravan makes five regular stops each week (Eleuthera, Bahamas, Cap Haitien and Port au Prince, Haiti, and Santo Domingo and Santiago, Dominican Republic) and an additional monthly stop at Les Cayes, Haiti. Total flight time for each trip averages 13 hours. Agape has four captains: staff members Rimas Miknaitis and Jeff Yannucciello and volunteers Tom Waldon and Rocky Miller. So far this year, 13 different co-pilots have flown “right seat.” Pilots are overnight guests of missionary families. Missionary volunteers meet the plane at each airport to oversee unloading and handle customs and transporting mail and packages to the distribution center. Aircraft maintenance requires extensive documentation. Each part used is tracked in the plane’s log, along with details of all maintenance performed. Each quarter, every 200 hours of flight time, a team of mechanics from MMS Aviation in Coshocton, OH comes to Venice to join Rimas, Jeff and Dan plus a dozen local pilots/mechanics to complete an extensive inspection of Agape’s plane. In the first quarter of 2007, 21 missionaries or volunteers have traveled on Agape’s weekly flights. A special flight took a team of students from Bradenton Christian School for a mission trip in the Dominican Republic during Spring Break. In January, a “discovery team” from Grace United Methodist went to the DR in preparation for their upcoming youth mission trip. Some Specific Ways You Can Help Items Needed by Missionaries and Agape Furnishings Needed for Agape’s Santo Domingo Mission House Window Screens ($1,500) Commercial refrigerator ($2,000) Gas range ($550) Bunk Beds w/mattresses ($450) Plates & bowls (heavy duty) Silverware Floor/Ceiling fans 4 kw Trace Inverter ($2,500) 12 kw constant running diesel generator ($12,000) (sponsor 1 watt = $1) Toyota Hilux pickup truck ($31,500) Ping Pong table Water Cooler Large commercial blender ($100) (Information on page 4 about volunteers needed to work on the Mission House) Agape Needs Folding chairs (plastic) - 50 ($20/ea.) 5’ round tables (folding/plastic) - 10 ($100/ea.) Long-term housing for staff members Complete mechanic tools Carpet for reception area Vinyl flooring for one room Commercial refrigerator Commercial freezer Letter or legal file folders Board member prospects Fender Passport sound system ($3,000) Mezzanine for hangar ($17,500) 2500 psi pressure washer ($700) Missionary Requests Portable, electronic music keyboard Powdered protein drink Powdered infant formula Non-prescription medicine Tylenol (or generic) Antibiotic ointment Children’s vitamins First-aid supplies School Supplies (Pencils, crayons, markers, notebooks, etc.) Christian tracts in Spanish, Creole Formula for premature babies Disposable diapers for premature babies Baby vitamins Baby protein Baby bed or portable baby bed Playtex nurser bottles and refill bags Bottle sterilizer Baby powder, shampoo, bath soap, lotions Spanish or Creole Bibles Send your donations to Agape Flights, 100 Airport Avenue, Venice, FL 34285. Be sure to include a donation for the $3 per pound cost to deliver them to the missionaries. STAFF & Staff Candidates: UPDATES Join us in saying Thank You and Farewell to Rimas and Abby Miknaitis. They head to Toledo, OH, later this spring where Abby will be a an Emergency Room resident at St. Vincent Emergency Medical Center. We will miss Rimas’ steady hand at the helm of both the Caravan and Agape’s staff. His clear mission vision and quiet, but firm leadership have greatly benefited staff, volunteers and missionaries. This is the next step on the road to fulfilling their call to serve as overseas missionaries. Agape welcomed Dan and Kate May earlier this year. Dan is a certified A & P mechanic and will be one of the first trainees in Agape’s missionary pilot program. He’s helping keep the Caravan in top flying condition while raising support to join Agape’s staff. Kate is an emergency room nurse at Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte. They have two teenaged sons, Danny and Jack. Mike and Kristen Mikarts are raising support to join Agape's staff as a flight instructor and pilot. He recently purchased a 1962 Cessna 182 that he’ll use to train missionary pilots. (photo on next page) He and his wife, Kristen, have two young sons, Zach and Ryan. Ryan Prouty will soon be joining Agape Flights as a field videographer and photographer. He will spend a year visiting missionaries to document the work that they are doing in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Ryan will also help Agape with new forms of digital content delivery, like podcasts, and streaming web video. His background includes television, news, corporate video and commercial photography. Tribute to George Davidson A special friend to Agape by Clara Starkey "A Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps others.” . . . author unknown This quote describes God's gift to us when Pastor George Davidson became a part of the founding of Agape Flights.  As an encourager and hands-on helper, George served on the Board of Directors from the beginnings in 1980 through the late 1990s. As Chaplain, he helped us keep our eyes on the Lord's plan for Agape.  