- Mar 5
- 4 min read
Updated: May 24
Over 30 members of two St. Petersburg churches are safely on their way home from Israel after spending three days dodging Iranian missile strikes.
However, it was not the state or federal government that came to their aid. Tampa-based Grey Bull Rescue pulled off the daring extraction on Tuesday, despite the Iranian conflict shuttering airspace throughout the Middle East.
Members of the GT Church Assembly of God and Suncoast Church arrived in Israel on Feb. 24 for a tour of the Holy Land. Iran began launching hundreds of retaliatory missiles and drones at the country four days later.
“We tried everything we knew to try to find a way to get out,” said Dr. Randy Helms, pastor at GT Church. “The airports were closed, and the roads were blocked. We couldn’t find any way. It seems like every time we’d come up with an idea, the sirens would sound and off we’d go to the bomb shelter again.”
Helms said his group was at the Jordan River preparing for baptisms when air raid sirens first rang out. “We didn’t know what was going on, but our guide was aware, and we hunkered down.”
The U.S. and Israel began conducting coordinated strikes in Iran on Feb. 28. Retaliation was swift, and Iran reportedly fired over 200 missiles at Israel in the war’s first three days.
Helms and members of his congregation sheltered in place at their hotel as a regional war unfolded. He said they sought refuge in a basement bomb shelter nearly 20 times in the following three days due to incoming attacks.
“It’s been tough, and the urgency is growing because we have elderly people – medication concerns,” Helms said in a video conference with Grey Bull Rescue.
”We have children in our group, and the people back home are frantic. But, thanks be to God, we came across your organization. Now we have hope.”
Grey Bull Rescue specializes in quickly reaching U.S. citizens trapped in conflict and disaster zones. Founder Bryan Stern, a special forces combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, noted that “all of our missions are dangerous – we don’t do rescues in Sweden.”
Stern and his apolitical team of special forces and intelligence community veterans have rescued over 8,400 people in distress from 43 countries. Closed airspace throughout the Middle East, combined with continuous attacks, increased the latest mission’s difficulty, he said.
“The demand signal is high, and the threat is very real,” Stern said. “I think this response that we’re seeing from Iran is a response, but not the response. I think the killing of the Ayatollah (Ali Khamenei) in the middle of Ramadan is like killing the Pope in the middle of Easter.”
Grey Bull successfully transported the church group and approximately 40 U.S. college students out of Israel on Tuesday. Stern, who could not provide an exact route or expected arrival time in Florida due to security concerns, described the process as a “ground pickup to a ground movement to a cross-border movement to another ground movement to an airplane.”
Helms, now speaking from a bus as the group exited Israel, said he previously toured the country 14 times without incident. “It was always very, very smooth, and I had no idea this would happen.”
The U.S. Department of State, local representatives, and the St. Petersburg Mayor’s Office were unable to help the group escape Israel. “Their response was to shelter in place,” Helms said.
A tour member was familiar with Grey Bull and contacted the organization. Stern and his team immediately began formulating an extraction plan.
“Rescues are not warzone Uber,” Stern said. “If you’re calling us, you’ve had a very bad day.”
He expects the demand for exfiltrations to persist, and said Grey Bull is already operating in other areas throughout the Middle East. However, the nonprofit is “stretched pretty thin” in terms of manpower and, most importantly, funding.
Stern said donor support for the current mission is relatively sparse. Grey Bull charters its buses and planes, and federal officials had yet to coordinate rescue efforts.
U.S. citizens of “all shapes and sizes, from all manners of faiths and backgrounds, of all ages, and of all religions” have requested help, Stern said. He pledged to provide his expertise “until we wring out every last drop” of funding.
For more information on Grey Bull Rescue or to support its mission, visit the website here.
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