Nate Saint 2: Glimpses for Kids worship bulletin

Serving God from the Sky
After leaving the armed forces, Nate got his commercial pilot's license, hoping to become an airline pilot like his brother Sam. However, one day a missionary called Nate and asked him to come to Mexico to fix a plane that had crashed in the jungle. Nate went, fixed the badly damaged plane and decided to become a missionary pilot instead.

As a missionary supply pilot, Nate spent a lot of time delivering food and medical supplies to missionary families. He also flew the missionaries to villages that would have taken them many days to walk to in the thick jungle. In addition, he invented several safety devices to help make jungle flights safer.

Nate often had to drop supplies out of the plane while he was flying over a village, because there was no place to land the plane. The goods would often get stuck in the treetops or end up broken on the ground. So Nate invented a way to lower supplies in a bucket attached to his plane by a rope. The bucket would hang completely still as Nate circled overhead, allowing the missionaries to remove their supplies.

Nate's Final Flight
One day while flying over the jungle, Nate noticed a village that he had not seen before. It belonged to a Stone Age Indian tribe known then as the Aucas (Ow-cuz), known now as the Waodani (Wah-oh-dah-nee). The Aucas had killed every outsider they'd found in their territory. Nate and four other missionaries began planning a way to tell the Aucas about Jesus.

For several months, Nate flew over the village, dropping gifts to the Aucas to show friendliness. After much prayer, he and the others decided to land on a beach near the Auca village. They built a tree house to sleep in until they could see if the Indians were friendly. The Aucas were not friendly, though. They attacked the missionaries, killing them all. U.S. Army officials later went to the beach, found the bodies of the five missionaries and quickly buried them. The Waodani have since become a friendly tribe. Many are now Christians.

Nate Saint may not have been fit to be a fighter pilot, but he was more than able to fly for God. Because of his death at the hands of the Auca Indians, many others have been inspired to give their lives to be used by God, too. His sister, Rachel Saint, lived with the Waodani for 40 years until she died in 1994. Nate's son, Steve Saint, became a pilot just like his dad. He and others continue the work among the Waodani today.

Make It Real! Questions to make you dig a little deeper and think a little harder.

After the Aucas killed the first five missionaries, how do you think the other missionaries had enough courage to go and live among the Aucas?
Have you ever done anything for God that you were scared to do?
What inventions do you think have been the most useful for helping to spread the Gospel around the world? Why?
Why do you think the Aucas were so ferocious at first and refused the offer of friendship extended to them by the missionaries?

Nate Saint Fit to Fly ... for God