Want To Get Married At AirVenture? Sure, You Can Do That
By ANN Contributor Rose Dorcey
A recent and therefore little-known addition to the huge
schedule of activities at AirVenture takes place bright and early
on convention mornings. You may not know it, but while you're at
AirVenture, there's a small group of people praying over the
convention activities - praying for the pilots, for safe air shows,
and for a safe return home for all visitors.
At the Fellowship of the Wing Prayer Breakfast, held in the
Fergus Chapel on the AirVenture grounds, everyone who walks in the
door can join a half-hour prayer session. They can also hear faith
stories from several fascinating -- and sometimes prominent --
people in aviation and aerospace.
EAA Chaplain Ed Riddick says the fellowship service welcomes
people of all faiths. He says the chapel is there to provide a
place for visitors to pray for themselves and others.
Riddick began the morning breakfast fellowship last year, after
collaborating with Greg Anderson, former vice-president of the EAA
Foundation. The two were looking for a way to expand the ministry
of the EAA Chapel during the convention. They hit upon the idea of
the early morning prayer breakfasts.
The first service was lightly attended, but by the end of the
week. Strictly through word-of-mouth, attendance began to grow.
Riddick invited Anderson and Astronaut Steve Nagle, a Mission
Specialist on shuttles Discovery and Atlantis, to share their faith
stories and the importance of worship in their lives.
With the success of the 2003 event, the Fellowship of the Wing
Prayer Breakfast is on this year's schedule as well. The fellowship
breakfast runs from Wednesday, July 28, through Sunday, August 1.
It begins each day at 0715.
If you get there a few minutes early, you have the opportunity
to get to know those around you, while enjoying a continental
breakfast. Anderson, now the CEO at Wings Over the Rockies Air
Museum, Denver (CO), is scheduled to share his story on how he
intermingles his faith with flying. Sandy Toomer, with Missionary
Aviation Fellowship, and Bruce Wolf, director of Brigade Air, a
flight camp for teens, are also scheduled to speak.
Riddick, an instrument rated pilot, has been with the
Experimental Aviation Association for ten years. He learned to fly
at a small grass strip, Central County Airport (68C) just west of
Oshkosh. He currently flies a Beechcraft Sundowner and a Piper
Cherokee. He is excited about sharing his faith with AirVenture
visitors, saying, "What greater service can we offer, than to
provide a blanket of prayer over the convention activities?"
The Fergus Chapel was the first permanent building built on the
EAA grounds. Former EAA Board member Bob Fergus of Columbus (OH)
donated it as a memorial to his brother, John, in 1981. The rustic
chapel has charming, worn wooden floors, a substantial fieldstone
fireplace, and lovely stained glass windows. Old wooden pews were
resurrected from a church in Cassville (WI) and brought to Oshkosh
by Paul Poberezny. Just outside the chapel is the Memorial Wall,
where plaques are displayed in memory of members and friends of EAA
who have passed on.
In addition to Sunday morning non-denominational services held
throughout the year, and daily fellowship during the fly-in, the
chapel setting is perfect for weddings, baptisms, and memorial
services. Riddick performs several such services each year.