Nashville woman’s plane gets delayed at Denver airport. She takes the opportunity to have ‘deep conversations’ with everyone: ‘Jesus loves you guys’ 

A Nashville woman’s plane got delayed at the Denver airport. So she decided to start discussing her faith with other passengers.

Presley Mae Foster (@presleyymaefoster), a faith-based content creator and musician, posted a video with more than 3 million views. In it, she gave passengers a brief “OPEN AIR PLANE PREACHING,” where she discussed religion with others on a plane. 

The TikTok, however, did not resonate with Foster’s audience. Viewers who saw the video said the sermon was “a weird thing to do,” and “a hard watch.”

Why Did She Do Some Preaching On The Airplane?

In Foster’s viral video, she stood next to multiple rows full of passengers. The faith-based influencer directed her testimony toward those sitting near her. 

“Hey guys, since the plane is, you know, not moving, and, you know, we might as well just have some good deep conversations,” Foster said. “I just wanna let you guys know that Jesus loves you guys, and that God sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross for y’all.”

Foster continued speaking and added, “I just wanna share because we might as well; we’re not moving. We’re not doing anything, you know? So I just wanna share that God loves you guys, and we might as well have a good time on the plane and get to know each other, you know?” 

In the description, she described why she spoke to the passengers. 

“Our plane broke down, and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to share my faith. Honestly, I was scared as CRAP, but God gave me the courage to step out,” Foster said. “What happened next was incredible yall, I got to pray over an entire row of teenage girls and their moms after they shared their faith with me !” 

Foster said there were other people on the plane whom she had conversations with. Notably, she said she found out the woman she sat next to on the plane was a pastor, and that the pastor prayed over her. 

Was The Sermon Appropriate?

Benedictine College, a faith-based college, posted a piece arguing that airplanes are the perfect place to evangelize. 

“People seem to have no opposition to talking religion if they’re willing to talk to someone on a plane,” Catherine Suprenant, a women’s ministry leader, said to the publication.

In contrast, most leading travel publications and flight-related blogs recommend passengers keep to themselves if conversation is forced. Some viewers said that evangelizing, in this context, can force unwilling participants to take part in conversation they might not be open to. 

Publications such as The Vacationer have advised passengers not to have conversations on airplanes. “Saying hello to your seatmates is fine. It’s even acceptable to have a conversation. But read the room. Is the conversation one-way only? Are you forcing it?” the publication said. 

Rachel Held Evans, a Christian author who passed away in 2019, said she did not “witness to” people on planes during her life. Witnessing, in this context, means to testify regarding one’s faith to others. Evans said that “the gospel doesn’t really fit on a billboard or a Facebook status or an elevator pitch; it has to be experienced, in community, through the day-in-and-day-out work of following Jesus,” and that witnessing is more centered on “the choice we have to plant seeds of unkindness, hurry, hate, and greed in one another’s lives.” 

Foster did clarify, however, that she had meaningful conversations on the plane with other passengers. But that didn’t change how many viewers saw the TikTok post. 

How did viewers respond?

A large number of Foster’s commenters thought speaking to passengers on the airplane was inappropriate. 

One viewer said, “Why are u subjecting a bunch of strangers to this.” 

Another person replied to that commenter and said, “They LOVE pushing their agenda on everyone else for whatever reason.”

Multiple viewers said that Foster’s onboard sermon would have annoyed them. One viewer said that Foster’s sermon was not a “deep conversation.” 

There were a few viewers who asked whether the post was a joke or satire. 

“Yeah that’s disrespectful,” one viewer said. 

@presleyymaefoster OPEN AIR AIRPLANE PREACHING ✈️ Our plane broke down, and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to share my faith. Honestly, I was scared as CRAP, but God gave me the courage to step out :) What happened next was incredible yall, I got to pray over an entire row of teenage girls and their moms after they shared their faith with me ! And to top it all off, the woman sitting next to me turned out to be a pastor! Before we landed, she prayed over me, blessed me, and was WEEPING ! GOD IS MOVING! Be bold and say yes to Him—you never know what He has planned :) “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season.” — 2 Timothy 4:2 FULL AIRPLANE TESTIMONY VID COMING SOON ? #jesus #preaching #airplane #faith #godisgood ♬ original sound – presleyymaefoster

The Mary Sue reached out to Foster via TikTok direct message. This article will be updated if she responds. 

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