Many pastors may not consider it a compliment to have their congregation pay for them to jump out of an airplane.

But when Pastor Barbara Krehbiel Gehring of Manhattan (Kan.) Mennonite Church was presented with the opportunity, she leaped at it.

The movement began last spring when Pastor Barb joined a number of other women from the congregation at the annual “Bag Lady” dinner—a fund-raising event for the local homeless shelter. The final auction item of the evening was a certificate for tandem skydiving with the Kansas State University Parachute Club.

The women from Manhattan Mennonite pooled their resources to purchase the certificate for the high bid of $350, on the condition that Pastor Barb be the one to perform the actual skydive. Several of the women then also decided to build on this fund-raising effort by collecting donations for the church’s new building fund to watch Pastor Barb jump.

Pastor Richard Gehring chose not to witness his wife’s jump; and encouraged other non-watchers to join him in making donations as well.

On Sunday, Sept. 28, about 20 members of the congregation—including six pairs of adult/youth mentors—traveled 40 miles to Abilene to watch Pastor Barb make her leap.

The skydive itself went very smoothly, as seen in the accompanying photo. So far, approximately $2500 has been raised for the new church building from this event.