Tag: Flight Review

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A huge win!

I feel like I have been saying this for the last few newsletters but this month has been busy! I am going to do my best to keep this brief.

IAMA Conference 2023

We recently had the privilege of attending the 52nd Annual IAMA Conference hosted by LeTourneau University in Longview, TX. This event brought together mission aviation professionals. This provided a platform for knowledge-sharing, networking, and collaborative discussions. Our time at the conference proved to be an inspiring and enlightening experience, reinforcing the vital role of aviation in advancing global missions. From talks on bridging the generational gap to industry insights and technological advancements, we are confident that the impact of the conference will be impactful throughout our ministry and beyond. We look forward to implementing the insights and lessons learned, furthering our mission to reach the unreached.

Julia’s SOLO

One of Seth’s goals before July was to get Julia to the solo stage of her training. There were many ups and downs for both of them but they worked and pushed forward to accomplish this goal. On June 13th Julia was able to solo her first flight. Her next goal will be to get her Private Pilot certificate. This accomplishment represents not only her personal growth and dedication but also signifies the progress we are making in training and equipping qualified Missionary Pilots.

Bailey’s Private

Another goal for Seth was to get Bailey done with his Private Pilot training. On June 16th Bailey took his check ride and received his Private Pilot certificate. Bailey continues to push toward his goal of getting to the mission field. While he still has 2-3 more certifications he is one step closer to it this month. These achievements demonstrate the tangible ways in which we are empowering individuals to become proficient pilots, ready to serve in the mission field.

AJ’s CFII

AJ is officially an Ethnos360 missionary! We have enjoyed having him back for the summer after 9 months of training with Ethnos 360 in Camdenton Mo. He and his family are a blessing to have at SOAR. On June 16th AJ also took his check ride for his CFII certification and passed. This was one of his final goals to complete at SOAR and with Madeline’s help, he was able to finish up his flight training. In the next month, we will be sending him with our blessing to McNeal, Arizona, Ethnos360Aviation’s home base. It has been energizing to see the work God is doing and that we are sending more pilots and mechanics to the field. It is through such milestones and accomplishments that we witness firsthand the impact of our ministry, as lives are changed, communities are touched, and the Gospel is spread to the ends of the earth. AJ and his family are evidence of this.

Prayer Requests for the June:

1. Wisdom and Guidance: Please pray for our leadership team as they make important decisions regarding the growth and direction of SOAR. Pray they would be filled with wisdom, discernment, and clarity as they navigate various challenges and opportunities.

2. Missionary Candidates: Lift up our missionary candidates who are currently undergoing training and preparation for their future service in the mission field. Pray that they would be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and resilience to fulfill their calling. Ask for God’s protection, provision, and spiritual growth in their lives.

3. Financial Provision: Join us in prayer for our financial needs at SOAR. Pray that God would provide abundantly, enabling us to meet our monthly budget and move closer to our financial target. Ask for open doors, divine connections, and generous hearts to support our ministry financially.

Prayer Requests for 2023:

1. Global Impact: Pray for an increased impact of our missionary pilots and mechanics in reaching unreached areas with the Gospel. Ask God to open doors for strategic partnerships, favorable relationships with local communities, and effective ministry opportunities. Pray lives would be transformed, and communities would be impacted through our ministry.

2. Spiritual Growth: Please pray for our personal spiritual growth and deepening relationship with God. Pray that we would have a hunger for His Word, a fervent prayer life, and a sensitivity to His leading. Ask for a greater understanding of His will for our lives and the strength to walk in obedience.

3. Wisdom in Decision-making: Seek God’s wisdom on our behalf as we make important decisions personally and professionally. Pray that we would have the discernment to make choices that align with His will and bring glory to His name. Ask for clarity, guidance, and confidence in the path that God has set before us.

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Equipping to serve faithfully!

Solo the plane

March began with a lot of excitement! After 6 weeks of pushing through bad weather and busy schedules, Bailey was finally able to solo! This was nerve-wracking for him and us. We were confident he was capable but there is always that lingering worry in the back of your head. With some feedback from some very capable CFIs, we pushed forward in preparing Bailey for the milestone. On March 1st, Bailey did 3 take-offs and landings while solo in the airplane. The weather was still not the best but he was more than prepared to accomplish this goal. This was a first for Seth and Bailey.We are praising God for this huge win. You can read Bailey’s side of things here.

