When Betty Greene dreamed of flying as a teenage girl in the 1930’s, I’m sure people thought she was crazy.  As America faced wartime, Betty found herself stuck in a typical role for a young lady. Her family pushed her to become a nurse even as she dreamed of flying, but Betty persevered.

Eventually, Betty was able to earn her civilian pilot’s license and soon after joined a creative new military program called WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). While in WASP Betty learned to be a risk taker and an innovator.  She even participated in experimental high altitude piloting. When the WASP program was disbanded, Betty was only getting started. In addition to flying, she had another passion.  She loved the Lord.

It wasn’t long until Betty found a way to use the rapidly developing flight technology and her skill as a pilot to serve the Lord in an untraditional way.  On February 23, 1946, Betty took off in a red 1933 bi-plane with two Wycliffe Bible Translator missionaries as her passengers. This became the first flight ever taken by what we now know as Mission Aviation Fellowship, and it allowed these missionaries to reach impossibly difficult places in record times. The world of missions was changed forever.

At WMTEK, we value the spirit of innovation that was portrayed in Betty Greene.  To do what she did, she had to abandon the safety of the ground and fly into the unknown.  Her first passengers had to take courage and believe there was a better way than the way they had always known.  They had to innovate to be effective in mission.

Today we often take flight and other modern technologies for granted. It’s hard to remember how these developments changed our ability to do the work of the Gospel not so very long ago.  As we look toward the future I wonder how emerging technologies like Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things will impact our work? I also wonder who the first brave missionary will be to leave the safety of the ground.  

I hope I’m on that flight.