Wichita Prayer
Pastor Ronda Kingwood, left, joins Wichita Mayor Lily Wu and others at a prayer service in the city council chambers the day after the plane crash. (Photo courtesy Travis Heying/Wichita Eagle)
Great Plains Annual Conference | Feb 04, 2025
United Methodist clergy from the Wichita area and beyond helped console the city after a fatal plane crash Jan. 29 in Washington, D.C., of a flight that left the Air Capital.
As chaplain of the Greater Wichita Ministerial League, Ronda Kingwood, pastor of Wichita Heart of Christ UMC, was asked to read a scripture and lead singing at a prayer service in the city council chambers the next day.
She chose Psalm 34:17-18, and sang “We Need You Lord,” which ended up in national coverage on several television networks.
Sunday church services in Wichita were altered because of the tragedy.
At Wichita First UMC, senior pastor Rev. Amy Lippoldt gave a prayer while 67 candles were lit, one for each passenger on American Eagle Flight 5342 and the three on the U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
Candles for Crash Victims
In this photo from Rev. Amy Lippoldt's Facebook page, 67 candles are lit at Wichita First UMC for the victims of an American Airlines flight with a Blackhawk helicopter in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy Photo)
“We pray great God of consolation for all the families whose hearts are broken and lives forever changed,” Lippoldt said. “God we pray you’ll comfort them in their suffering, provide them help and support, protect them from the prying eyes of the public who might ask too much in our thirst for information.”
Lippoldt also prayed for the several figure skaters and families who were on board, as well as the group of hunters on the flight. She prayed for airline and airport personnel who face risks daily in their jobs.
“We remember that life is a precious and a fragile thing,” she said.
Rev. Jeff Gannon, senior pastor of Wichita Chapel Hill UMC, delayed his planned sermon for “How to Deal with Tragedy,” while the video screens at the church showed pictures of the passengers and Army personnel.
“What we believe matters in the midst of tragedy,” Gannon said. “It can help us up or pull us down.”
Gannon said he wanted those consoling the families to avoid platitudes such as “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” which he called “the most quoted Bible verse that isn’t in the Bible.”
“That’s a very common response to tragedy,” he said. “We’ve got to find someone to blame.”
Days earlier, Gannon was interviewed by CNN about the community’s reaction to the crash.
“There is a stunned silence, if you will. People are just quiet,” he said. “You go into a restaurant, and there's just a stillness that is really awe-invoking.”
Rev. Kirstie Engel, pastor of Lincoln First UMC and a former associate pastor of Wichita Saint Mark UMC, devoted her Feb. 2 sermon to the tragedy.
“At times like these, when the weight of sorrow blurs our vision, we must still seek to revitalize our faith,” she said.
Kiah Duggins
Kiah Duggins and her family formerly attended Wichita Saint Mark UMC. (Courtesy Photo)
Engel concentrated much of her sermon on the life of Kiah Duggins, a Wichita native, Harvard graduate and civil rights attorney who was flying back to Washington, where she had been recently hired as a professor at Howard University, where she was scheduled to begin teaching this fall.
“Kiah was a dynamic woman whose life was a testament to grace, intelligence and dedication,” Engel said. “At just 30 years old, Kiah had achieved more than many do in a lifetime.”
Duggins and her family attended Saint Mark during the late Rev. Junius B. Dotson’s time as senior pastor.
Engel recalled Duggins as a “talented dancer,” performing with ribbons during church services and in the choir. Her dancing “just took my breath away,” Engel said.
Duggins was a two-time Miss Kansas pageant contestant and worked in her school to develop food and personal hygiene banks for students, Engel said.
“Her life was a testament to love in action, a beacon of light in a world often shadowed by injustice,” she said.
Kingwood said that Duggins’ mother, Gwen, became close since Kingwood lost her daughter, Arielle, just over a year ago.
“Her mother and I really bonded over my daughter’s death because she admired how I had strength through it,” Kingwood said. “She was checking in with me and admiring the strength that I had.”
Now, Kingwood said, it is her turn to support the mother of a daughter lost too young.
David Burke with a content specialist with Great Plains Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.