Sharing our Journey

This month we had the chance to share our story at our home church. We were able to showcase what it is that we do at SOAR to a new group of people that haven’t necessarily heard our story. We were also able to bring Bailey with us and give the church a chance to see what we do and be able to put a face to our ministry. We haven’t had an opportunity to speak at any churches in a while and it was nice to be able to update them on what we are doing here at SOAR and showcase what they have been investing in through us at SOAR. We would love to be able to share what God is doing at other churches as well, if you are able to connect us with other churches we would appreciate our partners advocating for us in this area.

Airport Manager Conference

At the end of the month, We were able to attend the MoSAC/MAMA summit at Lake of the Ozarks. Airport managers from all over the state of Missouri gather here to build relationships and gather information on how to run their local airports more effectively. This was a great opportunity to learn how we can better steward the Bolivar Airport. It was also a great way to build relationships so that we could improve the airport to serve our missionary candidates better.

Upcoming Events

Please pray as we plan for the IAMA conference. Pray for us as an organization to continue to create relationships as we connect with sending organizations. Also, pray that we personally will represent SOAR well to other organizations.

Ways you can be praying for us in April:

• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed to get us fully funded.
• We will find ways to connect with Spring events ramping up.
• That God shows us direction for the next season here at SOAR.

Ways you can be praying for us & SOAR in 2023

• That God brings clarity and unity and we are able to find direction as a leadership team.
• That Seth is able to get his CFII done this year.
• That God grows and shapes our candidates to be used on the field and that he opens doors for them to be able to serve.

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Pushing through winter!

Winter Weather

This month has been met with some difficulties with the weather and training. Despite this Seth and Bailey have been pushing toward the goal of getting Bailey to be solo ready. The days that have been clear weather enough to fly, have been extremely windy. Bailey has been working hard, and should be ready to solo by the end of this week. Pray for him and Seth as they push toward this milestone. This is the first big milestone for Bailey, and Seth’s first student to reach solo.

Join us!

In March we are planning to speak at our home church. We would love for you to come and hear as we share a ministry update with our sending church LifePoint. We will be sharing a brief time during the morning services and have to opportunity to share more in-depth during our Night Of Worship in the evening. Be sure to mark your calendars on March 19th and join us.

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Ways you can be praying for us & SOAR in 2023

• That God brings clarity and unity and we are able to find direction as a leadership team.
• That Seth is able to get his CFII done this year.
• That God grows and shapes our candidates to be used on the field and that he opens doors for them to be able to serve.

Ways to Give!

Ways you can be praying for us in March:

• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed.
• That weather will clear for Bailey to be able to solo.
• That God shows us direction for the next season here at SOAR.

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Big News and Transitions

Summer to Fall

Wow, We feel like we have been running at 100 MPH since the Spring. This spring we gave ourselves a deadline for Seth’s training and that meant that we have used our extra focus on that since then. That doesn’t mean we have slowed down in other areas it just means pulling up our bootstraps and doing our regular jobs along with allowing for time for training. It’s been hard but well worth the effort. 

EAA Airventure 2022 was a success. We met with lots of other organizations, shared what SOAR is doing with a local group, served in our booth, and got to see some pretty cool things. We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve SOAR in this way.

During the summer we participated in Oshkosh EAA Airventure. This was our second year attending and it proved to be a great week of engagement with other organizations. This is always one of our priorities when we go. 

In the fall we started another year of school. This marks our 9th year of homeschooling. Bella began 8th grade and Jordis began Pre-K. We also added volleyball to our school schedule, it’s been such a joy to watch Bell learn and grow in something she enjoys

In October we spent an evening at the Ethnos360 training center in Camdenton, Mo. It was such a great night of fun and fellowship. We were thankful for the opportunity to see their facility and to get to know these missionary pilots who are being trained to be sent. The partnership between SOAR and Ethnos360 will help us to be able to send more missionaries to the field.

Cookout time at the Ethnos360 training center in Camdenton, MO

Lastly, we have been serving with the youth and production teams at LifePoint. We have been doing this for several years and we love serving in this way. Students always challenge us to grow in our faith. Worship production gives us an opportunity to use our talents and skills in unique ways.

This summer and fall have been extra busy with events. We have loved this season of serving with the youth.

Big news and Transitions

It’s official! Seth has completed his CFI certification. We will fully admit we were not sure if we would make this deadline. The instructor we were using pushed hard and we are so thankful for that. We are also grateful for each instructor who poured into Seth. Without them, this could not have happened. We genuinely believe that each of them was brought to us at just the right time. Each one contributed to his training in a way that we believe will benefit SOAR in the long run. All of it for God’s glory and mission.

