May 25, 2025 • 27 mins
Nathan Walters' journey from devastating childhood trauma to international mission leadership demonstrates the profound ways God can redeem our deepest pain. At age nine, Nathan's mother was killed in a violent attack, followed by the loss of his beloved grandmother just three years later. What could have destroyed his faith instead became the foundation for a life dedicated to serving others across the globe.
Now serving as President of Mission Discovery, Nathan has spent the past 15 years leading transformative mission trips that create lasting, gospel-centered impact in communities worldwide. His approach to short-term missions goes far beyond surface-level service, focusing on genuine partnerships with local leaders and authentic transformation for all involved. Through stories of remarkable redemption, unexpected callings, and the ongoing work of healing, Nathan reveals how God continues to work through broken people to accomplish His purposes. His insights on discerning God's voice, embracing difficult callings, and creating meaningful mission experiences offer practical wisdom for anyone seeking to live out their faith in service to others.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Wherever there are shadows, there are people ready to kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight.
This is Bleeding Daylight with your host, Rodney Olsen.
Welcome.
I do hope that today's episode is full of inspiration and hope.
Dozens more episodes are waiting for you at bleedingdaylight.net.
(00:33):
As you listen, consider who else might benefit from this episode and then please share it through social media or word of mouth.
Today's guest has gone from unimaginable childhood trauma to a life that is making a difference across the globe.
(00:53):
I'll introduce you in just a moment.
Today I'm glad to welcome Nathan Walters as my guest.
From experiencing profound tragedy as a child to now serving as President of Mission Discovery, Nathan's journey is a powerful testament to redemption and purpose.
(01:18):
For the past 15 years, he's been leading mission trips that create sustainable, Gospel-centered impact in communities worldwide.
Nathan has first-hand experience of how God can transform even the deepest brokenness into something beautiful.
Nathan, welcome to Bleeding Daylight.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I mentioned that you experienced trauma as a child and while we know that God can redeem even the deepest pain, what you faced is almost unimaginable for most people.
(01:50):
Can you help me understand what happened all those years ago?
Goodness, yeah.
I grew up in Richmond, Virginia.
When I was nine years old, my mother and father were in the wrong part of town, wrong time of night.
They got jumped and my mother was killed that night.
My dad suffered some injury as well.
Raised a lot from my grandparents.
(02:11):
Me and my sisters had it pretty tough there for a few years, for sure.
And that's something that just never goes away.
As a nine-year-old, how do you start to work through that?
It's not easy to give some sort of mathematic answer, A, B, and C, you know, systematic way to handle your world falling apart, whether it be because of the death of a parent or for any reason you feel like everything's just out of your control and just sad.
(02:39):
It's a sad time.
To give some sort of like systematic answer for how to go through that, I don't know that any one thing works for everyone.
So for me, I remember I had a cat and, you know, I remember sitting and petting that cat for hours, it felt like.
I don't even love cats.
I'm more of a dog person, but for some reason, you know, that seemed to help.
(03:01):
My grandparents lived next door and I grew a pretty big attachment to my grandmother.
She helped me through that as well.
That was when I was nine and I remember walking across the yard, going to bed and stuff like that.
And I always say, you know, I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Good night.
Multiple times walking across the yard because I feared, you know, I'd felt that sting, that loss before and I didn't want to lose her.
(03:27):
And then when I was 12, she actually fell off of her porch and two weeks later passed away.
That on top of what I was already feeling, you know, just kind of felt like it's just one thing after another.
And I remember being kind of a ghost of myself for a few years there.
Other than the grace of God, I don't know what brought me through.
(03:50):
Before I was nine years old, we didn't really go to church that much.
And after my dad kind of came around and was better, he started getting us into church.
I think there's a community there.
Church is a community and this one was a good one.
So finding a good church community, I think really helped me.
The year that it happened, we got sat down.
(04:13):
My dad couldn't work.
They were shot.
So my dad had bullet holes.
I remember getting sat down and saying, Hey, this Christmas, we're not going to have much of a Christmas here.
Just to let you know, Santa might skip a few steps this year.
And so we weren't expecting much that year.
But what ended up happening was we woke up Christmas morning and there was this only thing I can think of is like a giant refrigerator box.
(04:37):
So many gifts, you couldn't even put them under the tree.
And we're like, what in the world happened?
Come to find out.
Our across the street neighbor knew our situation and she had gone to her church.
She was pretty old, but she went to her church and she said, Hey, you know, these kids are going through it right now.
It'd be great if we do something.
So they did like a toy drive or whatever and filled that refrigerator.
(04:57):
I had two microscopes.
I didn't even like science that much.
I'm about to use a microscope, but I got them.
It was just an amazing display of love and care that I'm talking about here 30 years later.
I just thought whatever God that church is following, that's the God I want to follow.
After that, we started going to church and things started coming around, but there was no quick answer.
(05:22):
The only way through it was actually through it.
You can't get around it.
And if I'm honest, 40 years old, still healing.
So where did faith take you from there?
Because as you say, you've started attending a church and that's great to have that community around you.
But when did faith in God become that personal thing for you?
When did you say this is what I'm going to be all in on?
(05:45):
From the start, I would sit up with like the pastor of this church, you know, on the front row.
I was all in from the beginning.
Even before we were going to church so much, I always felt that connection with God.
And I think maybe that's a lot of people's stories.
I'll hear a lot of people say, you know, I don't really have a faith story.
I've been a Christian all my life.
Well, that's great.
