What A Real Life Skydiving Accident Teaches Church Leaders
On August 1, 2009 54-year-old Shirley Dygert went skydiving for the first time. She was attached to an experienced trainer Dave Hartsock for their descent from 13,500 feet. In addition to the video above, the following are a few excerpts from Chris Ballard’s extraordinary account of what happened next in the July 29th edition of Sports Illustrated:
“Dave pulled the rip cord (at 5,000 feet) and instantly knew something was wrong. A parachute release can be jarring, but this was different. Dave felt a violent jerk and heard a loud pop from above.”
He goes on – “The canopy malfunction had been so violent that it had yanked the cutaway handle upward. It was stuck between him and Shirley, and he couldn’t reach it. Worse, the other cutaway handle was blocked by her body. As they dropped past 4,000 feet, Dave knew time was running out. He had roughly 20 seconds until the point of no return at 1,500 feet.”
The story continues – “As they passed 2,500 feet, Shirley came to the realization that this was the last day of her life…One thought overwhelmed her: I don’t want my kids (watching below) to have to see this.”
More from Ballard – “They’d reduced their speed but were down to 1,500 feet and still plummeting at 60 mhp (from 100 mph). Worse, they were spinning again. The time to try to fix the canopy was over. It was time to start looking at the ground.”
What happened next was startling. “‘Shirley, I want you to pull up legs NOW!’, he said. ‘Get ready for a really rough landing.’ And with that, as she kicked, Shirley felt herself twist upright. Behind her Dave pulled down on the two canopy lines, so hard that he dislocated both shoulders. At the same time he kicked his own legs up, inverting their positions so that it was he, a 44-year-old man who’d spent his life largely in pursuit of personal gratification, who hit the hard Texas dirt first, becoming a human cushion for a woman he’d met only a half hour earlier.”
“The impact was so loud, it was audible a quarter mile away. Moments later Shirley opened her eyes, then blinked. Above her she saw light and sky and clouds. Beneath her she felt the inert form of Dave Hartsock.”
Today, she has no health issues stemming from the accident. She describes herself as “good as new.” Dave survived as well but is a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair.
When you ask Dave about his decision to place himself between Shirley and ground he says, “I did what I felt was necessary for taking care of my student. To me, that was the most important thing, making sure Shirley got down safely.”
As he discussed his bravery and heroism, he gives credit to having “a combination of having certain values instilled by my parents and the environment of skydiving, where you look out for everybody. It’s a very nurturing atmosphere. That’s part of what I loved about it.”
As a church leader, I have thought a lot about Dave’s last five sentences and have been forced to ask a series of difficult questions based on his comments:
- Do I personally and our church collectively do what is necessary to take care of those within our church walls?
- Is the most important thing to our staff and church is making sure everyone we know gets out of this world safely? In other words, do we do everything we can to rescue people from eternal death and hell so they can live for eternity with Jesus in Heaven? Will we change our worship style? Will we kill ministries which are no longer effective? Will we have engage in hard conversations and make unpopular decisions? Will we take risks? Will we sacrifice financially? Do we serve others who can do nothing for us in return? Are we brave and courageous? Etc…
- Are we passionate about instilling biblical values to those in our churches as we make disciples?
- Do we as church leaders look out for everybody? Are we inclusive or exclusive? Do we truly care about others?
- Is our church a nurturing environment?
- What environment is more loving – our church or the skydiving community? Shame on us if it is the skydivers.
- Do our people truly love our church?
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