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May 2023 Newsletter

Praise the Lord for all his goodness! We want to thank you who have been part of the TEAM by your prayers and support. God is working as we continue to ready the aircraft for the next step of your ministry outreach.

Paul, the ministry pilot, and I are thankful that we were able to fly into the Bahamas with an aircraft borrowed from a ministry called Aero Missions. We saw a very productive two weeks after handing out several thousand tracts, and going door to door while visiting on 7 islands. We believe God opened the hearts of 10 individuals to the gospel on this one trip alone, and most were older adults professing to receive Jesus as Savior. A big “Thank you” to Bro. Jon Stanczak and Aero Missions for the use of your plane.

As we left one of these islands, my heart was quite touched for the need for laborers to work the fields. Remember, Jesus told his disciples to look on the fields? Well, that is what we are doing. Folks, it appears that in today’s world, the older laborers are retiring, or have retired long ago, and not many are following them. They are leaving behind empty spaces for laborers to reach the multitudes with the gospel. I certainly felt grateful, along with my son Paul, to have made this mission trip to go to another part of the world where aviation is essential to reach out to unreached people. This was our first successful outreach using ministry aircraft.

Please pray as we ready the two His Wings ministry planes for the Lord’s use in our future field service in Alaska and the new outreach in the Bahamas. There are many untold people that need to hear the good news that Jesus saves.

We are looking forward to the steps we are taking this year in Alaska. It all takes time, more time than we would like to admit. Helping Paul build his cabin in Hyder is a project. We hope to be starting on the hangar soon, so it is ready when we get the plane to our field in AK, and also reaching our area of outreach here during our window of weather that allows us to fly. That window is during spring, summer, and fall. The planes are still being worked on so we cannot be in too big of a hurry. Bro. Rushing from Wings of Eagles ministry in Oshkosh, WI has been a huge blessing along with all our friends from the ministry there. Bro. Rushing is presently working to restore the Cessna 185 Paul and I retrieved from Papua New Guinea last year, trying to re-certify it with FAA approval. This is not a small task, but we know God’s timing is perfect.

The other plane is the Cessna 180. It is being painted and readied for flight as well. Thank you, Bro. Randy Dorsey from Riverland Baptist Church for all you have done, for keeping our plane in your hangar in Dunnellon, FL, and preparing it for paint and inspection.

Well, in closing, may God bless each of you in a very special way. Thanks for helping lift the wings of His Wings Air and sponsoring the BEAM Team.

Sincerely,

Mark J Bach

Team Representative

September 2022 Newsletter

Greetings once again from the BEAM Team.

We are excited to see progress on the Lord’s two airplanes that he has put under our stewardship to reach souls out yonder. Since our last report, God has blessed in a great way with the transport of the aircraft that my son Paul and I were able to get from Papua New Guinea. As you know, we flew to PNG in April and went to Lae and removed the wings, and placed the plane and wings in a container and shipped it to southern California. We are glad it arrived in California safely where Paul, his wife, and a church helped to take it out of the shipping container and packed it up on our flat bed trailer. Then, Paul and his family traveled all the way to Tennessee, and then to Wisconsin with God’s precious cargo.

God’s aircraft now needs to go through the process of reassembly in the Wings of Eagles Baptist ministry that is helping us there. We truly are grateful for God’s people helping in every step of the way. The Lord’s other aircraft in Florida is being worked on as well and is also being prepared for the mission field. That means we will have two planes- one plane for Alaska and Canada, and the other plane for the Caribbean. We are excited about how God has supplied for every step of the way. I have seen God do this since he spoke to me about starting an aviation ministry back in 2002. I am seeing the verse “…that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6. Praise his name!

