with Bill & Shirley Jackson
NCEM pilot, Ron Knightly, eased the joystick forward. Half an hour out of Fort Simpson, the mechanical trouble which had developed on the trip was threatening to completely stall the engine. If that happened, December 17, 1977, could become a day of disaster.
Bill Jackson’s first contact with the Mission was through Harold Roberts when Harold invited Bill to join him at the Children’s Home. During that time, they took the kids to Bible Camp at Big River. “That was the first time I heard of a Bible Camp,” Bill recalls.
After Bill and Shirley Jackson got married, they began ministry on reserves in the Battlefords, SK area. Two years later, they were invited to come to Alberta to start a Bible School. There were only a few students, but they also ministered around Kikino, Buffalo Lake, Goodfish, and Saddle Lake.
“After several years there was a missionary couple needed at Little Buffalo in the Peace River area,” write Bill and Shirley. “We went there and spent three good years ministering. Then John Unger asked me to come to teach at Key-Way-Tin Bible Institute, so we moved to Goodfish Lake and have made our home there for the last 52 years.”
“However, we didn’t spend all of our time there. I spent a lot of time teaching God’s Word in a lot of places, many which could only be reached by air.”
Spotting the Mackenzie River about two miles off his recorded flight plan, the pilot veered his plane toward it. The engine did quit at 1000 feet. Nosing down at an angle of 45 degrees, the frail little Cessna half-glided, half-fell toward the snaking landmark. At a place where half a mile separated the two river banks, the plane made contact, shuddering and smashing its way over the frozen drifts. Some chunks of ice were three feet high.
Upon contact, one door flew off the plane and the other smashed. The windshield cracked right across the middle and the propellor blades bent out of shape. One wheel smashed through the open doorway right into the cockpit, followed by ice and snow.
Miraculously, neither the pilot nor Bill Jackson were hurt. Joe Kakegamic, a KBI student travelling with Bill, also escaped injury.
In 2 Corinthians 11:25, the Apostle Paul talks about being shipwrecked three times. Bill wondered, “How many plane crashes would Paul have endured if he’d been an NCEM missionary?” That one was Bill’s second.
Pilot Ron had radioed his “Mayday.” He’d also been in constant communication with Fort Simpson until the start of the final descent to the river. And, there was a distress beeper sending out its signal from within the still intact body of the plane.
“Within 90 minutes, we could hear planes searching,” Bill recounted. “Because we’d moved off the flight plan, they missed us by a mile or so.” Covering the wreckage with a large orange tarpaulin to make it easier to see from the air, the trio started out to the river bank. Perhaps they could make a fire. As always, keeping body warmth was their first consideration.
The sound of a helicopter chopped its way through the dusk and stopped them in their tracks. It sounded like the pilot was following the river. The three men ran back to the wrecked plane. Sure enough, the helicopter pilot had spotted the tarp. It wasn’t long until all three men were enjoying the warmth of the helicopter cabin as it whisked them to Fort Simpson. Next day, Bill and Joe caught a commercial flight South. They were home in good time for Christmas.
“We thank God for His faithfulness through the years. The title of our book from our life of ministry speaks to how ‘As long as the rivers run,’ the promises of God will stand. We praise Him for that.”
From their base at Goodfish Lake, Bill and Shirley have travelled to Native fellowship groups throughout Canada, teaching the Bible. ”It’s true we’ve had to slow down a bit in the last few years,” Shirley concedes. Bill has had some heart trouble, high blood pressure and a few other physical ailments.
Still the invitations come. Bill still takes part in NCEM’s television program Tribal Trails. He has also taught missionary candidates at NCEM candidate training. As long as his health permits, Bill will never turn down an opportunity to serve the Lord wherever and whenever he can.
Native people being saved. That has been the very heart‑throb of Bill Jackson’s ministry since the night that he, as a teenager, turned to Jesus Christ in simple faith. Bill’s prayer is that Christ will always be the centre of his life and ministry, not only “as long as the rivers run,” but right up to the day when faith becomes sight and Jesus comes again.
“We are very thankful for the 67 years we have had together and for His strength through the hard times. We are also thankful for our two sons who are sharing the Word of God in many places.”
This article by Emeritus missionaries Bill & Shirley Jackson includes excerpts adapted from their book As Long As the Rivers Run, as told by Ed Hughes.
(from Northern Lights issue #568)