SOAR – Page 3 – Seth and Deb Whittington

Never Ending Shifts

Practicing simulated instrument flying doing steep turns with only instrument reference.

Here we go again. This past year has felt like change after change. From the sale of the house to the shift in jobs, we have not felt settled. This month starts another shift for us. The first week of January we began working at SOAR. This was a bigger shift than we were expecting. Now our side work that we were doing in the evenings and weekends is now our day job. Things that we would normally wait till we had spare time are now our main focus. Seth began his more intense flight training and Deb began helping with marketing. This is also the first time we have ever worked in the same office. We are having to think through how to create separation of work and family. As we switch from a full schedule with every evening booked to living out intentionally during our daily schedule. I really think God is shifting us from our old focus’ to new goals and to a focus of long term goals and really leaning into Him and the path that he has lain out before us. This takes lots of intentionally in prayer and study of his word, and extra focus to slow down and listen. We would love some feedback on what tools and disciplines that you guys use to be successful in this area. It has been a huge shift for our family but ultimately he is working for our good to do what he is calling us to.

Winter Flying Woes

Weather dictates so much of when we do and don’t fly in light general aviation airplanes. I (Seth) find myself becoming much more aware of the weather conditions daily. I have been trying to keep a schedule of flying 3 times weekly. This is certainly difficult during the winter months. Battling clouds, precipitation, and winds when is warms up a bit as they can easily get above the airplanes maximum wind rating. I am trying to get through my instrument rating within the next three months. When trying to earn a new rating in an airplane its important to be consistent and frequent to polish those skills as they are being learned.

This last month one of the Mission Candidates and I flew down to northern Arkansas to a grass strip to scout it for future training flights. This is part of a long term goal of mine to build a network of places to fly that will give our students more of an ability to learn advanced skills that they will need before getting to the Mission Field.

Scouting grass airstrips for more intentional training. This one is in northern Arkansas

New Work space and Pace

Change is always hard right? Change always seems to come with a certain level of uneasiness. This can be for many reasons but I believe for me (Seth) it always boils down to the unknown, and this unknown causes uneasiness. As I closed the chapter of working my job for Control Service Company, there were still certain number of unknowns, and if I’m truly being honest that came with that uneasiness. This is the first time in eight years that I haven’t driven home a company vehicle, as I looked out in the driveway it was odd not seeing one parked there. This is the first time that I am putting away my tool bag and grabbing my flight bag. This is the first time that I will have the opportunity to work beside my wife doing what we both love, while equipping the students for the field. While there are still many unknowns in our new role in God’s Kingdom, everything is known to him. The challenge is to rest in God’s knowing even though it is our unknown.

What did 2020 Teach you about God?

2020 was a year to remember for sure. We began the year confident in what God had planned for us. 2020 started out with God showing us to learn to trust in him and his provision. We sold our house in downtown Springfield, Mo, it was him who provided a buyer. We needed a place to live and rent that was centrally located for all our new obligations, he provided a home that was exactly the size and location we needed. We needed the training to tell our story and advice on how to build partnerships, he provided the education and friends who were willing to help us. We discovered that we were partnering with him in what he is doing to develop partnerships, prayer, and finances, to launch into ministry full time, he provided. The list could go on. Deb and I were in awe that we could have developed enough partnerships to launch into full-time ministry in less than a year, as we talked about this we determined that we really shouldn’t be in awe, because we could have never done this within our own strength. Only God could have provided. We serve a sovereign God! A pandemic, political unrest, or any other thing that is out of our human control isn’t out of His control. Ask yourself this question, “How did God provide for me in 2020?”. Then when you get that, share it with us as we would love to come alongside you in praising him for the blessing in your life during 2020.

Praising God:

• He made a way for us to begin work in January 2021!

Ways you can be praying for us:

• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed.
• That the girls transition into their new schedules effortlessly.
• That the transition into our new jobs goes smoothly and we are able to clearly see the direction that SOAR needs to be heading.

Tag: SOAR

Who Ordered this Weather?

Never Ending Shifts

Winter Flying Woes

Ways you can be praying for us:

New Beginnings… again?

New Work space and Pace

What did 2020 Teach you about God?

Praising God:

Ways you can be praying for us: