Matt and Janelle Steidinger Family

Matt and Janelle Steidinger were raised on Illinois farms near Fairbury and Strawn. They began dating while attending the University of Illinois and both surrendered to Jesus during this time. Married in May 1999, they lived in Kansas and then Missouri before returning to central Illinois in 2002. Prior to full time ministry, Matt was self-employed as a swine nutrition consultant and Janelle as a ‘domestic engineer”. They have been active in their local church through prison ministry, teaching Sunday school, college campus evangelism, mentoring, and other community outreach opportunities.

In 2004, Matt and Janelle and their two oldest children spent two months in Santarem, Brazil as short-term missionaries. During this time, they were exposed to the amazing move of God in the Amazon Basin, and the value of airplanes in accessing time-consuming and/or difficult to reach areas of the Amazon for Christ. They also learned invaluable lessons from interacting with the other full-time missionaries. This trip solidified the call to the Amazon in their life—but they were still unsure as to what exactly their role would be. Matt and Janelle continued to be involved with PAZ by leading several work teams to Brazil over the past five years. Also, Matt was honored to serve as a PAZ board member for 2 years.

After numerous promptings by God, Matt began flying in 2007. He has received most of the flying certifications required by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) but needs to obtain his airplane mechanic’s license in order to become an “MAF qualified” pilot. Matt was accepted to the School of Mission Aviation Technology and in August 2011, Matt and Janelle and their four children (Mariah 10, Jaelah 8, Luke 5, Sierra 3) moved to Michigan to enable Matt to complete this requirement. Janelle is homeschooling their children and they will pursue the religious training required to obtain a Brazilian visa. Lord willing, sometime late 2012 their family will move to Brazil where they will assist PAZ missionaries and pastors in traversing the Amazon, taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the remote areas of the Amazon Basin.