A Year in Review — Soaring for Christ

Elementary Camp has come and gone. We've had a Fall Festival, an engine overhaul, a bunch of crazy windstorms, and Good News Club started.

In 2025, Soaring for Christ flew 71 flights, 141 hrs, 15,239 miles, and transported 186 passengers to hear or share the gospel. Praise the Lord!

A lot happened this year; here's the lowdown...

Kokrine Hills Bible Camp

At High School Camp, they studied the book of Psalms, focusing on how Jesus is King. Discipleship Camp dove deep into having a firm foundation in the Word of God. And Junior High Camp went through the book of John. (For more details on these camps, read this.)

Elementary Camp

Our whole family participated in Elementary Camp. Jeff was one of the pilots (of course), and he also preached for a session. Ellesha spent lots of time in the kitchen, preparing food with the cooks and making special meals for Jeff. Johnathan and Lael were counselors and put on a puppet show on the last day of camp. Elliana was a professional child wrangler, keeping an eye on Molly and some of the other younger kids. And Molly thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Highlights

It would take me forever to give a full overview of Elementary Camp, so here are a few highlights:

At the beginning of camp, Joey Katches, the camp director, asked the campers what kind of animal they thought it would be cool to be. Jacob said, "I want to be a moth, because Jesus is the light and moths are attracted to light."

And at the end of camp, Joey taught a very interesting short message on how Jesus is our funambulist. Nobody knew what that word was; Joey explained that a funambulist is a tightrope walker. Why is Jesus our funambulist? Because he carried us across the gap between our sin and God.

I don't know if this is a highlight or a vivid nightmare, but while we were at the sandbar, two-legged creatures covered in dark, silty mud from head to toe came up out of the Yukon River and tried to induct victims such as myself into the mud-covered cult. (My own campers betrayed me!) Thankfully, I survived, but many others weren't so fortunate. It's definitely a memory I smile back on.

On a rainy day, a bunch of the campers and counselors spontaneously formed a circle outside and decided to start singing. As people saw what was happening, they would join until the circle became pretty large. We sang songs like God Is On the Throne and King of Kings and Lord of Lords for almost half an hour. And then, the following day, another singing circle formed (although it was smaller than the first one - probably because it was raining).

Some of the kids in my cabin were so good about going to bed that they bribed the other kids with candy purchases if they would be quiet and go to sleep. The other cabins usually stayed up much later. And my cabin most frequently won the award for the cleanest boy's cabin! (Maybe it had something to do with the air fresheners we had in there...)

A Light In the Darkness

The end of camp was an emotional time for everyone. Many tears were shed. One of my campers said, “We don't want to leave, because this place is like our home.” And another one of my campers said, “I'm gonna miss this place. This is the place for me to learn about God.”

Most of the villages don't have a church, so the majority of Biblical teaching the kids get throughout the year comes from Bible Camp.

The theme of Elementary Camp was the "I am" statements of Jesus. One of the messages was about how Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." And at Elementary Camp, we shared Jesus, the light, with the kids.

Covenant Bible Camp

Kako made a hard decision this past year: they cancelled all of their camps. The camp was long overdue on a number of infrastructure projects that couldn't be done in the winter. And because summer is so short, there was never time to do these large projects alongside the hustle and bustle of a normal camp season.

Thankfully, they were able to get a lot done in 2025. And this year, they are planning to have all of their normal camps.

During the time we usually would have helped with Kako's Family Camp, Jeff was able to do a staff flight for Covenant Bible Camp. Covenant Camp is located on the western coast of Alaska in Unalakleet. They bring in kids and adults to receive Biblical teaching from over thirty different villages in the area.

Jeff had a bumpy flight both there and back, but he made it safely. The Covenant staff said they really appreciated having that flight filled in.

Aircraft Repairs

Engine Overhaul

This summer, in the middle of camp season, The Word, our Cherokee 6, needed two cylinder replacements. It could have put the plane out of commission for the rest of the season, but by God's grace through the help of AMA, we were able to get the plane back in the air both times within a few days.

It was clear, though, that the engine needed to be overhauled. In an engine overhaul, every part of the engine is inspected and repaired or replaced as necessary. As you can imagine, this is a big process; it takes six months. So, in November, the engine was removed from the Cherokee and sent to the shop. That way, it will be ready for camp season this year.

Interior Upgrades

While the Cherokee runs and flies great, the interior upholstery was getting pretty beat up — so much so that passengers started to make comments. Many years of dirty rural runways had taken their toll.

That's why we are incredibly grateful for the work Missionary Aviation Repair Center (MARC) in Soldotna put into redoing the inside of the Cherokee. It took six weeks, and almost everything was replaced, including the seats, siding, and ceiling material. Tom, the mechanic who invested 240 hours into the project, said, "I'm happy with how it turned out, and I think it will last a long time."

After MARC was done, the cockpit looked like it belonged to an entirely new airplane! It even had that new car smell.