Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
Did you ever wonder how the gospel came to America? History tells us that somebody brought it here aboard a ship. Jesus communicated the Good News to his disciples and the curious crowds in Israel, but what happened after that? Following his miraculous conversion, the apostle Paul wrote half of the books in our New Testament, and through his preaching, traveling and written letters, he personally brought the gospel to the non-Jewish world.
Notice that God in His omniscience perfectly timed the arrival of Paul on the scene to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ around the Mediterranean only after the Roman Empire had built the most sophisticated and extensive paved road system the world had ever seen. Have you ever imagined what life would be like if you lived in a place where there are no paved roads? In the USA, we take them for granted, with over 2.65 million miles of them.
Christ commands His church to take the gospel everywhere to everyone. Researchers say that by the year 2030, there will be over one billion roadless people on planet earth, and infrastructure may never come to these places.
But what about using an airplane as the crucial transportation and communication link to these frontier communities? Since the 1940’s, that’s exactly how the job is getting done – through aviation sending agencies in partnership with frontier church planters and Bible translators.
So then, how do we find new workers for this specialized task? For many years, mission aviation groups recruited from airline and military veterans, but by the 1990’s, reductions in both of these industries led to diminishing returns from the effort. We’d have to plant the seed in a new generation and grow new recruits.
Founded by Bruce Wolff, the son of missionaries to Africa, Brigade Air has educated and challenged young people ages 13-18 to find their calling in mission aviation. After college, he left working in the industry and went back to school, then served as a missionary pilot in Arizona and Mexico for six years. Bruce established the Brigade Air youth aviation program in 2000, conducting camps in 21 states and five foreign countries, accident and injury free. Brigade Air inspired campers to take a road less traveled, making an eternal difference in remote places around the globe.
Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of this kind of work before. You’re not alone. It remains one of the church’s best kept secrets, and Brigade Air has been working to change that.
Bruce’s story is one of growing up as a troubled, shell-shocked kid in a nomadic family that moved nearly thirty times on three continents, surviving “Africa’s Bloodiest Coup” as a child – the Biafran War in Nigeria. His family evacuated Lagos and the actual jungle of Africa and landed in the concrete jungle of The Bowery, Manhattan, New York City in 1967, amid Viet Nam protests, race riots, and heroin needles on the sidewalk.
He went back to Africa after college, where his plane nearly crashed. He describes with brutal honesty how God led him from a turbulent beginning, slowly learning to trust Him one step at a time, resulting in emotional healing from his past, usefulness, and an eternal purpose for his life. He includes with refreshing candor and humor the missteps, mistakes, and losing the trail at points, ultimately founding and directing Brigade Air for 26 years. His story is filled with hope and encouragement in these days of fear, anxiety, and hopelessness.
In one of Paul’s letters, he wrote, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’” Paul had a road system under his feet for travelers. The USA has oceans on its coastline for voyagers.
Tsunamis. Earthquakes. War. Poverty. How does the gospel get through today when the roads are still missing? Aviation ministry is how. Get involved. Read the book. Ask God how He wants you to be part of the solution, so every nation and tribes and people and tongues hears the good news (Revelation 7:9).
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- When the roads are missing, it’s time to fly - May 26, 2026
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