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Pastor Who Survived Plane Crash Speaks Publicly for First Time Since Accident That Claimed 4 Lives

kennon vaughan
Screengrab via YouTube @ABC24 Memphis

On Sunday (March 26), Tennessee pastor Kennon Vaughan took the stage at Harvest Church in Germantown for the first time since narrowly surviving a plane crash that tragically claimed the lives of four other church leaders. 

On Tuesday, Jan. 17, a plane owned and flown by church elder Steve Tucker, on which Harvest Church executive pastor Bill Garner and Harvest Church staff members Tyler Patterson and Tyler Springer were passengers alongside Vaughan, crashed as it was preparing to land at the Yoakum Municipal Airport in Texas. 

Vaughan, the lead pastor of Harvest Church, was the only person on board to survive the crash, sustaining significant internal injuries that required surgeries followed by a lengthy recovery process.

Though he did not deliver the Sunday sermon and is still in the process of recovery, Vaughan did deliver some words of encouragement and gratitude to his church this past weekend.

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“It was obviously just a miracle of his sovereign goodness that he saved me from the crash site and the surgeries that ensued and to this day, so I just want to start by saying praise God,” Vaughan said from the stage on Sunday as he stood beside his wife.

Vaughan went on to thank the congregation for their continued prayers. He further expressed that once he has made a full recovery, he wants to eulogize the four men who died in the crash with the church community.

The cause of the crash has not been publicly disclosed, but at the time, residents reportedly said that conditions were foggy. 

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A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has described the crash, saying, “The airplane came to rest upright, and both wings were found separated from the fuselage due to the impact sequence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage.”