The glow of thousands of faces lights up the room, a powerful testament to the spread of the gospel from generation to generation. 

This was one of the many special moments from The Navigators 2023 National Staff Gathering.

Last month, over 1,300 Navigator staff came together in Irving, Texas. The theme of the weekend was Heartbeat: A Vital Movement of the Gospel, focusing on 2 Timothy 2:1-2: “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (NIV).

The gathering held five plenary sessions, which were designed to inspire, uplift, and challenge staff attendees to continue the work to which they’ve been called. Staff heard insights on the Lord’s vision for grace, necessary aspects of prayer, and how He works through each and every one of us to reach the nations and spread His mission.  

Staff members also enjoyed times of fun and laughter, along with encouraging ministry stories from new and old friends, breakouts to equip and multiply disciplemakers, precious times of prayer and worship, and motivational messages from fellow Navigators and international leaders. 

For many, the National Staff Gathering was a reminder of why they became Navigators — to be a part of a vital movement of the gospel by connecting, resourcing, and developing everyday disciplemakers. 

Though this conference looked back over the past four years since our last National Staff Gathering, we also took time to look forward to the work that is ahead of us as a ministry. You can partner with us as we continue this work for years to come! 

Pray that the Lord works through The Navigators to reach the unreached and create new disciplemakers. Come alongside us to spread the gospel and disciple those in your circles, from family members to coworkers to neighbors and beyond.

Whether you serve on staff or through your everyday life, we are excited to see how the Lord moves through this next season of ministry!

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV).

Discipleship Tip:  

Pull out your phone and find a photo of someone you’re discipling or have discipled. Pray for that person and reach out to offer them encouragement.

When I visit Brooklyn, I usually end up at a wonderful donut shop with my friend Don, an artist who lives in the neighborhood. One morning, while enjoying a cup of coffee there (not a donut, as I am trying to watch what I eat), I remembered an idea that had come to me as I prayed: Give thanks with art and help someone. Paint every day that you are in New York.

It was Easter Sunday. In the display case I saw the most beautiful tray of donuts I’ve ever seen. It even featured donuts decorated with miniature Peeps.

I began sketching. The owner’s daughter saw me and asked if I was an artist. Don replied, “Of course he is. You should see his paintings!”

“Do you like my artwork?” I asked. She said she liked it very much. I thought, why not paint their front window to say thank you to the community? Besides, as an artist who specializes in fine art, the opportunities to show my work are somewhat narrow. Painting a window sounded like fun.

The owner asked how much I would charge to do a mural on the front windows. I knew my regular prices would be way out of range, so I just said, “As long as you provide the paint, I’ll come and paint.” I promised to come back the next day around 2:30 p.m.

The family wasn’t sure if I was going to show up. I showed them a little concept sketch for the window. I could tell they were worried—they had never dealt with me before, and they didn’t know what I wanted other than to paint.

I showed up at 2:30 p.m. sharp and started to work. I saw the owner watching me on the security monitor as I painted. He was smiling. When I was about halfway through the mural, he brought out his iPad. He was FaceTiming with his family: his wife, son, and daughter were on the screen. They loved the mural! “He paints so fast!” they said.

Later in the day his six-year-old son and teenage daughter came and helped at their dad’s shop. The little boy helped me paint sprinkles on the donuts. He declared, “I’m artist number one and you’re artist number two. I’m the master artist!”

I responded, “Well, you’re the boss!”

When I was done they asked for one more favor: Would I paint a DNA molecule on the board for the daughter’s science fair project? It was the end of the day and I was tired, but I did, and I enjoyed it very much.

When I was done, the donut shop owner, smiling ear-to-ear, asked, “How much do I owe you?”

“You don’t owe me anything,” I said. “I wanted to paint and that’s exactly what I did. Consider this an Easter gift to you and your family. I’m visiting from Texas, and I just wanted to paint every day I was in New York. You helped me do that.”

He responded, “I’m a Muslim—I must pay you. It’s part of who I am.”

“This is a gift,” I said. “God is good and I love painting every day. A doctor in Texas just bought a very large painting of mine, and a few friends have bought smaller works recently, so this is my gift to you. If you’d like to thank anybody, thank them, because that’s why I can do this.”

He was beyond excited. His daughter gave me the biggest box of donuts I’d ever seen. I took them back to Don’s apartment and shared them with Don and his roommates. It was a great day in Brooklyn.