We are still planning on doing evangelism and aviation outreach in the Caribbean in the winter as God makes the way. The reason for a dual focus is the fact that weather in Alaska is so bad October through May, that not even our mail is able to fly to where we live during the rough weather seasons in Hyder. Please look it up for yourself on google weather. It is a very dangerous place to fly in monsoon and winter weather. This is the time when flying in the Caribbean is at an optimum. We plan to make another trip there this year, Lord willing, where Paul, our missionary pilot son, can see the fields as well. We are excited about new horizons where we can continue our aviation evangelism, discipleship, and church planting focus in all seasons. Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35

We have learned, and I am sure you have, that when God guides, he always provides! Thanks for your help in this greatly needed outreach. I believe the time is short and the Lord’s coming is drawing near. Jesus said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4

Thank you to those who pray for and have helped in this ministry. We are still praying about the right land for God’s hangar in Alaska. God already supplied for his hangar. We appreciate everyone who has given toward this project. One big blessing is that while we have been waiting for the right property, for the hangar, we are seeing prices of materials (like metal for instance) go down.

Please pray as this winter we also plan to be available to present the Baptist Evangelism Aviation Ministry in churches who would like to get involved. This makes a way for others to get involved in the Great Commission to reach the regions beyond. This will help lift the heavy flight burden. Thank you so much to those who pray for and those who support BEAM. Also a special thanks for all who gave toward the hangar and land for God’s aircraft and ministry. We have a little farther to go to reach our goal for land. Our hangar goal of $80,000 was exceeded. Praise the Lord!

God bless you all is our prayer. Sincerely,

Bro. Mark J. Bach – Director

January 2022 Newsletter

Greetings from the BEAM Team,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We just wanted to give you an update of all God is doing. We are excited to go to PNG to get the Cessna 185 airplane that was donated by Missionary Jim Blume. God used this tool there for many years. Now, we trust God will use it to help us in our aviation ministry as well. Please pray for safety and the Lord’s blessing for those that go there to retrieve this evangelism tool (Lord willing). We need to remove the wings and the tail to fit it in a container to be trucked out of a very remote place. Pray the roads are navigable and we have no problem trucking it as well as shipping it back to the USA. Pray for Paul and those who help to get it done. Thanks for your help.

Along another note, we are looking forward to building the airplane hangar in Hyder, Alaska. We want to give a special thank you for those who are helping us on the hangar fund. We have presented this need in almost every available service since we left Hyder on November 3rd and the Lord is bringing in the funds. We still have a ways to go to reach our goals. Now, we have almost $50,000 promised for land and hanger. I am trying to reduce our original goal of about $150,000 for land and hangar to closer to $110,000 if we can get the land owner to divide the land and sell us just the amount to fit the hangar and that’s it. The problem is that there is very little land available that would work for us and we have to go with what is available. Please pray the Lord would work this out, and that it would be workable with the land owner and he would be willing to sell us what we need.

The Lord knows what He wants us to do. I trust He will supply all our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We want to start and finish the project this summer. It is going to take a joint effort by God’s people who get a vision as the Lord enables and equips us to do what He wants accomplished in this region and ministry.

We are excited we have all our paperwork to make His Wings Air Service a reality. Donations go through our home church to Baptist Evangelism Aviation Ministry. BEAM is the funding arm for His Wings. The verse we are choosing for His Wings ministry is “…under His wings thou shalt trust.” We trust God will keep us safe as we fly in His aircraft back and forth, to and from the remote villages of Alaska and Canada.

THANK YOU so much for your help! This is an investment in God’s business. Jesus said, “Know ye not I must be about my Father’s business?” You too are investing in our Heavenly Father’s Business. Do you think God will leave you at loss for having done so? I think not. It is not a liability to give to the Lord but an opportunity. His Wings Air Service belongs to the Lord and is a non profit 501-C3 ministry. We are laborers together with God, in His business, to reach the lost at any cost. Thank you for your participation. May God bless each and every one!

Until next time this is your representative for souls out yonder,

Mark J. Bach
BEAM and His Wings Air Director and President

What do you Value?

The date was April 30th, 1975, in the hours just before the final tragic overrun of South Vietnam by the communist, North Vietnamese fighters. After decades of fighting, the United States Armed Forces were pulling out their last tiny foothold in Saigon, South Vietnam and the region was in turmoil. South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians alike were frantic to get out, to escape the torture, death, and destruction that were sure to follow the arrival of North Vietnamese forces.