He always knew what to do, from sorting mail, loading the plane, shopping for missionaries, to helping with the news letters and always shared the need for others to get involved in praying and in the support of Agape.  And this was done after he had retired from being a minister.   To God be the Glory for George’s service and love to the Agape Missionary Flights Service.  Long after all of our names will be forgotten, men, women and children will be sharing the love of Jesus with others because of  George's help in establishing Agape. Our loss is Heaven's gain. Clara and Keith Starkey, Bradenton, FL, are the founders of Agape Flights. Spring Break at Agape Spring Break for middle school students from Bell Shoals Baptist Church, Brandon FL, means volunteering in ministries their church supports. On their day at Agape, they cleaned the hangar from top to bottom, filled the dumpster full of yard rubbish and learned about Agape’s ministry. Welcome, Riley Gardner Join us in welcoming Riley, Charlie and Stephanie Gardner’s first grandchild, shown here shortly after her birth in Orlando on February 13. Help for Haitian Weddings Dana Adams (Rehoboth Ministry, Cap Haitien, Haiti) wrote: I am helping a lady in our church start a business renting out wedding gowns with all the accessories. A woman from Georgia has sent about 15 gowns so far and probably will send at least five more. Could anyone contribute some of the following?   long white, off white, or cream colored gloves bridal bouquets white, off white, or cream colored women's dress shoes pearl earrings, necklaces, or bracelets (can be costume jewelry) bridal veils purses that would match and be appropriate for wedding wear stockings Spring Break Mission Team from Bradenton Christian School Bradenton Christian School took a leap of faith as it partnered with Agape Flights as the first mission team to the Dominican Republic. Agape flew four students and two teachers to the Dominican Republic during Spring Break for an eight day stay. The team was hosted by Greg and Melynda Burge, missionaries and coordinators for Agape Flights, in Santo Domingo. The team focused primarily on outreach to the youth in neighboring barrios, or villages. With a fairly solid Spanish background, the team shared its love of Jesus Christ through Spanish praise and worship songs led by guitar, one-on-one tutoring, a drama, sermons, prayers, sports activities and even several testimonies given in Spanish at a first worship service in a new facility. In addition, the team helped clean Restoration Ranch, the future site of an orphanage, and also did some yard work and painting on the Burges’ home. The team felt blessed to be able to serve God in this unique way, and have a new appreciation for the ministry in the DR. Several members are already planning the second annual trip for next year! Contact us if you or a team from your church would like to go to Santo Domingo to help prepare this house that Agape just purchased for a ministry center, home for the Burge family and home away from home for short term mission teams. Arrange a mission trip customized for you Agape can help organize a mission trip to the Dominican Republic or Eleuthera, Bahamas, for one person or a group. Contact Jeff Yannucciello at Agape: gomissions@agapeflights.com or 941.488.0990. You’re Invited Agape Coffee Hour Every Wednesday, 9:15 - 10:15 Venice Ministry Center: 100 Airport Ave., Venice FL First Mission Team to Mission House Painters, carpenters, electricians and helpers We need your help at Agape’s Mission House Agape volunteers Tom Darnell, Mike Layton, Tom Waldon and Brett Stephens recently expanded their “area of service” by working in Agape’s new mission house in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. They spent two days updating wiring and installing a hot water heater. There’s more to be done. Contact Agape if you or a team from your church would like to help. Jeff Yannucciello with two pallets of sewing machines that were quickly claimed by missionaries. Missionary Flights International, a fellow aviation ministry donated them to Agape. Mark Mikarts (r)introduces John Niesen and Dan May to the Cessna 182 that he will use to train them as missionary pilots. Keep in Touch Send a Gift Tell a Friend Name ____________________________________ Address Update:_____________________________ City ______________________ST ____Zip_______ Email _____________________________________ Phone ____________________________________ ¨ Check if this is a seasonal address. Use this address from _____________ to _______________. ¨ Please send correspondence by email when possible as well as notices when newsletters, invitations, etc. are posted on the web. ¨ Contact me about arranging a speaker from Agape for ¨ I’ve included Agape Flights in my will. ¨ I’m interested in information about a Charitable Gift Annuity. Please contact me. ¨ I’m making a gift of $_________ to be used: ¨ Where needed most ¨ Agape’s new home ¨ Staff support for ________________________ ¨ Other _______________________________ ¨ I will make this gift every ¨ month ¨ quarter ¨ six months ¨ My check is enclosed. ¨ Credit card (complete information below) #_______________________________________ Exp. Date ____________Security code__________ Signature _________________________________