Painting for this family was a random act of service. Since then I’ve gone on to paint three more windows for this donut shop, and another one is in the works. It’s not something I can do very often. But I’m so thankful for this opportunity to be generous—to do what I can when I can.

Rex Hausmann is a San Antonio artist involved in Via Affirmativa, a Navigator ministry that celebrates beauty, affirms artists, and engages communities for the sake of the gospel of the Kingdom.

What ways can you give it forward? Whether it is through art, words of affirmation, or acts of service, you can show God’s love in a tangible way to those in your sphere of influence.

In this video Dave Wirgau teaches from Isaiah 49:3-6, examining God’s promise to use your life to reach the nations even in the midst of feeling discouraged.

Doesn’t matter the results or what I see happening. I’m going to trust you. I will trust that you will accomplish your purposes.
-Dave Wirgau

Harvest is a five-part series of short films that will give you a vision for how you can play a part in God accomplishing his purposes. The series features the teaching of Dave Wirgau, longtime campus minister with The Navigators.

Jesus taught His disciples that prayer was an essential requisite of the Kingdom life:

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. (Luke 18:1)

And Paul encouraged the young church at Thessalonica, writing:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

New birth provides us with the opportunity of a close connection with the God of the universe. Yet, many of us connect with God only on Sunday mornings, or when things are really bad—or really good. Prayer is the life-blood of our relationship with God. Amazing, isn’t it, that God chose to invite human beings, His creation, into a vital connection—24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

And the results of a prayer-less life are sure. A survey of the life of David shows us that when David prayed and sought God’s presence and guidance things went one way (see 1 Samuel 23:1, 30:6-8). But when he operated out of fear, and deceit, and didn’t seek God, things went horribly and impacted the lives of others (see 1 Samuel 21 and 27).

While I am so grateful for the special rhythms of prayer I’ve established each day early in the mornings, or before I fall asleep, I’m even more grateful for the opportunity I have to pause throughout the day, to check in and share my heart with the Lord Jesus, who says He’ll be with us always (Matthew 28:20).

Having access to God, and being men and women who pray continually, means that we too can have strength of soul because of our intimate and regular fellowship with God. Our lives can be characterized by constant communication with the God of heaven and earth. And we can be like David in the Psalms, a man who celebrated the blessings of God, but also was quick to bring his concerns, gripes, and burdens to God—His stronghold and deliverer.

In His Grip,

Doug Nuenke
U.S. President, The Navigators

One student from a war-torn country said, “I know you are disciples and followers of Jesus. Is there any hope for me to be Jesus’ disciple?”

We affirmed that it was God’s desire that he follow Jesus. We now meet weekly for Bible study with this seeker of truth.

We celebrate God’s answers to our prayers and also reflect on His faithfulness in the past year. Last summer we were able to visit family and friends in the eastern Mediterranean. Even our visit was an answer to prayer, as the embassy opened especially for us on a Saturday and the worker who gave us our visas and passports said, “God answered your prayers!”

While visiting family and friends, we had many opportunities to pray with people and share the gospel of Jesus. God lead us to meet with a couple who had experienced many miscarriages. The wife was 30-weeks pregnant. We prayed together for their pregnancy saying, “Lord, we pray that this boy will be yours and will have life and will be like John the Baptist, a son who will be a crying voice in this family and bring them to you.”

We told them to give their son to Jesus and to call him “John,” or “Yohanna,” in their language. Two days after our prayer, the mom’s water broke. They went to the hospital, expecting the baby to die. Praise God, the baby was born in good health and they called him “Yohanna.” All the praise and glory goes to Jesus. Praying is a vital part of our relationship with God and our ministry!

PRAY for more opportunities for Samy and Eman to share God’s love with those in need of hope.

The story that unfolded is about families, the Gospel, and God’s faithfulness in each of our lives.

John and Peggy met The Navigators through their son Steve. As a freshman at University of Iowa, Steve became involved in Collegiate Navs and joined a Bible study. He was already a Christian, but learned how to grow in his relationship with God. Steve was discipled by a Navigator and this became a pivotal experience in his life.

When he came home from college, immediately John and Peggy began to see positive differences in their son. It was evident in how Steve treated his family, made better life choices, and had a strong desire to follow Jesus. It soon changed their family story.

Steve shared the Gospel with his two younger sisters, Cindy and Becky, and they each made decisions to follow Jesus Christ. They saw a sincere change in their big brother and wanted to know God the way he did.

