American missionary pilot kidnapped

By Mark Ellis —

In the sweltering heart of Niamey, Niger’s capital, an American missionary’s routine evening walk to the airport turned into a harrowing abduction.

Kevin Rideout, a 50-year-old pilot with Serving In Mission (SIM), was seized by three armed men on Tuesday night, October 21, in the Plateau neighborhood, a few blocks from the presidential palace where deposed leader Mohamed Bazoum remains under house arrest since last year’s coup, according to Reuters.

Rideout, who has faithfully served in Niger since 2010 flying aid workers and medical supplies across the Sahel’s vast expanses, was shoved into a Toyota Corolla and driven toward the volatile Tillabéri region near the Mali border, a jihadist stronghold where Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and other al-Qaeda affiliates have control, a diplomat told AFP.

For Rideout, a devoted husband and father whose flights have carried ministry workers and supplies to remote villages, this abduction from the streets underlies the perils faced by those who serve Jesus in volatile areas.

SIM, a century-old mission agency working in 70 countries, confirmed Rideout’s abduction in a somber statement, urging “urgent prayer for his safe release and for the peace of Niger,” while noting his role in “bringing hope and healing to the unreached”.

Born in the heartland of North Carolina, Rideout’s journey to the mission field began in the cockpit, where he honed his skills as a commercial pilot flying charters and cargo runs across the American South. By the late 2000s, after a decade logging hours on bush planes and regional jets, Rideout felt the pull toward the unreached, as he later shared in a 2018 SIM video.

Married to his wife, Stephanie, with whom he shares three children, he traded domestic stability for the call to serve, joining SIM in 2010 as a pilot for their affiliate, Missionary Flights International (MFI).

Rideout’s pre-missionary tenure included volunteer stints with MAF in Alaska’s remote outposts, where he ferried medical teams to indigenous villages, learning the art of landing on gravel air strips. “It was in those Alaskan skies that God broke my heart for the forgotten,” Rideout told an SIM training conference in 2009.

Back home, he balanced family life in Charlotte with aviation certifications, all while leading Bible studies at his local Baptist church.

By 2010, fully ordained as a lay minister through SIM’s vetting, Rideout relocated to West Africa, initially staging in Burkina Faso before Niger’s call proved irresistible.

Colleagues remember him as a man of unshakeable faith, often quoting Psalm 91:11—”For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways”—before each flight into danger zones where militants have uprooted millions and claimed thousands of lives since the 2012 spillover from Mali.

The U.S. State Department, in a terse alert, affirmed it is “aware of reports of a U.S. citizen kidnapped in Niamey” and is coordinating with Nigerien authorities for recovery, though no ransom demands or claims of responsibility have surfaced as of Wednesday evening.

This marks the latest in a string of abductions that have beset the coup-plagued nation—four Moroccans in January, two Chinese in February, five Indians in April—amid a jihadist insurgency that has intensified since the July 2023 military takeover, forcing Western partners like the U.S. to suspend operations and leaving a vacuum for terror to thrive, according to the BBC.

“Kevin’s light has pierced Sahel shadows for 15 years; now we pray God’s deliverance shines brighter,” SIM’s West Africa director shared in an email to supporters, invoking Isaiah 49:24-25: “Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? … I will contend with those who contend with you”.

God Reports will continue monitoring developments and encouraging calls to prayer. Join many who are fasting and petitioning for Kevin Rideout’s release at simusa.org/pray.