Wings As Eagles
Mission Air Service

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WHO WE ARE

Reaching

Evangelism and church planting reach souls with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. Using the aircraft that God has provided, Wings As Eagles is able to fly pastors, local church mission teams, and missionaries, along with Bibles and other Christian literature, into remote areas where other means of transportation are unpredictable and unreliable. The Lord has greatly blessed these efforts with hundreds of people accepting Christ as their Savior!

Caring

Natural disasters and man’s sinful actions have brought widespread poverty to many of the remote areas we serve and present opportunities to exhibit practical Christian care. Jesus showed compassion during His earthly ministry by healing the sick and feeding the hungry. Mission teams demonstrate their concern for the people that national pastors and missionaries are reaching by delivering humanitarian gifts and assistance.

Building

As people are being saved, missionaries request help with the construction of permanent buildings to serve these new congregations. Wings As Eagles assists by transporting skilled engineers, carpenters, electricians, and other men and women who are burdened and willing to use their abilities in these remote regions. Missionaries also request help with the maintenance of their aircraft. In some instances we supply parts and do simple repairs on the field. However, with the completion of our own Wings As Eagles hangar in 2005, we are able to do major repairs, as well as our own maintenance, here in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. To prepare young men to serve God in the future as missionary pilots and mechanics, Wings Flight Camp was established in 2003. During the first week in August, campers are challenged from God’s Word by veteran missionaries and pastors, and are given a well-rounded introduction to aircraft maintenance and flight instruction.

HISTORY

Wings As Eagles Mission Air Service was founded in 1984 and serves fundamental Baptist churches and their missionaries. Our main purpose is to help churches and their missionaries in their “Great Commission” goals by taking pastors and their people on short missionary trips. This enables them to enlarge their vision for the souls around the world that need Christ as Saviour and it gives them a greater understanding and burden for their missionary’s needs.

Our representatives present the ministry in various churches around the United States, and we challenge each pastor to take a mission trip with some of the men of his church. A date and destination are set and the trip is scheduled, usually about a year in advance. Once on the field, we distribute literature and assist the missionary wherever possible, including holding evangelistic meetings and building church structures. We seek to meet the physical needs of the people we are reaching through medical aid, dental care, distribution of clothing and food supplies. Upon the return from the trip, the church usually hosts a mission conference. During this time, the pastor, our representative, and those who went on the trip challenge the entire congregation to do more for missions.

Wings As Eagles is non-sectarian in its humanitarian outreach. We are a nonprofit aviation ministry, reaching into Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean area. Our pilots are all highly qualified, trained, and experienced. From 1984 to 2010 Wings As Eagles flew its aircraft over 3,478 hours, traveled over 533,172 nautical miles, led 183 trips, and transported 1,384 people to the mission field! We thank God for the privilege of serving Him in this great work.

Get Involved

Missions Trips
Support

Chris Holaday

Contact Information

(254) 432-1265
[email protected]

Biography

Chris publicly professed salvation in Christ, without possessing salvation, at the age of 17. He spent the next 6 years learning how to “live” as a Christian and do all those things that the Bible tells us Christians should do after salvation. It wasn’t until in 2002, at the age of 23, while stationed in 29 Palms (MCAGCC) during his time in the Marine Corps, that he came under deep conviction of his need for salvation. During Bible College classes at Calvary Baptist Church in Yucca Valley, California, the realization that he’d not accepted Christ as his personal Savior became frighteningly evident. After hearing a message on the Passover from Exodus 12, he thought to himself, “I never accepted, by faith, the shed blood of Christ on Calvary’s cross for my sin debt.” After class that night, he reviewed the Gospel of Christ and how a person accepts eternal life through faith in Christ with his teacher. He then bowed his knee and received true forgiveness of his sins that very moment. Since then, Chris has striven to live a life of faithful, obedient service to his Savior.

Rachael was saved when she was 6 years old, at Calvary Baptist Church in Yucca Valley, California. She was in her children’s church class, on Sunday morning in 1988, and became convicted of her sin. She went to the back of the class and was led to the Lord by her teacher, Mrs. Jeanette Gordon. She was raised in a Christian home and attended church her entire life. It was not until she was 16 that the Lord spoke to her about her walk with Him. She felt as though she could not be saved if, in her heart, she knew that she was not where God wanted her to be. She spoke with her mom about her salvation experience, reviewed God’s word regarding what it meant to be saved, and she received assurance of the decision she had made ten years earlier. It was during this time of prayer that she rededicated her life to the Lord.

