Judah 1, an aviation ministry based in Shreveport, LA is planning to make the world’s first Christian airline next year to transport large teams of missionaries and their cargo across the globe.
“We give wings to missionaries. The Great Commission tells us we go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” Everett Aaron, Judah 1 founder and president explained to CBN News.
While the ministry currently transports missionaries onto the mission field, a commercial fleet would be able to carry larger teams and cargo.
“We're able to get out into the mission field to take smaller teams, 12 to 10 member teams...taking them into the field,” Aaron noted. “But in the future, once we get our certification, the 125 certifications for the large plane, then we can carry the larger teams of up to 136 with our MP83 and 17,000 pounds of cargo and, of course, we can go anywhere with those.”
Aaron explained to CBN News that God first gave him a vision of the aviation ministry all the way back in 1994.
“I see hundreds of these airplanes lined up as far as you can see,” he recounted. “They're full of food, medical supplies, Bibles. Engines are running on them, I can see the crew in the cockpit, I can see the flight attendants inside the plane...I mean these planes are ready to go and I get super excited because I knew in my spirit, these planes are missionary aircraft and they're taking supplies into the mission field.”
While missionary teams stood in line outside the planes, Aaron noted that none would board. He then asked God why no one was moving as he felt the grieving of the Holy Spirit.
“And the Lord spoke and he said, 'None of these people,' and when he said 'None of these people,' it wasn't just the missionaries, I saw the pilots on the planes, the flight attendants, the mechanics that maintain the planes, everybody that's associated with doing this stuff,” Aaron recalled. “He said, 'None of these people can do what they're called to do until you get the airplanes. This is my call on your life.”
In 2021, Aaron hopes to see Judah 1 transition from a private, non-profit organization to the world's first Christian airline so that the ministry can “go anywhere in the world.”
Aaron also noted that becoming an airline would also enable the ministry to possibly open their own flight school in the future. “We want to be able to train missionary pilots...it opens doors for us to do so many things," Aaron told CBN news.
Judah 1 has been “serving missions-minded Christian people of all denominations traveling to the mission fields of the world since 2011.”
Last year, the organization even helped CBN’s Operation Blessing transport teams and supplies to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian made landfall.
The aviation ministry’s motto is: “Your hands, God's love, our wings.”
Photo courtesy: Deniz Altindas/Unsplash
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