You have this connection with God all your life.
(06:07):
That's a wonderful thing.
I think, though, after high school, I kind of did my own thing for a little while and I veered back into the church, veered back into a Christian college and went through a year of just deep reformation on my soul, fasted for a while and got baptized.
It was one of those years.
And maybe people can identify with that.
(06:28):
Like there was this time and I don't know.
It was just I was hungry for Christ to do something in my life and I wanted to change.
So I think maybe that would be the time when I was about in college.
It was just like I had always loved Jesus.
I'd always loved him.
But that was a time where I could really feel like I fell in love with Christ.
(06:48):
You mentioned that narrative that we so often believe that there's this big decision point and that's the accepting Christ moment.
And yet for many people, as you've mentioned, it's this gradual growing into Christ that we've always had that background in Christ and we grow and we have those moments where it does go deeper, like you mentioned.
(07:10):
But actually there's not that point in time.
And I think sometimes people have been made to feel that they've been shortchanged, that they don't have a testimony, which is life was dreadful, come to Christ, life is amazing, but rather a gradual growing in connection with Jesus.
Yeah, yeah.
For me, it is a gradual thing.
(07:32):
During that year in college, I was invited to go on my first mission trip.
We did not grow up with money.
So, so I never thought that going on a mission trip or even leaving the States was a possibility for me.
It was never on the table.
So when the opportunity came, I was just blown away.
I went to Uganda for my first mission trip and it was incredible.
(07:53):
It changed my life forever and we weren't building anything.
I was supposed to be playing piano for church services and I ended up playing with kids most of the time, you know, and it's just kind of like I just loved it so much.
In the Old Testament, we read all about these experience with God back way early Old Testament, Jacob and Esau and Jacob's dream at Bethel.
(08:13):
And he has this amazing experience with God and he builds this pillar of rocks and it's kind of like, and whenever the Israelites would pass this, they would remember, okay, this is what happened.
This is where Jacob saw God and they would honor that place.
And same thing happened in Joshua many times and they called them altars.
And so places would be places of reverence, places where God met them.
(08:34):
And I think for me, I can point to several instances in my life where I'm like, okay, God met me there.
That is a place where I could put a bunch of rocks and stones and just kind of honestly go back and say, this was a place on my spiritual journey, this piece meant a lot to me.
Losing my mom was terrible, but that on my spiritual journey, that is a pillar, you know, where I can go back and I can honestly see God's hand in the midst of that.
(08:58):
Because just when you feel like he's not there, you could look back and you say, well, I can see him everywhere through that.
And then on the mission trips and things like that, I can see how God has used these things in my life to grow me closer to him.
And we certainly all have those significant moments along the way.
But I know that what you're keen to talk about as well is those small steps of obedience that might not seem big or glamorous, but it's the small steps of obedience that keep us connected to God, aren't they?
(09:31):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Opening doors, saying yes, whenever an opportunity arises and the obedience to what God is calling you to, I remember on a trip to Virginia, we did a mission trip out in Virginia.
On the last night of every trip, we asked our teams, what are they taking home with them?
And not talking about, you know, a shirt or dirty socks.
(09:51):
We're talking about, you know, what has God done in your heart?
And there were two people that stood up on this night and there was a guy named Al, he was 85 years old.
And on that night, he said, you know, I'm 85 years old and I finally understand what God wants me to do with my life.
And that's serve people.
I love that.
And then a teenager stood up and he said, you know, this was the first week I've ever heard the Lord speak to me.
(10:15):
And I thought to myself, I can't remember the first time I felt God speak to me.
But how important is that to know God's voice, to discern God's voice in your life and to be able to experience like this is this person's first time that he's experienced that.
And so to share that moment with him.
So, yeah, obedience is a key, but being able to understand how is God speaking to you?
(10:37):
Is it through scripture?
Is it through something during the day?
Just something random that you never even thought would be doing dishes?
God spoke to me while I was doing dishes because he can.
Obedience is key, but really learning how to discern God's voice and where he's calling you to is also key.
I always say, you know, if you're given the choice between one or two or three things, you know, what's the most difficult thing for you?
(11:00):
Oftentimes, that's God.
That's one way to do it, at least in my life, I've found.
What's the most difficult thing right now?
Walk toward it.
And it's often in those times where it's going to be difficult for us and we can only rely on the strength of God that we know that he's in there, don't we?
That's right.
Yeah, yeah.
(11:21):
These days, you are the president of Mission Discovery.
Tell me about Mission Discovery and what it's all about.
I went on my first mission trip to Uganda and coming out of that, I really felt the call to missions, and I didn't know what that meant.
I had no clue, you know, anything about mission, but I knew I loved the experience and I knew that God had spoken to me on that trip.
(11:41):
So I went off, I had worked at a church and eventually made my way to Nashville.
And I told the church, I'm moving to Nashville to pursue missions.
And so I came here, I had no connections, no nothing.
And then a few months later, I was on the ground in Tecate, Mexico with Mission Discovery, didn't know who they were, but I had gotten invited.
And I said, yes, you know, just being obedient, walking through the door that was given to me and on that trip, 2009, I was like, you know, this is, this is it.
(12:09):
We were building homes, built eight homes that week, incredible times.
And I saw God working the entire trip.
And especially in my heart, Mission Discovery is an organization that takes teams, church teams, school groups, anything like that on these mission trips, even family groups, even individuals on trips around the world to serve others.
(12:29):
We go to Tecate, Mexico.
We go to Jamaica.
We go all over the world doing this stuff.
And even in the United States, I stayed close to home as well.
Took me about five years to get hired at Mission Discovery.
And once I was hired, I took some things on and just kept growing in the organization and eventually, yeah, got put in this chair, so we'll see how it goes.
(12:51):
And it's interesting, as you mentioned, the various mission trips that you've taken groups on.
We know that sometimes short-term mission is maligned because it can be seen as an opportunity to get the Instagram photo and, and that's really what it's all about.
But you've already described that discussion that you have.
And I know that it wouldn't be the only one that you have during that time, that discussion you have before returning to normal life, whatever that then becomes, which should be reshaped by that short-term mission.
(13:23):
But I know that you're very keen to do short-term mission, right?
Where is the distinction for you with some of those short-term mission trips that do just turn into an opportunity to go out, feel good about ourselves and come back, and a short-term mission trip that is done with the best purpose in mind?
(13:44):
Yeah, I'll give away all my secrets for that.
The first secret is just good leadership.
If you're taking a team on a mission trip, you have a lot on your shoulders, whether you be a youth pastor or whoever you are, even your family.
And really meeting with your team ahead of time, going through some basic missions training, as well as cultural training for wherever you're going.
(14:08):
Good leadership is key and I've seen it all.
I've seen great leadership and I've seen leadership that's letting their kids jump off balconies into a pool in Jamaica where we're going to have to go to the hospital.
I've seen it all, training your team ahead of time, that's a key.
On our part, our partners are incredibly important to us.
We don't go to a place unless we're invited by somebody that's already working in the area, already making a difference in the area.
(14:34):
Now, I always tell teams, we're not bringing Jesus to this area.
Jesus is already here.
He's already working.
And our job is to have a front row seat in what he's doing here in these people's lives.
That's really the kicker for us, is when you go and you see how Jesus is
working in people's lives that are in Guatemala, let's say, and you start
to identify yourself with these people, you're like, these people are just like
(14:57):
me, they may have less in material, whatever, you know, their chairs aren't
as nice, you know, their shoes might have a little bit holes in them, you know,
whatever, but these people are just like, this dad is providing for his family
just like I'm providing for my family.
This kid's going to school just like I'm going to school.
These people are just like me.
So it's kind of like, it's an awakening in our own selves.
(15:19):
God is working here.
He's also working in my life.
And so I would say leadership, I would say partners on the ground that are already working in doing the work.
And so we're just going to provide extra muscle for whatever they're doing.
They're the leaders.
We are just coming alongside them.
That's really the key there.
I was just in Guatemala last week and on their last day, the teams were wrapping up and this guy stands up, he described the mission trip as a curse.
(15:46):
And I thought, well, that's interesting.
This is the curse of a mission trip that you cannot live life in the same way that you did before that your perspective is different when you go home than it was when you came here and now, you know, now, you know, now you've seen God in this way and something in your life is going to have to change because you've been here.
(16:07):
You might come on the mission trip, ready to post on Instagram and that maybe that leaves you, maybe it doesn't depend on how addicted you are to your phone, but hopefully you leave knowing that the priority was the people that you served.
Knowing that you might've gone to Guatemala or Jamaica or South Africa or wherever, because you thought those people needed you, but now you realize you needed them just as much.
(16:34):
A good quality trip provides for that transformation and that's what we go for.
One of the things I'm very aware of, I've been on a number of short term trips to various countries and the thing that always amazes me is that you might think that, hey, I've seen it all, but I would always look forward to those trips because I knew that God would do something new.
(16:58):
So I'm sure that God is still doing new things within you that he's still surprising you.
What are some of the more recent surprises that God has brought across your path on some of the mission trips that you've been leading?
Wow, that's an incredible question.
Incredible question.
His mercies are new every morning.
(17:20):
The surprise for me is always waking up somewhere new and seeing people that are just family now.
We were doing an incredible thing in Haiti.
We planted 14 or 15 churches and they all came with water stations.
So the pastor of the church, we could pay the pastor because they were also the administrator of the water.
(17:43):
So the people would be able to come to the church and get their water, sometimes food and get fellowship and all that stuff.
Even school, we had schools and churches, medical clinics and churches.
It was like a grassroots effort, just a lot from the ground up, you know, doing this thing and it was beautiful work.
And then of course, in 2018, we had to stop going because it got too dangerous in the areas that we were going.
(18:05):
Our grocery store burned down, the one that we always went to.
So it was like, well, where are we going to get food?
What surprised me and continues to surprise me is our pastor there, the partner that we had, is just continually working to provide for his people.
I'm fundraising on our end and sending it down to him and he's able to feed people.
(18:26):
He's not been able to go to the churches that he planted in the area that we were working.
So he invited people to his house and he had 300 something people coming to his house on Sunday mornings to have church at his house because it was too dangerous to go anywhere else.
He was feeding them warm meals and giving them bags for the rest of the week for food, and they'd come back the next week for the same thing.
(18:50):
It got so big that we've sent him money to build a church on a land that's kind of adjacent to his house so that people can come there.
So even though we haven't gone to Haiti since 2018, which is seven years, we're still planting churches, we're still feeding people, we're still supplying them with water, we're still caring for our brothers and sisters there.
(19:12):
Every time I went to Haiti and went to church, it was like I was going to my church family, every time.
It was brothers, sisters, all of our team members felt the same way.
What surprises me is how big the church, Big C is, and how we're all family and we're all working together.
If we just keep that mindset too, we're working together, we're working to the same goal.
(19:33):
So let's knock off all this extra division, extra stuff that gets in our way and just love each other and move forward.
And the beautiful part I see in that, you're not just going to serve a small group of people, a small group in a local church, but actually you're helping them to follow the call that God has put on their life.
(19:56):
So that local pastor already has a call on his life to see people won to Christ, to grow the kingdom in that space.
But with that extra help and now the continued resourcing, his churches had become water stations so that people were coming to them, people were able to hear about the love of Christ and see it displayed.
(20:18):
And they continue to see that.
It's actually a, we'll come alongside so that you can fulfill your calling in Christ, that must be incredibly empowering.
Yeah, it's a beautiful sight.
I'm a dude from Richmond, Virginia, grew up with nothing and to be able to sit here and be a witness to what people are doing around the world, such a sacrifice for that pastor to do what he's doing.
(20:46):
He's giving his all to care for the people that God has given him to shepherd.
So to come alongside him, even from afar is an honor.
It's something that we can't take for granted.
I'm very aware that when we go on a short term trip to a country or even to go on a few trips, that God does start to do things in our lives.
(21:07):
And sometimes that is, as you say, it changes the way we live once we're back at home.
But I'm sure that there have been people that have been on short term trips with Mission Discovery who have said, I think that God is calling me to longer service.
Have you seen some of the people that you've led say, I need to be in this country or that country, I need to take up full time service?
(21:32):
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, it was just with a couple, a few months ago in the Bahamas, they have an incredible story.
They went with Mission Discovery to Jamaica, to several places, and then they went to the Bahamas with Mission Discovery.
They had their week there, you know, it's a one week trip.
They came back and a couple of days later, the wife called our leader down in the Bahamas and said, I've got to come back.
(21:56):
And he's like, OK, yeah, all right.
Well, we can make some arrangements.
When do you want to come back?
Tomorrow.
Her husband's like, what are we going where, when, what?
We just got back.
So they got on a plane, went right back.
They stayed in a shack for a while and they're still missionaries there today.
And that must be amazing to know that you get to continually play a part in seeing people called to what God has for them.
(22:22):
It must make you feel amazing to know that you've had a small hand in what God is seeking to do in various places around this world.
It is an incredible feeling to know that God would choose to use me in the way that He has.
You know, I'm nothing special.
I'm the kid next door.
I'm a dad raising a son, a husband, and it's a life calling.
(22:44):
And I feel just incredibly blessed to play whatever role that I am playing.
But oftentimes I really feel like I'm just watching.
I'm watching God work.
Whatever door He puts in front of me, I might make a decision here or there, but I'm watching Him work in just the most incredible, powerful ways you can imagine.
Yeah.
There are many people that have had the opportunity and many people will continue to have the opportunity to encounter a mission trip through Mission Discovery.
(23:11):
But there are people in other parts of the world where they're going to go through a different agency.
And we did talk about the idea of short-term mission done right.
If someone is interested in short-term mission, what should they be looking for?
If they're looking at a group that is going to travel, what are the questions they should be asking to make sure that they are going to make a difference in kingdom growth?
(23:35):
Great question.
Doing what I do, I always run into people who have gone with other agencies.
We're all different.
We all do the same thing, but we're all different.
We have different ways that we do things.
We always put people in the hands of really qualified leaders.
We make sure that our people are trained very well.
You're not going to go and find, I don't mean any disrespect to the 20-year-olds out there, but you're not going to find a 20-year-old running our trips.
(24:01):
We want more experience, life experience in that in case an emergency happens.
I've heard stories of people who have gone on a trip and felt like they didn't do much.
What was it for?
We always try to make our trips very meaningful with the work that we do and the time that we spend with the people that we're serving.
(24:22):
A good question that you could ask any organization that you're looking at is other than what are your beliefs, what do you stand for?
You want to make sure that you're aligned with their beliefs.
One question that you could ask is nuts and bolts question is, is this mission trip focused more on physical service or more on an evangelical feel?
Ours are both, but some people can be one or the other, and you want to make sure
(24:45):
that your goals are aligned with whatever it's, so just make sure your goals are the
same, to make sure that you're falling into an organization that I think is quality,
making sure that things are done right, that you're not doing harm to the people
that you're serving unintentionally, that you're helping, not hurting, as they would
say, I don't know that there's one question, but I think it's a conversation that you
(25:08):
would have with one of the leaders of the organization.
They may not be the president or the whoever, but, but somebody in the organization that you're going to have an honest conversation with, and just to address all of your questions, are they willing to listen to you?
Are they willing to answer hard questions?
Are they willing to say, I don't know, I'll find out later or whatever, you know, are they honest with you in that conversation?
(25:32):
Does it sound like they're trying to sell you?
That's the question.
Are they trying to sell you?
Do they honestly want your group to have the best trip possible?
Because I'll tell you, if you go to Mission Discovery and we don't align somewhere, I'm not going to tell you to go on one of our trips.
If it's not the best trip for you, and maybe I know of some other organization that does a trip that might be a better suit for you, I'll tell you to go there.
(25:57):
It's honesty, it's in a relationship.
So that's what you want to build is a relationship with the organization that you're going with, not just we're using you as a service kind of thing.
Nathan, I'm sure that there are people who are excited about the work that you're doing and wanting to know more.
Where is the easiest place for people to find out more about you and about Mission Discovery?
(26:19):
Our website has it all, missiondiscovery.org, very easy.
