Derek & Hannah Steward

director of Maintenance

Derek and Hannah grew up on opposite sides of South Dakota. Raised in families of faith, we each accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord as young children. We met in college where we were both pursuing business degrees and served in campus ministry together. We shared a desire to serve in full-time ministry, and shortly before we married in 2011, the Lord directed us to aviation ministry.

We quickly learned that it would take many years of additional technical training to follow that calling. Derek received his Airframe and Powerplant License and Private Pilot’s License in 2013, around the same time we learned about Missionary Aviation Repair Center. Derek began working in general aviation to gain experience and Hannah worked in banking. During these years of preparation our family grew with our first two children and God continued to draw our hearts to the need in Alaska.

We were accepted as staff to MARC with Derek serving as a full-time mechanic, and we arrived in Soldotna in March 2019. Since then, the maintenance team has grown to include six full-time mechanics, and Derek now serves as Director of Maintenance. His role involves performing maintenance and managing the maintenance staff in service of MARC’s fleet, aircraft from other ministries, and commercial customers.

Hannah’s role has been flexible as we welcomed two more children. She now serves part-time in the finance office, almost always accompanied by one or more of the kids. We love that MARC is a place that our whole family can participate in what God is doing in Alaska.