Brother Holaday retired from the US military after 20 years of service and, along with his family, immediately began serving as missionaries during pre-field ministry while presenting God’s calling to missions and the ministry tool of mission aviation.  Chris’ introduction to Wings began in 2019 while serving alongside the team at Flight Camp as a guest instructor. Since then, the Lord has seen fit to knit their hearts together with the folks at Wyldewood and the Wings As Eagles missionaries and has directed their hearts to accept the offer to join the Wings team. Chris serves as the Wings ministry’s  Chief Flight Instructor and assists in everything from maintenance, flying, preaching, teaching, and even janitorial work, wherever they can be used in service to God!

During their transition to Wings As Eagles, their personal support has diminished a little. They are presently at 75% support. The Holaday family is available to schedule meetings to present the ministry of the Wings As Eagles ministry and the family’s calling to missions. Feel free to contact Brother Holaday.

Rich Young

Contact Information

(916) 849-4540
[email protected]

Biography

Just a few words of Praise to God for His goodness to my wife and me. We have been so blessed through the years as God has allowed us to serve Him on so many short term mission trips in the Unites States and around the world. We are blessed to be a part of Wings As Eagles. As I have often said the main things about short term trips is not the work that is accomplished but it is the fellowship with each other and being a blessing to the Missionaries we visit. I count it all joy to have served as a short term Missionary for so many years. Our thanks goes out to all who have prayed for us and given support over the years. God is not through with us yet. Praise Him. 

Sam Sanderlin

Contact Information

(920) 376-2589
[email protected]

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Biography

Sam was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1978 to Tim and Janet Sanderlin. Tim served 20 years in the United States Army. Sam’s dad led him to the Lord when he was six years old, and soon afterwards Sam was baptized. He grew in the Lord as a young person through regular church attendance, solid family life, Christian school, and Bible camps. When he was twelve years old, Sam surrendered his life to the Lord at a Bible camp with a burden for missions. He learned to walk closer to the Lord as a teenager under a solid pastor, and in high school he earned his private pilot’s license with a strong interest in missionary aviation. Sam prepared for ministry at Bible college and seminary earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Theology and Bible. Sam loves teaching the Bible, and he started a local church Bible institute in Cameroon and has taught in several others.

While attending seminary Sam met Abby Burtt from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Abby was born in 1977 and grew up in a Christian home as well. She was saved at a young age and surrendered to missions as a teenager, believing that the Lord would have her study to become a nurse. After Abby graduated from Bible college, she spent a month on the mission field of Suriname helping missionaries in their labor. After this missions trip she passed her state boards becoming a Registered Nurse. She worked for several years gaining needed experience in nursing. She also started a ladies missionary prayer band at her church in Michigan.

Sam and Abby were married in 2005, and they began life and ministry together. They moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where Sam interned with Wyldewood Baptist Church and Wings As Eagles for the summer. One of the highlights of the summer was the three weeks they spent with the Rushing family at Beacon Bible Camp in Uranium City, Canada. They were burdened to stay with Wings As Eagles after their summer was over, and Sam was commissioned to serve with Wings As Eagles on April 2, 2006. Their daughter, Elena, was born in July of 2006, their son, Elias, was born in July of 2008, their daughter Chloe was born in Cameroon in June of 2010, and their daughter Caitlyn was born in Cameroon in March of 2015.

The Lord has used the Sanderlin family as they have served with Wings As Eagles since 2005 and in Cameroon as missionaries since 2009. They have enjoyed working with the Tom Needham family, other missionaries, and many Cameroon national preachers in the ministry.

Church Planting in Cameroon
The Lord has used Sam and Abby to reach the people in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. They have planted independent, fundamental, Baptist churches in villages along the 240 mile long Ring Road and in the villages beyond the roads in rugged mountainous terrain. Where the pavement of the Ring Road ends, the Sanderlins have reached out to the regions beyond through long treks, dirt bike, four-wheel drive vehicles, and their airplane.

Sam is an instrument-rated commercial pilot with tailwheel and mountain flying proficiency. He is flying a Glasair GlaStar, a very capable bush airplane, which Wings As Eagles purchased from brother Needham. The Lord graciously provided these funds through the Sanderlin’s supporting churches, friends, and family to completely pay for the plane in under five years. Brother Needham is flying a Glasair Sportsman aircraft, a larger version of the GlaStar, which Wings As Eagles helped him build and fly to Cameroon in 2008. These two planes are primarily used for transport of gospel preachers, missionaries, and medical teams in support of independent Baptist church planters. They are also used to transport government workers, emergency workers, and medical patients as the need arises.

Pray for safety in flying and provision for regular and unexpected maintenance needs for these two airplanes. Both brother Needham and brother Sanderlin are FAA certified mechanics, and they also welcome the help of other mechanics who come to inspect the aircraft regularly. A third aircraft has already been built for the ministry, and brother Needham is waiting for the right time to have this aircraft flown to Cameroon. The aviation ministry in Cameroon is in need of a larger hangar to facilitate the regular operations of these three airplanes.

The Sanderlins are presently planning to learn French in order to more effectively minister in this bilingual country of Cameroon. Pray for this church planting team to effectively reach people with the gospel. Please pray for the Sanderlins as they preach salvation through Jesus Christ and start independent, fundamental, Baptist churches in Cameroon, West Africa.

Sam Coman

Contact Information

(920) 422-4568
[email protected]

Biography

Samuel and his wife Kim were both saved at a young age and were raised going to church.  When both of them were in their teen years they moved to Florida and met at church youth group.  Samuel attended Pensacola Bible Institute and graduated in 2013.  While attending college Samuel felt the Lord’s calling to preach and began seeking God’s will for full-time service.

After graduating from college Samuel and Kim were married and moved to Oshkosh.  Shortly after joining Wyldewood Baptist Church, Samuel and Kim helped start a teen ministry for bus children and worked in that ministry for over five years.  After praying and seeking God’s will for their lives, Samuel and Kim joined Wings As Eagles in 2016.

In July 2017 Samuel was ordained at Wyldewoood Baptist Church and the Comans were sent out as missionaries with Wings As Eagles.  The Lord has also blessed them with a wonderful son Elliott and a beautiful daughter Marcella.  The Coman family is on deputation to raise support, develop mission trips, and promote flight camp.

Wings as Eagles Mission Air Service is a ministry of Wyldewood Baptist Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  The purpose of Wings As Eagles is to help involve and expose pastors and local church people to the mission field and assist missionaries on the field in their church-planting efforts.

Samuel and Kim’s burden is three fold: 1) evangelize the lost around the world, 2) take Christians to the mission field so that they may have a better heart for missions, 3) encourage and aid missionaries and pastors across the world with: children’s ministry, evangelistic campaigns, building projects, scripture distribution, aviation support, etc.  Wings As Eagles takes mission trips to Mexico, Canada, Africa, the Caribbean, and many other places in the United States.

Bart Case

Contact Information

(920) 379-5129
[email protected]

Biography

Barton Case was born in Indiana, the younger of two children in a non-Christian home. His aunt led him to the Lord in 1969, when he was 16 years old, and several weeks later he answered God’s call to preach the gospel. Within the next year he had the joy of seeing his parents, his older sister, and her husband all come to know the Lord and follow Him in believer’s baptism.

Brother Case’s interest in aviation began early in his life as he watched commercial airliners fly over his house to land at what is now the Indianapolis International Airport. He joined the US Air Force upon his graduation from high school, and after being discharged from the USAF in May of 1974, he enrolled in Bible college to prepare for the ministry. During his first year of college he met his future wife Nancy, and they were married the following summer. After graduation from Bible college Brother Case served as assistant pastor for several years in Florida; and then for 10 years in Greenville, South Carolina, he taught in a Christian school, worked in the church youth ministries, and preached in the jail ministry and rescue mission.

During the years spent in Greenville the Lord blessed the Case family with four children: their older son Craig is now married and lives in New York, where he and his wife, both graduates of Pensacola Christian College, are active in their local church. Their older daughter Maria lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and attends college there. Their two younger children, Anna and William, both attend Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Florida.

In March of 1990 the Cases moved to South Range, Michigan, where Brother Case served as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church for over ten years. Pastor Case led CBC into faith promise missions and saw the church become a strong missions-minded church with numerous outreach ministries including a local jail ministry, nursing home and adult foster care ministries, soul winning and evangelism, youth ministry, Blue Denim and Lace Club, annual mission trips, church orchestra, and Bearing Precious Seed scripture publishing ministry.

During a conference in a neighboring state Pastor Case met Brother Bob Warinner, Director of Wings As Eagles Mission Air Service, and CBC began taking mission trips with Wings As Eagles to Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Canada. The Lord used this relationship with WAE to change the course of Brother Case’s ministry.

In September of 2000 Brother Case left CBC to move his family to Wyldewood Baptist Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to work fulltime with Wings As Eagles Mission Air Service. Brother Case is gifted in building trades and mechanical skills, and these talents are now used to help both missionaries and local churches through the Wings ministry. Brother Case is also a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, as well as a licensed pilot.

Please consider having this couple come to your church. They are currently at 49% of their support and need your prayers as they seek to glorify God through the Wings As Eagles ministry.

