Plucked from the Burning is the true story of the horrific crash of a small plane in St. Louis County in 1980, which took the lives of three Baptist ministers and critically injured a fourth. It chronicles the physical anguish of the lone survivor, Pastor Ken Spilger, during his long recovery, and it demonstrates the exceptional faith that ultimately carried him through those dark days. The dedication of his family and church members, as well as the hospital staff who treated him, also shines through in this moving book.

The story is not only one of intense physical struggle, it also details the spiritual challenges the Spilgers faced at that time. The first two chapters describe Ken’s disappointment with his then-new ministry at Grace Baptist Church in north St. Louis County, which was growing but not to the degree he had hoped, and he writes that his greater focus then “was on my personal ambitions.” But it was at this low point in his life that “God began to work,” which led to his fateful trip to the pastors’ conference in Kansas City and the disastrous accident that followed.

Originally, the Spilgers planned to drive to the conference together, but circumstances ultimately required Beth to remain at home with the couple’s two young daughters. Ken writes: “When an area pastor unexpectedly called saying that room was available in a four-seater plane, we felt God had indeed provided a way for me to attend the conference.”

The plane took off from St. Louis Lambert Airport for Kansas City early in the morning of September 16, 1980, with Pastor Russell Spurgeon, a licensed pilot, flying the single-engine Grumman Tiger. They stopped once in Washington, Missouri to pick up the final passenger. The flight was smooth and uneventful, and the pastors’ intent was to fly home later that day when the conference ended.

But the return flight was delayed due to a storm system that was moving through St. Louis. When the group was finally able to depart, all was well until they neared the Spirit of St. Louis Airport where they were scheduled to land. On the approach to the airport, they flew into a lingering storm cell, and the plane clipped the top of a tall tree, causing it to plunge downward. Tree limbs tore open the fuselage, splitting the fuel line. Engine fuel sprayed everywhere and ignited when the stricken aircraft hit an electrical wire. Ken was thrown from the plane as it went down, which he believes was “by God’s miraculous intervention.” Had he not been ejected from the plane, he would have perished with the others.

Although he doesn’t recall his actions or much detail about the crash, investigators later said Ken must have pulled the other men from the burning wreckage and then begun searching for help. Because the crash site was so steep, he fell 30 to 40 feet in the darkness, finally coming to rest on “a small muddy shelf” at the edge of a ravine.

A farmer living nearby heard what he thought was a lightning strike and came out to investigate. When he saw fire down in the field near the ravine, he immediately called the fire department. First responders found the bodies of the three other pastors outside the plane where Ken had pulled them, and Ken’s cries for help alerted them that a fourth person was involved in the crash.

As he was being transported to the burn unit at what was then known as St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in west St. Louis County, Ken writes: “I never could have known when I prayed at the conference that within a few hours I would rapidly and unknowingly be approaching my death. When the plane crashed and I was still alive, I never doubted God was beginning a journey to show me what was wrong in my life and how to make the needed adjustments and corrections.”

In chapter three, Beth Spilger takes up the narrative, describing how she was notified of the accident and chronicling the agonizing hours that followed. The information she initially received was sketchy, but she soon realized the extent of her husband’s life-threatening injuries upon her arrival at the hospital. She was allowed to see him briefly in the examining room, but he was quickly whisked away as the severity of his burns demanded immediate treatment.

In the waiting room, Beth describes how she was questioned by police investigating the crash, but she was not much help because the Spilgers had not known the other passengers or their families prior to the crash. She writes: “Even though I knew the questions were important to solving the mystery of who was in the plane and what caused the horrendous accident, I had a thousand thoughts flying through my brain — the least of which involved the investigation.”

Later, the doctors told her that Ken had sustained “grave third-degree burns on more than 30 percent of his body,” some of which were deep into the muscle. He also had internal injuries and second-degree burns on his right hand. The doctors predicted he would be hospitalized at least until Christmas, but the Spilgers are convinced that their total reliance on God, along with their prayers and the prayers of their congregation and countless others, bolstered the level of care Ken received and permitted him to be released before Thanksgiving, after being hospitalized for just 59 days.

