Meet the Department: Jason Maas

My family's first computer was a Kaypro and from the moment we got it I was hooked!  In high school my friend Phil introduced me to the PC demoscene and computer programming.  I even got to go to NAID '96 in Montreal, the biggest demo party ever held in North America!  The Lord blessed me with the ability and desire to understand computers and in college at Penn State I studied Computer Science so that I could learn more.  Little did I know what God had in mind for my computer skills...

In high school God brought to fruition the work of a number of people investing in me, especially my youth pastor at the time, Mike Laurence.  I realized that when the Bible said "sinner" it didn't mean "public school kids" and that I was as much a sinner as anyone else.  That realization drove me to the foot of the cross and I accepted Jesus as my lord and savior!  I then got a taste of discipleship with Pastor Mike and I got a taste of missions by going on week-long missions trips in the summer.  Little did I know what God was preparing me for...

At Penn State I became involved with The Navigators and then DiscipleMakers.  I met my brother-in-law Ben who started discipling me and I met his little sister Deeanne who later married me!  My college years were an exciting time of spiritual growth and ministry opportunities.  God used campus ministries to change me in big ways and helped me to become more bold for him.  Little did I know that God would lead me into full-time college ministry...

After college I went to work for IBM as a computer programmer in the realm of TCP/IP support for a "mini-computer" then called the AS/400.  Deeanne and I were married and we got involved with a church and volunteered with InterVarsity at nearby Binghamton University.  During this time Bill Dripps persistently recruited me to join DiscipleMakers and serve on the Systems Department at the headquarters where help was desperately needed.  I was thrilled about the idea of using my computer skills to have an impact on students in the same way God impacted me during my college years.  But I was scared to death about the idea of raising our own financial support!  Little did I know how God would increase my faith...

At the end of 2001 we decided to take a step of faith and join DiscipleMakers, knowing that if God truly wanted us there he could meet our financial needs.  He has blessed us abundantly and met all of our needs and then some!  He has also blessed us with three children so far whom we love very much.  DiscipleMakers leaders care a lot about my family and they help me to make them a priority so they don't get left behind in the wake of ministry.  Ministering full-time with DiscipleMakers has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done!  God has blown us away again and again with what he does when we have the smallest bit of faith.  I love the work I get to do with computers and with people.  Our staff is like a big family and I love helping them with technology so they can spend more time with students.  Praise God for choosing to include me in His work of making disciples on college campuses!

P.S. My latest interest has been in making ministry software tools available as web applications so that missionaries can more readily access them from anywhere on any type of computer (or netbook, smartphone, digital photo frame, wrist watch, etc).  If you know anything about how to do that or want to learn more I'd love to talk with you!

• Phone: (814) 234-7975 x528
• Email: maasj@dm.org
• Skype: jason_maas