Later on in his college years, Steve met his future wife, Janine, on a Navigator campus weekend retreat. Medical school followed college, and after he graduated from med school, he and Janine were married. Steve’s career choice for medicine was put on hold while he and Janine served as Nav campus leaders at Iowa State University and then University of Iowa. After a season of campus ministry, they moved to develop a medical practice in a Texas border town.

John shared, “Each of our three kids have followed God’s will for their life. God is using each of their gifts in making a difference: raising a family, working in medicine, the mission field, or in the U.S. Senate! We are blessed to look back at God’s faithfulness and how one encounter with Jesus can be the tipping point for our entire family story.

“That’s why we want to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary at Glen Eyrie Conference Center this year, to remember God’s faithfulness over our family. And The Navigators is a huge part of that blessing.”

John and Peggy wanted to give a gift to The Navigators through a Charitable Gift Annuity. A CGA has two benefits: they will receive a predictable income and give a legacy gift from their family to The Navigators.

If you have any questions about a Charitable Gift Annuity, we are glad to help you walk through the options that work best for your family needs.

I hope the Havener’s story encourages you to take a look at your personal story and see how God’s hand is evident when we walk towards Him in faith.

“How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear You …” Psalm 31:19a (NLT).

Waiting, hoping, eagerly I look forward, anticipat­ing something special. When I was a child, my fam­ily didn’t focus on Christ as the center and circumfer­ence of Christmas. But there was still anticipation. Wait­ing for the first snow. Hop­ing for special presents. Eagerly looking forward to the pleased faces of my loved ones as they opened the presents I had carefully made for them. And some­ how all of the waiting wasn’t over when Christmas Day had passed. It was as though all the different kinds of Christmas waiting were just shadows of the waiting that was still inside me.

When I met Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I finally found out what that waiting was: I was looking for my Redeemer! The first Christmas season after I was born again was infinitely more exciting than any holiday of the past. Each kind of waiting, each part of Christmas, echoed the holy anticipation of the coming of our Lord. Now my family celebrates Christmas with our devotion centered on Jesus Christ.

Over the years we have learned and adapted many Christmas traditions that help us to focus on the birth of our Lord and Savior, sometimes even giving a Christian emphasis to the “commercial­ized” aspects of Christmas. We have found many ways to make Christmas a special celebration of Christ’s birthday.

SANTA CLAUS

When our oldest daughter was not quite I three, we told her about a special Christian who lived a long time ago: “His name was Nicholas, and we call him St. Nicholas because saint means someone who belongs to God, just like we do. In St. Nicholas’ town there were many poor children. They didn’t have enough food, clothes, or toys. St. Nicholas used his money to buy food, clothes, and toys for the poor children. He didn’t want them to be embarrassed by his gifts, so he gave secretly.

“St. Nicholas also told everyone about Jesus and how much God loved them. Many people became Christians because of what St. Nicholas said. Then some mean people who hated Jesus put St. Nicholas in jail to keep him from telling people about Jesus and from helping people. St. Nicholas kept on telling people about Jesus until the mean people finally had him killed.

“Because of how much St. Nicholas loved Jesus, and because of the many gifts he gave the poor children of his town, we still remember St. Nich­olas at Christmas time. All of the gifts he gave, and all of the Christmas presents we give, are to remind us of the very best gift anyone ever gave: when God the Father gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to us for our salvation.

”Today there are many people who don’t know the truth about St. Nicholas. They call him ‘Santa Claus,’ and they tell children pre­tend stories about him liv­ing at the North Pole and having elves and reindeer. But we know the truth, and when we see a depart­ment store Santa Claus or a picture of Santa Claus in a magazine, we remember the real Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, who loved Jesus so much and whose life and death remind us about God’s gift of Jesus Christ to us.”

By learning this true story, our children are able to enjoy Santa Claus while being reminded of the gos­pel and the true meaning of Christmas. We even have a small figure of Santa Claus kneeling at the manger, praying to baby Jesus, rein­ forcing the truth that every­one, even St. Nicholas, must kneel be­ fore the King of kings and Lord of lords.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas is an ancient Christian word that comes from Latin and signifies “to send Christ” or “Christ is sent” -an entirely appropriate label!