And I will make sure that there are links in the show notes at bleedingdaylight.net so that people can find you very easily.
But Nathan, I just want to say thank you for the work you're doing and thank you especially for spending some time with us today on Bleeding Daylight.
Thank you so much.
(26:40):
It's been great.
Thank you for listening to Bleeding Daylight.
Please help us to shine more light into the darkness by sharing this episode with others.
For further details and more episodes, please visit bleedingdaylight.net.
Wherever there are shadows, there are people ready to kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight.
This is Bleeding Daylight with your host, Rodney Olsen.
Welcome.
I do hope that today's episode is full of inspiration and hope.
Dozens more episodes are waiting for you at bleedingdaylight.net.
(00:33):
As you listen, consider who else might benefit from this episode and then please share it through social media or word of mouth.
Today's guest has gone from unimaginable childhood trauma to a life that is making a difference across the globe.
(00:53):
I'll introduce you in just a moment.
Today I'm glad to welcome Nathan Walters as my guest.
From experiencing profound tragedy as a child to now serving as President of Mission Discovery, Nathan's journey is a powerful testament to redemption and purpose.
(01:18):
For the past 15 years, he's been leading mission trips that create sustainable, Gospel-centered impact in communities worldwide.
Nathan has first-hand experience of how God can transform even the deepest brokenness into something beautiful.
Nathan, welcome to Bleeding Daylight.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I mentioned that you experienced trauma as a child and while we know that God can redeem even the deepest pain, what you faced is almost unimaginable for most people.
(01:50):
Can you help me understand what happened all those years ago?
Goodness, yeah.
I grew up in Richmond, Virginia.
When I was nine years old, my mother and father were in the wrong part of town, wrong time of night.
They got jumped and my mother was killed that night.
My dad suffered some injury as well.
Raised a lot from my grandparents.
(02:11):
Me and my sisters had it pretty tough there for a few years, for sure.
And that's something that just never goes away.
As a nine-year-old, how do you start to work through that?
It's not easy to give some sort of mathematic answer, A, B, and C, you know, systematic way to handle your world falling apart, whether it be because of the death of a parent or for any reason you feel like everything's just out of your control and just sad.
(02:39):
It's a sad time.
To give some sort of like systematic answer for how to go through that, I don't know that any one thing works for everyone.
So for me, I remember I had a cat and, you know, I remember sitting and petting that cat for hours, it felt like.
I don't even love cats.
I'm more of a dog person, but for some reason, you know, that seemed to help.
(03:01):
My grandparents lived next door and I grew a pretty big attachment to my grandmother.
She helped me through that as well.
That was when I was nine and I remember walking across the yard, going to bed and stuff like that.
And I always say, you know, I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Good night.
Multiple times walking across the yard because I feared, you know, I'd felt that sting, that loss before and I didn't want to lose her.
(03:27):
And then when I was 12, she actually fell off of her porch and two weeks later passed away.
That on top of what I was already feeling, you know, just kind of felt like it's just one thing after another.
And I remember being kind of a ghost of myself for a few years there.
Other than the grace of God, I don't know what brought me through.
(03:50):
Before I was nine years old, we didn't really go to church that much.
And after my dad kind of came around and was better, he started getting us into church.
I think there's a community there.
Church is a community and this one was a good one.
So finding a good church community, I think really helped me.
The year that it happened, we got sat down.
(04:13):
My dad couldn't work.
They were shot.
So my dad had bullet holes.
I remember getting sat down and saying, Hey, this Christmas, we're not going to have much of a Christmas here.
Just to let you know, Santa might skip a few steps this year.
And so we weren't expecting much that year.
But what ended up happening was we woke up Christmas morning and there was this only thing I can think of is like a giant refrigerator box.
(04:37):
So many gifts, you couldn't even put them under the tree.
And we're like, what in the world happened?
Come to find out.
Our across the street neighbor knew our situation and she had gone to her church.
She was pretty old, but she went to her church and she said, Hey, you know, these kids are going through it right now.
It'd be great if we do something.
So they did like a toy drive or whatever and filled that refrigerator.
(04:57):
I had two microscopes.
I didn't even like science that much.
I'm about to use a microscope, but I got them.
It was just an amazing display of love and care that I'm talking about here 30 years later.
I just thought whatever God that church is following, that's the God I want to follow.
After that, we started going to church and things started coming around, but there was no quick answer.
(05:22):
The only way through it was actually through it.
You can't get around it.
And if I'm honest, 40 years old, still healing.
So where did faith take you from there?
Because as you say, you've started attending a church and that's great to have that community around you.
But when did faith in God become that personal thing for you?
When did you say this is what I'm going to be all in on?
(05:45):
From the start, I would sit up with like the pastor of this church, you know, on the front row.
I was all in from the beginning.
Even before we were going to church so much, I always felt that connection with God.
And I think maybe that's a lot of people's stories.
I'll hear a lot of people say, you know, I don't really have a faith story.
I've been a Christian all my life.
Well, that's great.
You have this connection with God all your life.
(06:07):
That's a wonderful thing.
I think, though, after high school, I kind of did my own thing for a little while and I veered back into the church, veered back into a Christian college and went through a year of just deep reformation on my soul, fasted for a while and got baptized.
It was one of those years.
And maybe people can identify with that.
(06:28):
Like there was this time and I don't know.
It was just I was hungry for Christ to do something in my life and I wanted to change.
So I think maybe that would be the time when I was about in college.
