Maranatha Volunteers International

In 1969 under the direction of John Freeman a commercial photographer, a group of Seventh-day Adventist volunteers flew to the Bahamas to build a church

This idea expanded to other projects involving volunteers flying their private planes to locations to build churches and was organized into Maranatha Flights International based in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

In 1989 Maranatha Flights International merged with Volunteers International under the new name of Maranatha Volunteers International and later moved the headquarters to Sacramento, California. Since 2009, the headquarters are based in the neighboring city of Roseville, California.

By 2019, Maranatha Volunteers International had enlisted more than 85,000 volunteers who had participated in 2,170 missionary teams in 88 countries, constructing 11,229 new structures and drilling more than 1,000 water wells.