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Bob's Testimony
Brother Bob Warinner, the director of Wings As Eagles, was born at home in Cushing, Minnesota, on December 1, 1937. Bob is number seven in a family of ten, five girls and five boys, one of which died at the age of two. Bob's father was a lay preacher and possessed a commercial pilot's license, as well as an aircraft mechanic's license. In March of 1945 Bob's father was killed in a mid-air collision between two Piper J-3 Cubs, when Bob was seven years of age. Though his home-going was devastating to the family, his accident did not deter the four remaining boys' interest in aviation. All four of the boys learned to fly, with three of them becoming commercial airline pilots.
Bob's career as a pilot began at the age of fourteen when he began to work with his older brother Larry in Nisswa, Minnesota, at the Heywood Gull Lake Airport. Part of Bob's pay was one hour flying time a week. Larry, who is seven years older, gave Bob his one hour per week flight instruction, allowing him to go solo for the first time in July of 1952 at the ripe old age of fifteen. Bob obtained his pilot's licenses at the minimum age and received his Flight Instructor's Certificate at age twenty. At age twenty-one, Bob was hired by Frontier Airlines in Denver, Colorado, and flew for Frontier for the next twenty-seven years.
Having been raised in a Christian home, Bob finally saw his need of salvation and trusted Christ as his Saviour at age eighteen. Shortly thereafter Bob read the book Jungle Pilot, about the life of Missionary Nate Saint, who was martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador. God used that book to speak to Bob's heart and call him into missionary aviation work, but Bob rejected that call and instead went to fly with Frontier Airlines.
The call to missionary aviation remained deep in Bob's heart, and twenty-three years and much spiritual growth later, God rekindled that call on his life, making Bob restless as an airline captain flying the Boeing 737. Dissatisfied with his service, or lack of service, for the Lord, Bob saw a need through some Godly men that would change his life forever. One of those men encouraged Bob to go on a mission trip to Mexico with him, which Bob did in April of 1984. Serving with the missionary and his family for a week and seeing the desperate need of the people and their hunger for the gospel message broke Bob's heart and gave him the clear direction for his life that he had been longing for.
After much prayer and soul searching, in July of 1984 Bob, his dear wife Juanita, and their children asked the Lord for guidance and for a name for the ministry that God had burdened Bob to begin. Isaiah 40:31 came to mind and they decided that the Lord would have them call their new ministry Wings As Eagles Mission Air Service. Brother Warinner's burden and purpose for the Wings As Eagles ministry is to encourage local fundamental Baptist churches in missions by taking pastors and their people on short-term mission trips, allowing God to affect their hearts through their eye gates, as stated in Lamentations 3:51, and to be a pipeline of blessing between the church and the missionary on the field.
Brother Warinner owned a Beech Bonanza at the time and started the ministry with that aircraft, later trading the Bonanza for a Piper Aztec. In 1995 the Aztec was sold and replaced with the Piper Chieftain, which is still in the Lord's service with Wings As Eagles.
Bob's Itinerary
(To be announced)
If you would like to give a donation to the Warinner Family using PayPal, please click the DONATE button below. Thank you for your interest in making an online gift to support the ministry of Wings As Eagles. Your donation here will be credited to the Warinner Family for their personal and ministry support. THANK YOU!
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