Missionary support: FIAI may make way for new health-care facility

FIAI, a nondenominational missionary supply enterprise, was founded in southern California in 1992 by Kenneth Johnston, Charlie Zeager and others with the aim of assisting missionaries. The operation was originally called Friends of NTM or New Tribes Missions, said Dick Thomas, missionary and maintenance employee with Friends.

FIAI has offices in Canada, Ireland, New Guinea and West Africa, along with its 18-person home office in Mansfield, said Margaret Shepherd, head of the hospitality network. Each employee is a missionary and has separate on-site responsibilities as well, she added.

FIAIs impact on the community has been positive, according to Mayor Dale Keith. Several homes have been sold to missionaries as a result of the organizations move into the area.

Possible move

While FIAIs operations wouldnt leave Mansfield, they might shift to nearby property the group owns. A certificate of need was issued by the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee to La Mancha Medical Management Group on March 31 based on a project cost of $6,925,214, said Tom Piper, director of the certificate of need program with the Department of Health and Senior Services.

FIAI has been waiting on the finalization of development plans of the acquisition group, said Kris Rickert, department manager for Internet technology and communications.

We werent looking to sell it, but we would like to see a hospital (and) other people would too, Thomas said. Assuming a property sale, FIAI would relocate next door on 42 acres it already owns, he added.

Shepherd said theres been some thought to leasing out a couple of acres for a restaurant operation in order to produce additional revenues for FIAIs general fund.

Operations

FIAI handles the overseas shipping of supplies, provides vehicles to missionaries stateside, and runs a nationwide hospitality network for traveling missionaries, said Rickert. The organization employs about 50 workers overseas, he added.

Were a project ministry and what we do is come alongside the missionaries that are in the field, Shepherd said. Overseas work includes road and airstrip building, well drilling, bridge erection and provisioning missionaries with equipment and supplies.

Working with an inventory of some 1,000 homes across the United States, Shepherd arranges for a nights stay for missionaries traveling throughout the country. This may be done for furlough, medical needs or during deputation the period when missionaries conduct personal fund-raising efforts to refurbish support, she said.

Overseeing the computer-tracked logistics of consolidating materials and shipping them via rail or truck from Mansfield to missionaries abroad is Mike Ward, shipping manager.

Everything from tractors to couches to solar panel equipment gets itemized, packed and shipped in 20- or 40-foot containers in FIAIs more than 6,000 square-foot warehouse.

Materials leaving Mansfield arrive at shipping docks around the United States. From there they make the often weeklong voyage to various ports around the world, Ward added.

Ward said his current project is a New Guinea-bound shipment worth $48,776, including the cost of items inside or, in the case of previously owned goods, the valuations of those items. Shipping costs port-to-port run about $5,000 and, depending on how many cubic feet are used and by whom, the charge is divided among the missionaries or mission enterprises receiving goods.

Trucking or rail charges are separate, he added.

Lindley Harms is the manager of the vehicle department at the warehouse. He handles the repair service and leasing operation FIAI runs to provide its missionaries with transportation when they are stateside.

Future direction

A six-member board meets on a quarterly basis and guides FIAIs future direction. Zeager, owner of Zeager Brothers, a wood, carpet and playground surfacing firm in Harrisburg, Pa., is chairman. Daily operating decisions are made by department managers, Rickert said.

The vast majority of FIAIs operating capital is provided through church and individual donations, with a small amount coming through grants, Rickert said. Last year was between $1 million to $2 million, he added.

Except for three paid in-house positions, each FIAI missionary receives his or her support from churches and individual donations and are not on the payroll.