Germantown pastor returns to congregation after being injured in fatal plane crash

GERMANTOWN, Tenn. (WMC) - The congregation of Harvest Church in Germantown welcomed back their lead pastor Sunday after he suffered serious injuries from a fatal plane crash near Yoakum, Texas, in January.

Lead pastor Dr. Kennon Vaughn was the sole survivor of the crash.

The plane’s other four occupants - Executive Pastor Bill Garner, Elder Steve Tucker, and members Tyler Patterson and Tyler Springer - did not survive.

Dr. Vaughn was reunited with Harvest Church on Sunday, March 26.

Cheers and applause roared throughout the sanctuary as he was welcomed back to the podium with his wife beside him.

“Thank you for just loving Kathryn and I from afar, the way ya’ll have,” Dr. Vaughn said with tears in his eyes. “It’s so good to be here, and the first thing I want to do is declare God’s goodness, it’s 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, I just want to start by saying ‘Praise God.’”

According to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board, the airplane was a Piper PA-46-350P JetProp DLX, N963MA, that was modified with a supplementary type certificate in Feb. 2020 and equipped with a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-35 turboprop engine.

The plane was operating as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 business flight when it crashed near Yoakum, Texas, on the morning of Jan. 17.

According to the report, the plane was cleared for a runway at Yoakum Municipal Airport when the plane suddenly turned east, descended, and impacted terrain about one mile south of the approach near the end of the runway.

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