| Welcome to Adventist World Aviation What We Do Where We Work USA AWA-Tennessee | Email | Print |
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| Elise Taylor | |
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| Brandon Lamphier | |
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| April Cook | |
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| Heidi Beierle |
Planning
on Missions
by Sam Miller
As school opens again here on the upper Cumberland plateau in middle Tennessee, we find God’s blessings all around. It’s only through his care that we are able to continue in this mission, His mission, that he has placed in our hands.
The interest in becoming missionary pilots just continues to grow. With so many young people expressing an interest, it amazes me that there is still such a need for aviators in the field. How is it that so many young people are interested at ages 14 thru 18, but then so few ever make to the field? This is a question I feel a burden to answer. I believe that if we can pinpoint the reason, we can then solve it; whether it is financial, time, training or spiritual in nature.
This year at Heritage Academy we have 14 young people taking part in our ground school. They come from places all over the United States, from California to Virginia, Michigan to Georgia; each one has a unique desire to use the talent of aviation for God. Some have plans to train exclusively in aviation until they can reach a mission field, others plan to train as doctors and nurses and use aviation as a supplement, and still others have a desire to enter ministry work as youth pastors and evangelists and use aviation to reach young people. It’s exciting to see such thought-out planning by our young people, so diverse, and yet all preparing to use this skill for the glory of God.
The flight portion of our program has found great interest also. Miss Heidi Beierle, a sophomore this year, began training for her private license. She is planning to continue training throughout her stay at Heritage Academy in hopes of having her commercial license upon graduation in a few years. We also have two juniors: Miss Elise Taylor and Mr. Brandon Lamphier, who both plan to train beyond their private license next year as seniors. We also have one senior beginning work on her private license, Miss April Cook. Mr. AJ McGee, a returning student from last year and also a senior, is back to finish up his training after serving this past summer in Bolivia as an “apprentice” mission pilot.
With all of these students you can imagine that we are flying quite a bit. God has really shown us mercies thus far with the weather and maintenance. We have rarely had to cancel any flights so far this year. Our first 100-hour inspection is quickly coming upon us. I am hopeful to have this and a few other things done to the airplane over a break so we can continue flying without a hitch.
Continue to pray for our program as we continue to train our youth for His service. We have many decisions coming for the following year that we are prayerfully considering. Currently we have 10 students interested in the flight training for next year, we are planning to build a runway on our campus, and we are considering adding a second airplane to our program next year to accommodate those who need to build time towards their more advanced licenses.
We continue to be in awe of God’s power and grace as he builds this program around us. It is only through his hand that we could have received an aircraft to use through AWA 16 months ago and already be considering a second. Thank you AWA for serving God in the capacity that you do.
