I always found it interesting when planes rolled up on our ramp and pastors got out. Personal convictions aside, what are some aircraft that yall know of that are operated by ministries/pastors/churches (other than purely missionary based organizations, like MAF, JAARS, Compassion, etc.) Those guys are flying food and medicine to the poorest parts of the world. I’m talking about the guys jetting around in their (or their congregation’s) Global, G-IV, Lear, Hawker, etc.
I know of a pastor (can’t remember his name, I know his church is in Ohio) that flies a 747SP. I also know of a ministry that flies a Global Express (I’ll give you a hint…their TV network’s initials are TBN). They really should just put the direct line of their home base FBO so you can call in and “sow your seed” with a contribution to their fuel and hangar space. Alright, line guys we know yall see em, now let’s hear about em.
One mega church I know of did let their people know that they had a jet and how they used it - Rhema Church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. They own Canadair Challenger N91KH.
They’ve used it for missionary trips to the South Pacific and Africa.
Personally, I don’t have any problems with churches use aircraft as long as they are up front with their congregations about it.
There are businesses that use business owned/leased aircraft in a responsible way. There are churches that do the same. But the vast majority of both do use their aircraft responsibly. You just don’t hear about the latter because it doesn’t make the news (i.e. the “if it bleeds it leads” theory of news).
Absent the aforementioned “purely missionary based organizations, like MAF, JAARS, Compassion, etc.” these large US churches/corporations do not use their aircraft responsibly, for there is no act they engage in that is directly beneficial to their worshippers. Even when they’re used to ferry the favored politician du-jour around, it’s ALL for the greater glory of their preachers.
Again, that’s a generalization. There’s been a lot of police officers killing people lately. Does that mean ALL cops are killers? No. That would be a generalization.
Are you against just churches having aircraft or all nonprofits having aircraft?
Thanks, mm505, for the list.
I’ve added the URL or the following notes:
NF: URL but no flights shown for the last 7 months
NT: Not trackable (i.e. blocked)
NO: New or different owner shown on URL
MAKE MODEL REG# COMPANY
CITATION 500 N501DA A Glorious Church Fellowship, Inc.
CITATION 500 N700VC Agape Church, Inc.
CESSNA 421B N333CJ Canaan Land Church, Inc.
PIPER MIRAGE N80JB Christian Air Brotherhood, LLC
PIPER MALIBU JETPROP N41874 Christian Fellowship Church, Inc.
ROBINSON R44 II N777CN Christian Television Network
CITATION 500 N17KD Christian Worship Center of Alexandria
KING AIR C90 N908K Church Management, TC
CESSNA 421C N472JM Church on the Rock, Inc.
GULFSTREAM G-II N132FP Crenshaw Christian Center Church
CITATION BRAVO N1967J Eagle Mountain Int’l Church, Inc.
CITATION X N1962J Eagle Mountain Int’l Church, Inc.
CESSNA 421C N74KP Faith Life Church, Inc.
CITATION V N61KM Faith Life Church, Inc.
CITATION EXCEL N627QS Fellowship Travel Corporation
Piper Meridian N618ST First Baptist Church of Glanaden
GULFSTREAM G-III N357PR From the Heart Church Ministries
BELL 206L-1 LONGRANGER II N64FC Full Counsel Christian Fellowship
FALCON 50 N914JH Grace Church of San Antonio
BARON 58 N619W Int’l. Gospel Outreach Church, Inc.
CITATION II N173AA Koinonia Christian Center Church
CITATION EXCEL N562DD LIFE Outreach Int’l Assoc. Churches
GULFSTREAM G-III N302ST Living Word Christian Center
BELL 206L-3 LONGRANGER N312NL New Light Church World Outreach, Inc.
BELL 206B JETRANGER II N867CH Northview Christian Church
CESSNA 421B N123BT Producing Faith Church, Inc.
CHALLENGER 601-3A N91KH RHEMA Bible Church, Inc.
BELL 407 N95WB Spirit of Faith Christian Center
GULFSTREAM G-IV N685SF Spirit of Faith Christian Center
BELL 206B-3 JETRANGER III N107PH The Agape International Church
SABRELINER 60ELXM N1GM Victory Christian Ministries Int’l.
SABRELINER 65 N117JW Victory Christian Ministries Int’l.
WESTWIND 2 N777HD White Dove Fellowship, Inc.
HAWKER 125-700A N225BJ Word of Faith Int’l Christian Center
CHALLENGER 600 N444ET Word of God Fellowship, Inc.
CITATION III N818DE Word of Life Christian Center, Inc.
FALCON 900 N699BG Word of Life Christian Center,
Kodiak is legit. They do such a great service to aviation ministries. I emailed a church in Maryland asking them what exactly they do with their Bell 407 and G-IV. Their G-IV is not blocked and I’ve tracked it all over the Caribbean, which could be for mission trips, however I don’t know about any missions groups going to Punta Cana, the vacation capital of the DR. They have not responded.
I remember when the earthquake in Haiti happened, several businesses deployed their a/c. A huge mortgage company out of Birmingham, AL flew their Gulfstream there twice a week in the months following the quake. Pretty sad when corporations are using their jets to do more good that actual churches or ministries!
This idea of “I’m a child of the King, so I deserve the best” has run rampant in the American church. This “prosperity gospel” is deplorable.
Church/Religion is BIG business, pretty sad when poor people that can hardly put shoes on their kids give money to the church to use for their G-VI.
There no doubt that churches give back to their communities but the cost to give back is miniscule compared to the income a large church makes.
