I bet at one time or another we’ve all heard the phrase, “Mayday! Mayday!”  Watch any old war movie and there’s a chance you’ll hear it.  But have you ever heard how the term mayday came into being?

The ‘mayday’ procedure word was originated in 1923, by a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London.  The officer, Frederick Stanley Mockford, was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency.  Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, Mockford proposed the expression “mayday” from the French m’aider’ (‘help me’), a shortened form of ‘venez m’aider’ (‘come and help me’)

Here is what pilots are trained to report with a Mayday call:

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday; (Name of station addressed); Aircraft call sign and type; Nature of emergency; Weather; Pilot’s intentions and/or requests; Present position and heading, or if lost then last known position and heading and time when aircraft was at that position.  Altitude or Flight level; Fuel remaining in minutes; Number of souls onboard; Any other useful information.

As I was researching the origin of the mayday call another word came to mind…”urgency”.  That word means; ‘importance requiring swift action.’

When a ‘mayday’ call is received, say at an airport control tower there is an immediate sense of urgency.  Each time I watch the documentaries on the aircraft during the 9-11/World Trade Center tragedy those air traffic control operators each responded with a sense of urgency.  Everyone knew the protocol involved with the mayday messages they were receiving.  Additionally, they relied on other controllers and even other air traffic in the area to provide information.  Each understood the seriousness of the desperate situation the aircraft was experiencing. Urgency was paramount.  How could these aircraft and their souls be saved?

So let’s take a moment and do this.  Go back to the mayday call message.  Instead of using an airline passenger jet lets use a church.  How about a rural church?  Or a smaller church.  Go a step further and let’s use a pastor at any church.

Wouldn’t it be a crime and the answer is ‘yes’ if a passenger jet issued a mayday call and even though it was received by an air traffic controller he didn’t respond?

My friends, I believe it’s not any different for our churches and the pastors who are out there serving our Lord that find themselves in ‘mayday’ situations.

Here at The Pastor’s Project, I wish you could hear some of the distress calls I’ve heard from pastors.  Or the number of rural and small churches who in the language of the Mayday distress call have ‘only enough fuel for a few more minutes.’  Each of them carries a number of souls on board who without help will be left behind without spiritual parachutes.

I understand many of our ministers serve congregations that are flying at 32,000 feet, cruising along at 500mph, in calm skies without any trublence making good time to their destinations. Their ‘plane’ is full of happy and satisfied customers being served refreshments and watching in-flight movies.

That my brothers is not the norm for the church today and very well could be the exception. According to organizations like Focus on the Family, Barna Institute, and National Church Growth Institute, there needs to be a greater sense of urgency for the church to answer the mayday call being sent by rural churches and pastors.

One of my goals with The Pastor’s Project, and yes I’m just one control tower, is to answer mayday calls.  Another objective is to educate and to reveal to healthier congregations and believers the overwhelming need of a response to these calls.

Tonight as you read this there is a pastor, young and old, who is at the breaking point.  He no longer has the will to issue a mayday call.  He will crash into the sea of depression.  There’s a rural church that has served its community for decades.  Many served as a runway for young Bible College preachers learning how to fly.  Now they find themselves needing help in being revitalized to continue to serve the Lord.

So when the call goes out, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” which of you will answer?

The Pastor’s Project was created to help pastors and rural churches.  You can help the ‘project’ by scheduling a Pastor’s Project Presentation.  You can help by sharing the website www.pastorsproject.com  You can help by telling others of the project’s two main programs; The Rural Church Initiative and the peer to peer mentoring program “Connections” and “Rapid Response”.

YOU CAN HELP   Remember it’s not my church, your church, or our church.  It’s His church.

Be sure to read The Pastor’s Project’s next article.  “The Clergy and Suicide.”