A small plane crash took the lives of three administrators and a director of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, based in Calhoun, Georgia, as well as their pilot, just north of Collegedale, Tennessee., on December 2, at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time. The copilot of the aircraft survived.

Killed were Pastor Dave Cress, 47, president; Pastor James H. Frost, 53, vice president of administration; Jamie Arnall, 29, director of communication; and Pastor Clay Farwell, 67, assistant to the president, and hired pilot and Adventist church member John Laswell, 36. Jim Huff, 37, a volunteer co-pilot and member of the Standifer Gap Seventh-day Adventist Church, survived. Media reports indicate Huff was hospitalized in Chattanooga, 15 miles from Collegedale, and released the following day.

Farwell, who had been retired from the ministry and recently returned to help the Georgia-Cumberland district, was previously the youth director for the church's Southern United States' church region, as well as former president of the Kentucky-Tennessee and Indiana church districts.

The Cessna 421 went down approximately 1.5 miles north of Collegedale, crashing in a field at Pine Hill and McDonald roads shortly after take-off. Media reports quote an airport official as saying engine failure was the cause. However, the Atlanta, Georgia, office of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and will make a final determination, Lauren Peduzzi, an NTSB Public Affairs Officer at the agency's headquarters, told ANN.

The group was headed from meetings at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale to Knoxville, approximately 95 miles away, where they were to hold meetings with Seventh-day Adventist pastors and other regional officials.

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America joins its offices in Georgia in mourning the loss of five of its workers in a plane crash earlier this afternoon," said Pastor Don Schneider, North American church president, in a statement, December 2. "We would encourage all people of faith to join us in praying that the families and co-workers of the victims will find comfort. At times of great tragedy, a church family can provide great strength. We pray that we can provide that strength to those most affected by this loss."

Approximately 29,000 members are among the weekly worshippers at the 142 Seventh-day Adventist congregations in the district. The Georgia-Cumberland Conference encompasses all of Georgia, Eastern Tennessee and Cherokee County, North Carolina. [Editors: Olson Perry and Mark A. Kellner for ANN/APD]