It was just like I had always loved Jesus.
I'd always loved him.
But that was a time where I could really feel like I fell in love with Christ.
(06:48):
You mentioned that narrative that we so often believe that there's this big decision point and that's the accepting Christ moment.
And yet for many people, as you've mentioned, it's this gradual growing into Christ that we've always had that background in Christ and we grow and we have those moments where it does go deeper, like you mentioned.
(07:10):
But actually there's not that point in time.
And I think sometimes people have been made to feel that they've been shortchanged, that they don't have a testimony, which is life was dreadful, come to Christ, life is amazing, but rather a gradual growing in connection with Jesus.
Yeah, yeah.
For me, it is a gradual thing.
(07:32):
During that year in college, I was invited to go on my first mission trip.
We did not grow up with money.
So, so I never thought that going on a mission trip or even leaving the States was a possibility for me.
It was never on the table.
So when the opportunity came, I was just blown away.
I went to Uganda for my first mission trip and it was incredible.
(07:53):
It changed my life forever and we weren't building anything.
I was supposed to be playing piano for church services and I ended up playing with kids most of the time, you know, and it's just kind of like I just loved it so much.
In the Old Testament, we read all about these experience with God back way early Old Testament, Jacob and Esau and Jacob's dream at Bethel.
(08:13):
And he has this amazing experience with God and he builds this pillar of rocks and it's kind of like, and whenever the Israelites would pass this, they would remember, okay, this is what happened.
This is where Jacob saw God and they would honor that place.
And same thing happened in Joshua many times and they called them altars.
And so places would be places of reverence, places where God met them.
(08:34):
And I think for me, I can point to several instances in my life where I'm like, okay, God met me there.
That is a place where I could put a bunch of rocks and stones and just kind of honestly go back and say, this was a place on my spiritual journey, this piece meant a lot to me.
Losing my mom was terrible, but that on my spiritual journey, that is a pillar, you know, where I can go back and I can honestly see God's hand in the midst of that.
(08:58):
Because just when you feel like he's not there, you could look back and you say, well, I can see him everywhere through that.
And then on the mission trips and things like that, I can see how God has used these things in my life to grow me closer to him.
And we certainly all have those significant moments along the way.
But I know that what you're keen to talk about as well is those small steps of obedience that might not seem big or glamorous, but it's the small steps of obedience that keep us connected to God, aren't they?
(09:31):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Opening doors, saying yes, whenever an opportunity arises and the obedience to what God is calling you to, I remember on a trip to Virginia, we did a mission trip out in Virginia.
On the last night of every trip, we asked our teams, what are they taking home with them?
And not talking about, you know, a shirt or dirty socks.
(09:51):
We're talking about, you know, what has God done in your heart?
And there were two people that stood up on this night and there was a guy named Al, he was 85 years old.
And on that night, he said, you know, I'm 85 years old and I finally understand what God wants me to do with my life.
And that's serve people.
I love that.
And then a teenager stood up and he said, you know, this was the first week I've ever heard the Lord speak to me.
(10:15):
And I thought to myself, I can't remember the first time I felt God speak to me.
But how important is that to know God's voice, to discern God's voice in your life and to be able to experience like this is this person's first time that he's experienced that.
And so to share that moment with him.
So, yeah, obedience is a key, but being able to understand how is God speaking to you?
(10:37):
Is it through scripture?
Is it through something during the day?
Just something random that you never even thought would be doing dishes?
God spoke to me while I was doing dishes because he can.
Obedience is key, but really learning how to discern God's voice and where he's calling you to is also key.
I always say, you know, if you're given the choice between one or two or three things, you know, what's the most difficult thing for you?
(11:00):
Oftentimes, that's God.
That's one way to do it, at least in my life, I've found.
What's the most difficult thing right now?
Walk toward it.
And it's often in those times where it's going to be difficult for us and we can only rely on the strength of God that we know that he's in there, don't we?
That's right.
Yeah, yeah.
(11:21):
These days, you are the president of Mission Discovery.
Tell me about Mission Discovery and what it's all about.
I went on my first mission trip to Uganda and coming out of that, I really felt the call to missions, and I didn't know what that meant.
I had no clue, you know, anything about mission, but I knew I loved the experience and I knew that God had spoken to me on that trip.
(11:41):
So I went off, I had worked at a church and eventually made my way to Nashville.
And I told the church, I'm moving to Nashville to pursue missions.
And so I came here, I had no connections, no nothing.
And then a few months later, I was on the ground in Tecate, Mexico with Mission Discovery, didn't know who they were, but I had gotten invited.
And I said, yes, you know, just being obedient, walking through the door that was given to me and on that trip, 2009, I was like, you know, this is, this is it.
(12:09):
We were building homes, built eight homes that week, incredible times.
And I saw God working the entire trip.
And especially in my heart, Mission Discovery is an organization that takes teams, church teams, school groups, anything like that on these mission trips, even family groups, even individuals on trips around the world to serve others.
(12:29):
We go to Tecate, Mexico.
We go to Jamaica.
We go all over the world doing this stuff.
And even in the United States, I stayed close to home as well.
Took me about five years to get hired at Mission Discovery.
And once I was hired, I took some things on and just kept growing in the organization and eventually, yeah, got put in this chair, so we'll see how it goes.
(12:51):
And it's interesting, as you mentioned, the various mission trips that you've taken groups on.
We know that sometimes short-term mission is maligned because it can be seen as an opportunity to get the Instagram photo and, and that's really what it's all about.
