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.

FMI: www.airventure.org