Greg and Micki Shetterly have been such a huge blessing to us and to SOAR this year. Micki is an experienced flight instructor and Greg is a flight examiner. Both have been pushing Seth to not only complete his training but to also go above and beyond so that SOAR can be a good steward of the candidates that God brings to us.

This month Seth will begin training his first missionary candidate, Bailey! We feel such a sigh of relief and excitement and we begin serving in a different capacity at SOAR. Seth’s roles that will continue are safety, some airport/city management, and now adding flight instruction. Right now he is tasked with the big job of organizing the fight curriculum. Thankfully he won’t be doing this alone. The group of instructors that have been so vital in getting him to his goal are also going to be involved in getting the curriculum organized. We are ready for this new challenge and ready to see how God uses us in this new season.  The last transition will be one more rating. The next goal is CFII. This will be during the same time he begins training Bailey. This one is not as time sensitive so we are hoping to have a bit of reprieve while we focus on other goals personally.

Bailey George has been with SOAR since the spring. He will be Seth’s first student as we work toward training Missionary Aviators.

Partnership Focus

As we wrap up this last goal of getting Seth’s ratings done we are now shifting our focus to getting new partners. This will be a lifelong journey as we continue to work at SOAR. We need YOUR help. If you know of someone who might be interested in our story or what we are doing at SOAR please let us know. You are also welcome to share this newsletter with them! If you are not currently a partner with us through prayer or financial support we would love to share our story with you. Please contact us for more information. Thank you to everyone who has partnered with us on this journey. You have been such a support and blessing to us in ways we could never repay. Thank you!

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Ways to Give!

Ways you can be praying for us & SOAR in 2022

• That God cultivates relationships and we are able to find direction as a leadership team.
• That Seth is able to finish his ratings and begin the work that he feels God has called him into.
• That God grows and shapes our candidates to be used on the field and that he opens doors for them to be able to serve.

Ways you can be praying for us in November:

• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed.
• That we can find rest in this busy season.
• That God shows us direction for the next season here at SOAR.

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Hitting a Milestone

IFR Rating Complete!!

Seth and Josh (one of his flight instructors)

For a year now Seth has been working towards getting his IFR rating. We have continually hit delays and schedule conflicts over and over it seemed. We have felt like we fell into the same hole that SOAR has been struggling to fill which is a consistent flight instructor. Finally, in the fall we got some consistency. This was a huge blessing. We have been so blessed by the people that have made the effort to make it a priority and helped push Seth to this first milestone. There is still a long way to go. The next rating is his commercial rating. We are praying that it doesn’t take as long to get this but we are on God’s timing aren’t we. Pray for us as we continue to push forward and push toward this next milestone.

Seth and Terry (one of his flight instructors).

Continuing to Share

Seth sharing with the EAA members.

This year has a lot in store for SOAR. We ended January speaking at an EAA dinner in Jeff City. We had a great opportunity to share what SOAR does and how the program works. Not everyone there was a Christian so we hopefully were able to open the door for gospel conversations also. Lastly, we hope that events like this open doors for God to bring the right volunteers to serve at SOAR. The event was supposed to have Kerrick speak but due to sickness Seth had to fill in the gap. We are grateful for opportunities like these to be able to connect with other organizations and people about SOAR and the mission. We have several more events throughout the year where we hope to share SOAR’s story. Please pray that God guides our words and steps to open doors and create relationships.

Kevin and Madeline connecting with some EAA members.

Small Moments

One of the goals this year is to get to Instructor rating. This means doing a lot of flying to get hours in. The bulk of time has been with instructors so our family hasn’t really had a chance to sit in the plane together. This month we have had the opportunity to take Jo up on her first flight and we got to fly around Springfield at night to see the lights as a family. With our crazy schedule sometimes we don’t get many moments to enjoy things like this. So we are grateful for these small moments. Hopefully, we will have more opportunities to do more flights with the girls this year.

Ways you can be praying for us in 2022

• That God cultivates relationships and we are able to find direction as a leadership team.
• That Seth is able to finish his ratings and begin the work that he feels God has called him into.
• That God grows and shapes our candidates to be used on the field and that he opens doors for them to be able to serve.

Ways you can be praying for us in February:

• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed.
• That God continues to provide the time and flight instructor for his next rating.
• That we find ways to spend time as a family and

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