Bob Warinner

Contact Information

(920) 509-3594
[email protected]

Biography

Brother Bob Warinner, the founder of Wings As Eagles, was born at home in Cushing, Minnesota, on December 1, 1937. Bob is number seven in a family of ten, five girls and five boys, one of which died at the age of two. Bob’s father was a lay preacher and possessed a commercial pilot’s license, as well as an aircraft mechanic’s license. In March of 1945 Bob’s father was killed in a mid-air collision between two Piper J-3 Cubs, when Bob was seven years of age. Though his home-going was devastating to the family, his accident did not deter the four remaining boys’ interest in aviation. All four of the boys learned to fly, with three of them becoming commercial airline pilots.

Bob’s career as a pilot began at the age of fourteen when he began to work with his older brother Larry in Nisswa, Minnesota, at the Heywood Gull Lake Airport. Part of Bob’s pay was one hour flying time a week. Larry, who is seven years older, gave Bob his one hour per week flight instruction, allowing him to go solo for the first time in July of 1952 at the ripe old age of fifteen. Bob obtained his pilot’s licenses at the minimum age and received his Flight Instructor’s Certificate at age twenty. At age twenty-one, Bob was hired by Frontier Airlines in Denver, Colorado, and flew for Frontier for the next twenty-seven years.

Having been raised in a Christian home, Bob finally saw his need of salvation and trusted Christ as his Saviour at age eighteen. Shortly thereafter Bob read the book Jungle Pilot, about the life of Missionary Nate Saint, who was martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador. God used that book to speak to Bob’s heart and call him into missionary aviation work, but Bob rejected that call and instead went to fly with Frontier Airlines.

The call to missionary aviation remained deep in Bob’s heart, and twenty-three years and much spiritual growth later, God rekindled that call on his life, making Bob restless as an airline captain flying the Boeing 737. Dissatisfied with his service, or lack of service, for the Lord, Bob saw a need through some Godly men that would change his life forever. One of those men encouraged Bob to go on a mission trip to Mexico with him, which Bob did in April of 1984. Serving with the missionary and his family for a week and seeing the desperate need of the people and their hunger for the gospel message broke Bob’s heart and gave him the clear direction for his life that he had been longing for.

After much prayer and soul searching, in July of 1984 Bob, his dear wife Juanita, and their children asked the Lord for guidance and for a name for the ministry that God had burdened Bob to begin. Isaiah 40:31 came to mind and they decided that the Lord would have them call their new ministry Wings As Eagles Mission Air Service. Brother Warinner’s burden and purpose for the Wings As Eagles ministry is to encourage local fundamental Baptist churches in missions by taking pastors and their people on short-term mission trips, allowing God to affect their hearts through their eye gates, as stated in Lamentations 3:51, and to be a pipeline of blessing between the church and the missionary on the field.

Brother Warinner owned a Beech Bonanza at the time and started the ministry with that aircraft, later trading the Bonanza for a Piper Aztec. In 1995 the Aztec was sold and replaced with the Piper Chieftain, which is still in the Lord’s service with Wings As Eagles.

Terry Rushing

Contact Information

(501) 454-6131
[email protected]

Biography

Terry and his wife Sarah were both saved at an early age and grew up attending church and Christian schools. Upon their high school graduations, the Lord impressed upon both of their hearts to attend Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Terry had a strong interest in Christian missions and aviation. As a result, he enrolled in and completed a five-year Missionary Aviation degree. Sarah, who also felt God’s leading toward the mission field, majored in missions at BJU.

During their college years, both Terry and Sarah were involved in short-term missionary outreaches to Northern Canada. It was while during the first summer of these mission teams that Terry and Sarah met each other. Shortly after Terry’s graduation from college, the two were married and began their lives and ministry together. The Lord has given them three wonderful children: Michael, Karis and Bradley.

After their wedding, Terry accepted an aviation job in the same community where he had ministered on the mission team, Uranium City, Saskatchewan, Canada. They served there assisting in a church-planting and Bible camp ministry for eleven years. In 2002, God redirected their vision to the ministry of Wings As Eagles Mission Air Service.  

Wings As Eagles Mission Air Service is a ministry of Wyldewood Baptist Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In 1995, Wyldewood became the home and sending church for the Rushings and commissioned them for missionary service. The purpose of Wings As Eagles is to help involve and expose pastors and local church people to the mission field and assist missionaries on the field in their church-planting efforts.

Terry and Sarah’s burden is for lost souls and assisting the vision for missions in the local churches. Wings As Eagles takes mission trips to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean elsewhere in the United States, and now even to Africa to work with fundamental Baptist church-planting missionaries.