JAARS Does What is Difficult, Dangerous and Expensive: Overcoming Geographical Barriers to Enable Global Missions
Jungle Aviation and Relay Service Operates in the World’s Most Remote Regions to Support the Missionaries Carrying the Gospel Forward
WAXHAW, N.C., Sept. 23, 2025 — With the tagline “Serving the last mile of missions,” JAARS is an aviation-focused ministry that exists to support and supply missionaries in the world’s most isolated places via air, land and sea. More than just a slogan, this phrase serves as a guidebook for JAARS’ strategy and an exposé on its inner philosophy: to serve missionaries to the ends of the earth. JAARS pilots and operatives live out the understanding that anything worth doing doesn’t come easy.
Based in North Carolina while supporting operations globally, JAARS has been active in ministry since 1948. William Cameron Townsend, founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL Global, started the organization after recognizing the need for Bible translators and missionaries to have fast, safe, and efficient transport where roads did not exist. A 21-day journey via foot, mule and canoe could be accomplished in 2 hours by air. For missionaries laboring in harsh conditions to bring the Gospel to all people, JAARS became the lifeline providing them with supplies, communication and transport when they needed it most.
Over 75 years later, JAARS is still answering the call to aid in supplying and transporting the Gospel into the most remote places in the world, adjusting to the ever-changing needs and demands of the 21st century.
Steve Russell, JAARS’ president since 2022, is no stranger to enduring hard things for a worthy goal. Joining JAARS with both an accomplished record in the US Congress and a seasoned career in the United States Army, Russell has faced his share of ‘insurmountable’ challenges. From passing vital legislation to playing a significant leadership role in the capture of Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War, Russell is dedicated to doing the right thing in order to serve others – despite the difficulty, danger or expense. This is a commitment he shares with JAARS and its leadership through the decades.
“The call to missions usually entails persevering through difficulties,” said Russell. “At JAARS, we see our role as enabling missionaries to accomplish their vital task without worrying about how they are going to get there or if they’ll have the resources they need. We serve missionaries through the skill, bravery and dedication of pilots and technicians who pave the way for some of the most dangerous and ingenious flights and landings in all of aviation. It isn’t easy, but that's what covering the last mile is all about.”
Since 1948, JAARS has been doing those hard things for the sake of the Gospel while continuing to grow their presence and impact on aviation for years to come. Just in the last 12 months, many thousands of overseas flight hours were logged by JAARS pilots carrying vital passengers and supplies for the Gospel in 2024 alone, while hundreds of pilots and mechanics were trained for remote deployment.
In addition, JAARS responded to the opportunity to carry aid and rescue those who were stranded stateside when Hurricane Helene wreaked devastation across Western North Carolina last September.
With an established training base near what would be the epicenter of Helene’s damage and more than 75 years' experience landing aircraft in “impossible” locations, JAARS was able to mobilize aircraft, pilots and volunteers to coordinate Hurricane Helene relief efforts from day one and until major government and humanitarian agencies were geared up and in place. Launching over 60 rescue and relief flights and over 30 ground truck and trailer trips to bring life-sustaining supplies into the mountains, JAARS worked to give rescue, relief and hope to the very same mountain communities that it has called home for decades.
Overseas, JAARS primarily operates in the green band of the world’s rainforest climates. This includes regions with mountainous terrain, wide expanses of open ocean, treacherous rivers, and little to no roads, public transportation or communications infrastructure. But wherever it serves, the mission doesn’t change; JAARS covers the last mile of missions so that people from every tribe and tongue may have a relationship with their Creator and know the truth of his Word.
About JAARS
For 75 years, JAARS has enabled and empowered mission efforts to the unreached—spiritually and practically. As a nonprofit organization that works to cover the last mile of missions using special-purpose aircraft, boats and off-road vehicles, JAARS works to relay God’s Word, his missionaries and vital supplies across age-old geographical barriers. With operations in the green band of the world’s rainforest climates, JAARS works through transportation and logistics to see God’s love and glory overcome all barriers, for all people, from every tribe and tongue.