1/13 WINGS OF FAITH

#History #Nigeria #Aviation #Prayers

It's an excellent occasion to discuss the flight Ops of Living Faith Church, because...

(Photo: Example of the Hawker Siddeley 125, the first aircraft acquired by Winners) https://images.app.goo.gl/gbdRYBzLmGefXwuk6

2/13. its annual Convocation, Shiloh, is ongoing ATM.

Aka Winners Chapel, LFC bought its first airplane in 1996. It was a HS 125 Series 400. It was managed for the church by the Nigerian aviation company, Rumugu Air & Space and was flown out of Rumugu's...

3/13. base at "Old Local", Ikeja, by indigenous pilots.

The 8-seat short range twinjet of British manufacture did domestic Ops & on the West Coast, Accra. It was reg'd 5N-WMA, with WMA a play on World Mission Agency, a unit of the church.

Early in the...

4/13. new millennium, Winners upgraded from the 125 Series 400 to a Hawker 800. Built by the same company as the 125, the 800 offered higher speeds, more range, better climb rates, & cruised at higher altitudes. It was on the US reg., but flown by local...

5/13. jockeys. The 800 was managed by the Ikeja air charter house, Wings Aviation (help, anybody?)

Soon, a US-built Beech 1900D twin turboprop, which has 18-seats in its commuter role, was inducted. Its reg. no. was 5N-PTL, which turned out to be...

6/13. Praise The Lord!

It was in this era that the Dept. was referred to as Dominion Aviation.

With time, the Hawker 800 was replaced by a Challenger 604, which is a twin engined medium range machine from Canada. Most Challengers have 12 seats & in all...

7/13. respects are a jump on the capabilities of a Hawker 800.

Time progressed & the Dept. moved into its own Hangar, a smart edifice located within the grounds of the domestic section of MMIA

In what may be a first in the spread of the Gospel in Nigeria...

8/13. Winners was soon operating a helicopter. The Agusta 109 Power is a 6-seat machine of Italian origins, flown by Nigerian pilots, under the local register.

These days, the church flies a Challenger 605, which replaced the 604 in 2018, for certain...

9/13. improvements even though the 605 is the same size & appraisal in some ways, as the 604.

So, over the years, there have been four jets, a turboprop & a helicopter.

But LFC aren't the first...

(Aerial view of Winners Chapel HQ at Ota, Ogun St.)

10/13. indigenous faithful to evangelize through our skies. That title goes to Bethel Ministries, who flew the Rockwell Jet Commander, a 6-seat short range airplane of US design.

Apart from Winners just now, the other Nigerian preachers airborne are RCCG...

11/13. with the 14-seat long range Gulfstream G550, which is twin engined & comes from the US. RCCG also have a helicopter, & a Hangar as well.

All said & done, the story of LFC aloft is a story of inspiration, which goes all the way back to when Winners...

12/13. were just Bishop Oyedepo, a few members, & worship in rooms in residential buildings someplace. But such is the raw faith of the man that at that time he saw the commission on wings & refused to let go, nurturing it over decades of prayers & a...

13/13. single minded devotion to the Gospel. That is the foundation AND THE PRICE of the Aviation Department we admire today. ENDS.