But you've already described that discussion that you have.
And I know that it wouldn't be the only one that you have during that time, that discussion you have before returning to normal life, whatever that then becomes, which should be reshaped by that short-term mission.
(13:23):
But I know that you're very keen to do short-term mission, right?
Where is the distinction for you with some of those short-term mission trips that do just turn into an opportunity to go out, feel good about ourselves and come back, and a short-term mission trip that is done with the best purpose in mind?
(13:44):
Yeah, I'll give away all my secrets for that.
The first secret is just good leadership.
If you're taking a team on a mission trip, you have a lot on your shoulders, whether you be a youth pastor or whoever you are, even your family.
And really meeting with your team ahead of time, going through some basic missions training, as well as cultural training for wherever you're going.
(14:08):
Good leadership is key and I've seen it all.
I've seen great leadership and I've seen leadership that's letting their kids jump off balconies into a pool in Jamaica where we're going to have to go to the hospital.
I've seen it all, training your team ahead of time, that's a key.
On our part, our partners are incredibly important to us.
We don't go to a place unless we're invited by somebody that's already working in the area, already making a difference in the area.
(14:34):
Now, I always tell teams, we're not bringing Jesus to this area.
Jesus is already here.
He's already working.
And our job is to have a front row seat in what he's doing here in these people's lives.
That's really the kicker for us, is when you go and you see how Jesus is
working in people's lives that are in Guatemala, let's say, and you start
to identify yourself with these people, you're like, these people are just like
(14:57):
me, they may have less in material, whatever, you know, their chairs aren't
as nice, you know, their shoes might have a little bit holes in them, you know,
whatever, but these people are just like, this dad is providing for his family
just like I'm providing for my family.
This kid's going to school just like I'm going to school.
These people are just like me.
So it's kind of like, it's an awakening in our own selves.
(15:19):
God is working here.
He's also working in my life.
And so I would say leadership, I would say partners on the ground that are already working in doing the work.
And so we're just going to provide extra muscle for whatever they're doing.
They're the leaders.
We are just coming alongside them.
That's really the key there.
I was just in Guatemala last week and on their last day, the teams were wrapping up and this guy stands up, he described the mission trip as a curse.
(15:46):
And I thought, well, that's interesting.
This is the curse of a mission trip that you cannot live life in the same way that you did before that your perspective is different when you go home than it was when you came here and now, you know, now, you know, now you've seen God in this way and something in your life is going to have to change because you've been here.
(16:07):
You might come on the mission trip, ready to post on Instagram and that maybe that leaves you, maybe it doesn't depend on how addicted you are to your phone, but hopefully you leave knowing that the priority was the people that you served.
Knowing that you might've gone to Guatemala or Jamaica or South Africa or wherever, because you thought those people needed you, but now you realize you needed them just as much.
(16:34):
A good quality trip provides for that transformation and that's what we go for.
One of the things I'm very aware of, I've been on a number of short term trips to various countries and the thing that always amazes me is that you might think that, hey, I've seen it all, but I would always look forward to those trips because I knew that God would do something new.
(16:58):
So I'm sure that God is still doing new things within you that he's still surprising you.
What are some of the more recent surprises that God has brought across your path on some of the mission trips that you've been leading?
Wow, that's an incredible question.
Incredible question.
His mercies are new every morning.
(17:20):
The surprise for me is always waking up somewhere new and seeing people that are just family now.
We were doing an incredible thing in Haiti.
We planted 14 or 15 churches and they all came with water stations.
So the pastor of the church, we could pay the pastor because they were also the administrator of the water.
(17:43):
So the people would be able to come to the church and get their water, sometimes food and get fellowship and all that stuff.
Even school, we had schools and churches, medical clinics and churches.
It was like a grassroots effort, just a lot from the ground up, you know, doing this thing and it was beautiful work.
And then of course, in 2018, we had to stop going because it got too dangerous in the areas that we were going.
(18:05):
Our grocery store burned down, the one that we always went to.
So it was like, well, where are we going to get food?
What surprised me and continues to surprise me is our pastor there, the partner that we had, is just continually working to provide for his people.
I'm fundraising on our end and sending it down to him and he's able to feed people.
(18:26):
He's not been able to go to the churches that he planted in the area that we were working.
So he invited people to his house and he had 300 something people coming to his house on Sunday mornings to have church at his house because it was too dangerous to go anywhere else.
He was feeding them warm meals and giving them bags for the rest of the week for food, and they'd come back the next week for the same thing.
(18:50):
It got so big that we've sent him money to build a church on a land that's kind of adjacent to his house so that people can come there.
So even though we haven't gone to Haiti since 2018, which is seven years, we're still planting churches, we're still feeding people, we're still supplying them with water, we're still caring for our brothers and sisters there.
(19:12):
Every time I went to Haiti and went to church, it was like I was going to my church family, every time.
It was brothers, sisters, all of our team members felt the same way.
What surprises me is how big the church, Big C is, and how we're all family and we're all working together.
If we just keep that mindset too, we're working together, we're working to the same goal.
(19:33):
So let's knock off all this extra division, extra stuff that gets in our way and just love each other and move forward.
And the beautiful part I see in that, you're not just going to serve a small group of people, a small group in a local church, but actually you're helping them to follow the call that God has put on their life.
(19:56):
So that local pastor already has a call on his life to see people won to Christ, to grow the kingdom in that space.