The book’s descriptions of the care and suffering of a burn victim are engrossing, and the sequence of events in Ken’s recovery clearly show the power of prayer. In one example, just three days after the crash, Ken was suffering from an agonizing thirst and was determined to leave his bed to get a sip of water. Only a limited number of ice chips were permitted because, in severely burned patients, additional fluids can cause serious problems or even death. Had his attempt to make it across his hospital room to the sink been successful, it may have proved fatal. Instead, Ken believes that God’s will and the power of so many souls praying for his recovery permitted the hospital staff to catch him in the illicit act and guide him safely back to bed before he could take that forbidden sip of water.

As may be expected of a minister and his wife, the Spilgers’ account of their challenges and sufferings is filled with Scripture references that inspired and carried them through the most harrowing times. Especially touching are Ken’s accounts of the intense pain he suffered.

In chapter nine, for example, he relates his agony to that of souls condemned to hell:

• As I lay in the hospital bed enduring pain that could not even be quenched by all of the pain medication the medical personnel could give me, I thought of Jesus’s story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. ...As the rich man looked up from the torments of hell, he saw Lazarus, who had lived on crumbs from his table. The rich man begged Lazarus to dip his finger in water and to touch his tongue because he was in torment. Even a drop of water would have felt cooling to him. However, nothing could be done for the rich man. A gulf had been fixed between the two that no one could cross. I can honestly say that during those weeks of painful convalescence, I understood the rich man’s desire. But the desire of those in hell will never be met.

With such severe burns, Ken required skin grafts. Remarkably, he only needed three surgeries because all of the grafts were successful, which the doctors described as quite rare. Again, the Spilgers attributed this miracle to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who had so far carried them through all of their trials.

When Ken arrived home, long months of care and rehabilitation were still ahead for the family. Beth writes of her excitement at his homecoming, admitting that “the thought that Ken’s return could be a difficult transition still hadn’t crossed my mind.” An exhausting ritual of caring for his wounds, driving him to therapy, and helping him with rehab at home became her routine, all while taking care of her children, tending to her household duties, and doing her part in the ministry of their church.

The book describes the strong pressure-applying Jobst gloves and leggings her husband had to wear in order to keep his scar tissue from becoming “grotesque and unmanageable.” These were extremely difficult to put on over the still-painful burns and skin grafts, and she at first relied on her mother to help with the gloves. Finally, one day her mother pointed out: “I won’t always be here to help you. Go in there and do it!” Beth admits that it “was a daunting challenge until another burns caregiver showed us how he put them on his wife. His technique worked beautifully! Both Ken and I marveled how once again God had brought the right person at the right time.”

Throughout the book, Pastor Spilger shows how his spiritual struggle dovetailed with his physical one. On the physical plain, he lost several fingers and toes as well as muscle in his left calf. But while the accident did leave him with some handicaps, he is able to walk without a limp and his overall recovery was amazing. In the spiritual realm, he maintained his trust in God, surrendering his will completely to Christ, which he believes got him through his ordeal. “God’s power—not our own—has the control,” he writes. “When we seek to take control, we step into pride and all its destruction.”

Several appendices at the end of the book provide fascinating insights about Ken’s caregivers, about the three widows of the pastors who lost their lives in the crash, about the Spilger family, which grew from just two children at the time of the accident to a total of seven with four girls and three boys, and about Ken’s injuries and treatments.

Particularly touching to this reviewer was the brief account of Carolyn Lombard, wife of Pastor Donald Lombard, whose ministry was located in O’Fallon, Missouri at the time of the plane crash. Carolyn faced a series of tragedies following the loss of her husband, but along with the other two widows, she remained faithful to God. At the time of the book’s original publication in 2015, she was anticipating that she would soon join her husband in heaven.

While Plucked from the Burning is of course specific to the religious beliefs of the authors, its Scriptural references can be appreciated by Christians of all denominations. It is a story of extraordinary faith, hope, courage, and perseverance. As such, it is also uplifting and inspiring.

To read the entire book, go here to order!

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