The last commercial and military flights out of the country were jam packed with desperate refugees. Others took to the sea in anything that would float in an attempt to reach safety. Tragically, for most, there was no way out.

Operation Frequent Wind was launched in an a last ditch effort to evacuate all US personnel and as many South Vietnamese as possible. An aircraft carrier, the USS Midway, was one of the many ships ordered to the waters off Vietnam to aid in the evacuation effort. Soon, South Vietnamese pilots flying Huey Helicopters filled with people began arriving in the skies above the carrier. In short order, the flight decks were a bee hive of activity as helicopters landed and the refugees were unloaded.

Meanwhile, back in Vietnam, Major Buang Ly, a South Vietnamese Air Force pilot loaded his family aboard a small reconnaissance airplane. He knew the USS Midway was supposed to be located somewhere off the coast. The two passenger Cessna O-1 “Bird Dog” was dangerously over loaded with himself, his wife, and five small children. To make matters worse, he couldn’t know for sure if he’d be able to even locate the US aircraft carrier. However, he had no other options. Knowing the odds, yet having weighed the cost, he took off with his precious cargo and headed out to sea.

A crew member aboard the USS Midway spotted a small reconnaissance airplane flying toward to aircraft carrier. All attempts to establish radio communications with the tiny airplane failed as it flew nearer and began circling low over the ship. After successfully evading enemy ground fire and navigating without a radio, the pilot, Major Buang Ly, had miraculously found the Midway.

However, the ordeal was far from over. He quickly noticed that the carrier flight deck was jam packed with helicopters. Even if the deck had been clear there was still the problem of an extremely short landing area, far shorter than the length normally required for his airplane.

After several futile attempts at dropping a message to the ship, Mr. Ly scribbled a brief note on a chart. He stuffed it into his pistol, and on a low pass tossed his weapon onto the deck of the ship. It read, “Can you move these Helicopters to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly one hour more, we have enough time to move. Please rescue me. Major Bung, wife and 5 child.”

The message was quickly carried to the ship’s commanding officer, Capt. Larry Chambers, who quickly realized the gravity of the situation. Mr. Ly didn’t have enough fuel to make it back to land. Captain Chambers immediately ordered all available hands on deck and gave orders to start pitching helicopters overboard. Though he believed his decision would get him court marshaled after only five weeks of command, spotters had reported that there were at least four people in the two person aircraft, including children. There was no other choice!

Over the next few frantic minutes, over ten million dollars worth of helicopters were pitched into the South China Sea. Even as the crew worked to clear the deck, five more Hueys landed. These too where quickly unloaded and scuttled.

The weather was definitely not ideal, it was raining, the overcast ceiling was low, and the wind was blowing, but there was no time to lose. The Captain ordered the ship full speed ahead in order for the wind over the flight deck to reduce the landing distance required by the little Cessna. He also had warnings broadcast over the radio in both English and Vietnamese warning of the treacherous wake turbulence that would be present behind the moving carrier. Dangerously low on fuel, Major Buang finally received the green light to attempt the landing.

Landing a land plane on a carrier without a tail hook would be no easy task but the die was cast, and there was no turning back. Major Buang lowered full flaps and slowed down to just above stalling speed. As the crew watched with bated breath, the tiny plane cleared the threshold and touched down on the center line at the normal touchdown point. He bounced once and quickly came to a stop with room to spare, to the cheers of the carrier crew. His family was safe!

This article illustrates how much one captain was willing to sacrifice to save a Vietnamese pilot and his family. Shouldn’t we be willing to pay whatever it costs to save those who have never heard the good news of the gospel? That is why our motto is “reaching the lost at any cost.” Aircraft are not cheap. The Navy pitched ten million dollars worth of helicopters into the ocean to save one family. We are asking the Lord to provide an airplane to be used to reach whole villages, families, or even just one individual if necessary, who has never heard the Gospel. Imagine yourself in the place of that one individual. Is it worth it?