Special to The Tribune

HOOD RIVER, Oregon

A church is mourning its youth pastor after he died a hero, giving his life to save members of his youth group Aug. 5 in the Columbia River.

Andrew Inskeep, 44, youth pastor at Ridgefield Church of the Nazarene in Ridgefield, Washington, was with 15 teens and six youth sponsors at the Marina Beach sandbar when an evening of fun turned tragic.

“We had planned to find a swim area just to splash around for 15 minutes and have fun because it was so hot out,” said Amber Langeliers, a youth sponsor who was on the trip with her daughter, a student. “We were scouting the area and found a huge sandbar where the water was only about knee-deep. There was no movement in the water. It can get windy and cause waves, but it was still on top at the time.”

The area where the Hood River meets the Columbia River is a well-known tourist attraction that draws people to the area for water activities. Many people use the area for kite surfing, Langeliers said.

“I talked to (adults from the area) about safety and where the best place to splash was,” she said. “Andy and I talked and felt it was best to have them near the bridge side of the sandbar away from the kite surfers because kite surfers can move so quickly when they come down.”

After helping the group get settled, Langeliers returned to the group’s rental home to fix dinner.

Inskeep, who was youth minister from 2003 to 2009 at Brownstown Church of the Nazarene, and two other youth workers stayed with the group.

Piecing together what happened from youth on the trip, Langeliers said the group had walked out onto the sandbar. The students were boxed in on purpose by the staff.

A short time later, one of the students stepped onto what she called a shelf of sand.

“More kids began stepping off, and the more movement there was, the more the shelf began to give way from under their feet,” she said. “Some of the kids were able to self-correct and get to safety, but four were struggling.”

As the shelf gave way, the students began to be pulled under the water by a strong undertow. Inskeep ran to the water, followed closely by Shaun Martin, a youth volunteer. The men began to work to get the students to safety.

“Shaun was able to get two of the kids on the sand right away,” Langeliers said. “He and Andy went back for the other students. As the rescue efforts intensified, the students began helping one another, some pulling others back farther from the deep water and others keeping them from going back in the water to help”

Four students ran to call 911.

“Help could not be deployed fast enough,” Langeliers said. “The area was so large and even screaming was not helping. No one could hear them.”

It was then a student was able to get the attention of a windsurfer. The man, who Langeliers said was named Talon Jesson, first made his way to Inskeep, who told him to move on to another student who was going underwater quickly. The windsurfer was able to scoop the student up out of the water, and that student was helped to safety by someone in a boat.

Martin began swimming toward another student, 11-year-old Brandan Raley.

With the undertow working against him, he was able to reach Raley, putting him on his back, wrapping his arms around the boy’s torso and arms. He then began working against the current to get the boy to safety, said Jim Raley, Brandan’s father.

With the water rushing over his face and the undertow pulling him beneath the surface of the water, Martin took Raley and placed the boy on his back to try and keep him above the water and out of the undertow. In doing so, he noticed Raley was no longer breathing. Almost immediately, the boy’s body went limp.

“Shaun began to go underwater himself and then thrust Brandan up into the air, hoping the force would help him to begin to breathe. Shaun was drowning and starting to lose consciousness. He held onto Brandan as long as he could,” Jim said.

“He let go of Brandan involuntarily because he was drowning himself,” said Kris Raley, Brandan’s mother. “We know he did the best he could.”

Shortly before 7 p.m., Drew Goode, a youth sponsor with the group, called 911 reporting five to six individuals in distress off of the sandbar. When Hood River County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, two members of the group were unaccounted for, Inskeep and Brandan.

“They were caught in the current so quickly and it was trying to drag them down like a weight,” said Langeliers, who arrived back at the area shortly after 7 p.m. “My daughter called me and I rushed to the beach.”

When Langeliers arrived at the beach, she and youth sponsor Trish Martin collected the students and moved them to a dry area on the sand. She then made her way to Martin, who was coming out of the water.

“He was in shock. I looked at Shaun and it was just as if he had a look of hopelessness. I just knew at that moment it was Andy and Brandan,” she said. “I knew it was going to be a recovery at that point. Too much time had passed.”

As students waited for answers, strangers began to come over and prayed with them and to offer them comfort, to just sit with them silently as they wept, Langeliers shared.

“People came out of nowhere and were praying and helping the kids. The sheriff’s office and rescue workers were praying with us,” she said. “Two teens from the area named Faith and Chad ran to get help and then helped the kids. All of (the students) were so calm and so strong. They rose to the occasion, and God showed up.”

“Every single person played their part perfectly to the absolute best of their ability,” Goode said. “And what can only be God’s work, everyone was placed where they could play to their strengths.”

Approximately 45 minutes after the initial 911 call, an individual on the Washington side of the Columbia River reported someone appeared to be floating near the mouth of the White Salmon River.

Brandan’s body was pulled from the water and life-saving efforts were administered. He was pronounced dead at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.

Inskeep’s body was recovered at approximately 6:30 p.m. Aug. 6, according to the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office. Boaters located his body more than 9 miles from where he had gone into the water.

In the days following the accident, the Ridgefield church, youth and Inskeep’s and Raley’s family and friends have not just mourned their loss, they have celebrated their lives. Shortly after returning home, a student from the church’s youth group shared John 15:13 on the group’s Facebook page. It reads, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.”

“Andy was within reach to get to safety, but he tried to save a student,” Langeliers said. “He was the most amazing man, and I am so fortunate to have known him.”

That Inskeep would put others’ lives before his own does not surprise Raley’s parents.

“(Brandan) and Andy were so similar. They both worked to connect to people, and they did it as a ministry,” Jim said. “They both lived to make others’ lives better. My son was a terrific kid. He was empathetic, and he connected with family, church and strangers. If he met you, within two hours, you were his buddy.”

Inskeep’s wife, Maria, said her husband was a man who made people feel like they were important.

“Andy loved people, and he loved building relationships. He would do whatever was needed to connect with people,” she said. “He would learn card games, take up an interest in different sports just to be able to connect with his students and others. Relationships mattered to him. People mattered to Andy.”

Brandan would have celebrated his 12th birthday Aug. 11.

Maria said she is at peace with what happened.

“Andy died doing what he loved most, teaching teens about Jesus and saving them, spiritually and physically,” she said.

“If I had to experience this again just so one more person could know the kingdom of heaven, I would,” she said the day following her husband’s death. “It’s what he would want.”

A true friend, man of God and spiritual leader, Inskeep lived his life to lead students to a relationship with Jesus, one where they would experience the love, grace and mercies of Christ, his wife said.

“He died demonstrating firsthand what it means to lay one’s life down for a friend,” she said. “Inskeep’s legacy will be that he lived like Christ until the very end.”

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

A memorial service for Andrew Inskeep will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Wabash Friends Church in Wabash.

[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Andrew Inskeep was a 1994 graduate of Lakeview Christian School in Marion and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He received his Master of Ministry from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and his Master of Divinity from Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. He married Maria Swinger in Wabash on March 1, 2003.

Andrew’s family asks memorials be given to the Andrew J. Inskeep Memorial Scholarship Fund through Ridgefield Church of the Nazarene, 747 Pioneer St., Ridgefield, WA 98642 or at pushpay.com/g/ridgenaz?src=hpp.

A fund also has been set up to help the family of Brandan Raley financially. Donations can be sent in the family’s name to Woodland Christian Church or through a GoFundMe page at gf.me/u/ynjry2.

[sc:pullout-text-end]