But with that extra help and now the continued resourcing, his churches had become water stations so that people were coming to them, people were able to hear about the love of Christ and see it displayed.
(20:18):
And they continue to see that.
It's actually a, we'll come alongside so that you can fulfill your calling in Christ, that must be incredibly empowering.
Yeah, it's a beautiful sight.
I'm a dude from Richmond, Virginia, grew up with nothing and to be able to sit here and be a witness to what people are doing around the world, such a sacrifice for that pastor to do what he's doing.
(20:46):
He's giving his all to care for the people that God has given him to shepherd.
So to come alongside him, even from afar is an honor.
It's something that we can't take for granted.
I'm very aware that when we go on a short term trip to a country or even to go on a few trips, that God does start to do things in our lives.
(21:07):
And sometimes that is, as you say, it changes the way we live once we're back at home.
But I'm sure that there have been people that have been on short term trips with Mission Discovery who have said, I think that God is calling me to longer service.
Have you seen some of the people that you've led say, I need to be in this country or that country, I need to take up full time service?
(21:32):
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, it was just with a couple, a few months ago in the Bahamas, they have an incredible story.
They went with Mission Discovery to Jamaica, to several places, and then they went to the Bahamas with Mission Discovery.
They had their week there, you know, it's a one week trip.
They came back and a couple of days later, the wife called our leader down in the Bahamas and said, I've got to come back.
(21:56):
And he's like, OK, yeah, all right.
Well, we can make some arrangements.
When do you want to come back?
Tomorrow.
Her husband's like, what are we going where, when, what?
We just got back.
So they got on a plane, went right back.
They stayed in a shack for a while and they're still missionaries there today.
And that must be amazing to know that you get to continually play a part in seeing people called to what God has for them.
(22:22):
It must make you feel amazing to know that you've had a small hand in what God is seeking to do in various places around this world.
It is an incredible feeling to know that God would choose to use me in the way that He has.
You know, I'm nothing special.
I'm the kid next door.
I'm a dad raising a son, a husband, and it's a life calling.
(22:44):
And I feel just incredibly blessed to play whatever role that I am playing.
But oftentimes I really feel like I'm just watching.
I'm watching God work.
Whatever door He puts in front of me, I might make a decision here or there, but I'm watching Him work in just the most incredible, powerful ways you can imagine.
Yeah.
There are many people that have had the opportunity and many people will continue to have the opportunity to encounter a mission trip through Mission Discovery.
(23:11):
But there are people in other parts of the world where they're going to go through a different agency.
And we did talk about the idea of short-term mission done right.
If someone is interested in short-term mission, what should they be looking for?
If they're looking at a group that is going to travel, what are the questions they should be asking to make sure that they are going to make a difference in kingdom growth?
(23:35):
Great question.
Doing what I do, I always run into people who have gone with other agencies.
We're all different.
We all do the same thing, but we're all different.
We have different ways that we do things.
We always put people in the hands of really qualified leaders.
We make sure that our people are trained very well.
You're not going to go and find, I don't mean any disrespect to the 20-year-olds out there, but you're not going to find a 20-year-old running our trips.
(24:01):
We want more experience, life experience in that in case an emergency happens.
I've heard stories of people who have gone on a trip and felt like they didn't do much.
What was it for?
We always try to make our trips very meaningful with the work that we do and the time that we spend with the people that we're serving.
(24:22):
A good question that you could ask any organization that you're looking at is other than what are your beliefs, what do you stand for?
You want to make sure that you're aligned with their beliefs.
One question that you could ask is nuts and bolts question is, is this mission trip focused more on physical service or more on an evangelical feel?
Ours are both, but some people can be one or the other, and you want to make sure
(24:45):
that your goals are aligned with whatever it's, so just make sure your goals are the
same, to make sure that you're falling into an organization that I think is quality,
making sure that things are done right, that you're not doing harm to the people
that you're serving unintentionally, that you're helping, not hurting, as they would
say, I don't know that there's one question, but I think it's a conversation that you
(25:08):
would have with one of the leaders of the organization.
They may not be the president or the whoever, but, but somebody in the organization that you're going to have an honest conversation with, and just to address all of your questions, are they willing to listen to you?
Are they willing to answer hard questions?
Are they willing to say, I don't know, I'll find out later or whatever, you know, are they honest with you in that conversation?
(25:32):
Does it sound like they're trying to sell you?
That's the question.
Are they trying to sell you?
Do they honestly want your group to have the best trip possible?
Because I'll tell you, if you go to Mission Discovery and we don't align somewhere, I'm not going to tell you to go on one of our trips.
If it's not the best trip for you, and maybe I know of some other organization that does a trip that might be a better suit for you, I'll tell you to go there.
(25:57):
It's honesty, it's in a relationship.
So that's what you want to build is a relationship with the organization that you're going with, not just we're using you as a service kind of thing.
Nathan, I'm sure that there are people who are excited about the work that you're doing and wanting to know more.
Where is the easiest place for people to find out more about you and about Mission Discovery?
(26:19):
Our website has it all, missiondiscovery.org, very easy.
And I will make sure that there are links in the show notes at bleedingdaylight.net so that people can find you very easily.
But Nathan, I just want to say thank you for the work you're doing and thank you especially for spending some time with us today on Bleeding Daylight.
Thank you so much.
(26:40):
It's been great.
Thank you for listening to Bleeding Daylight.
Please help us to shine more light into the darkness by sharing this episode with others.
For further details and more episodes, please visit bleedingdaylight.net.
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