We don’t know the exact date of Christ’s birth. The early Christian Church chose December 25 as the common date upon which all Christians throughout the world would commemorate the birth of Christ. Part of the reason this date was chosen was that it was already a popular pagan holiday. Centuries ago Christian converts were under intense pressure to maintain their pagan religious ties be­ cause of cultural and social traditions. The Church understood this pressure and sought to supersede pagan tradi­tions with ones that gave glory to the true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We tell our children, “Be­fore Jesus was born, many people who did not know about the true God wor­shiped false gods, idols. They had holidays for their idols. After Jesus came, the Church wanted all Christians to have a special day to remember and celebrate Jesus’ birthday. They chose the same day as one of the pagan festivals as a way to show that Jesus Christ is the only true God and that His birthday is more im­portant than anything hav­ing to do with an idol. Choosing that day for Christ­mas is sort of like a picture of how God deals with peo­ple. When people don’t be­lieve in God, they are like the pagans and nothing they do pleases God. When they become Christians and love Jesus, the Holy Spirit transforms them into people who please God.”

We anticipate Christmas long before December 25. Our church has special “advent” (Christ’s coming) services each Wednesday for four weeks before Christ­mas. These special services ready our hearts for Christ­mas and tum our eyes away from crass commercialization and hectic holiday schedules and toward the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Sometimes we get busy and we are tempted to skip a week; our pastor reminds us, if we spent as much time preparing our hearts for Christmas as we did our homes, we would be in great shape spiritually!

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Through the weeks approaching Christmas, I get out special Christmas objects before Christmas that remind us of Christ’s coming. Our advent wreath marks the four Sundays before Christmas with the ring of evergreen signifying God’s everlasting love and the candles reminding us that Christ is the light of the world.

The first week we light a gold candle, reminding us of the prophets who announced Christ’s coming. The second week we light the gold and the white candles, the white signifying the angels who announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds. The third week we light the gold, white, and green candles, the green signifying the shepherds, who told about the angel’s message. On the Sunday before Christmas we light all four candles, the last, purple one reminding us of the royal wise men who came to worship Jesus.

Each week we read appropriate parts of the nativity story during our candle lighting, and each week the light from the wreath gets brighter. On Christmas Eve we light a large red candle in the center of the wreath. This signifies the coming of Jesus Christ, who was born a baby, but who later shed His blood so that we can have eternal life.

Our creche or nativity scene is also very important to us. We bought large plaster figures at a craft shop and painted them together as a family. The younger children painted the easier pieces, and Dad and Mom painted the difficult details. Even with the splotches and nicks each piece has earned over the years, the children’s faces still light up with warm recognition as each piece is unwrapped and set on the hearth. We leave the figure of baby Jesus wrapped up carefully until Christmas Eve. Our youngest child has the special honor of unwrapping it and placing it carefully in the manger.

Some of the ornaments on our Christmas tree copy ancient Christian symbols and reflect important Chris­tian teaching. Crosses re­ mind us that Christ died for us. Triangles represent the Trinity. Circles symbol­ize that Jesus, even though He was born as a baby, is eternal. Shepherds’ crooks remind us that Jesus is our great Shepherd.

Many of our ornaments have been given to us over the years by friends and family members. As we unpack them each year and hang them on our tree, we talk about the people who gave them to us. The orna­ments remind us to pray for those we may not see regularly anymore.

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

At our house, we begin anticipating Christmas in October, when we buy inexpensive pumpkins, bake them, and use the pulp for pumpkin bread, which we freeze for Christmas presents. We have a good family time mixing, measuring, cooking, and talking about the special friends who will receive our gifts. We start looking forward to Jesus’ birthday, when God sent His only Son to us as the best present of all. Our pumpkin bread represents our love for our friends, but most important, it should represent God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ.

Our family keeps gift-giving to a minimum of special, meaningful gifts. Each gift, eagerly anticipated by our children, is another reminder of the One Gift.

Each member of our family prepares a special gift for Jesus each year. Weeks of discussion, prayer, and thought go into selecting a promise for the next year that will please Jesus. It may take a positive form (“My gift to Jesus is to promise to spend more time playing with my little brother”), or a negative form (“My gift to Jesus is to promise not to call my sister names anymore”). The promise is printed on a card and decorated for Jesus. On Christmas morning we have a birthday cake for Jesus, sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus, share our Jesus presents with each other, and pray as a family that we will be able to fulfill our promises.

The repetition, the anticipation, the repeated telling of the gospel in different ways through presents, traditions, and family times, combine as a powerful reinforcement of Christian truth. Although Christmas has been secularized and commercialized by many people, Christians can use Christmas as a vehicle for the gospel. Let us approach this Christmas echoing the glory expressed by the angel: “‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'” (Luke 2:10-11).

Taken from Discipleship Journal, Issue 36.

My most committed seasons have been times of personal perplexity or tragedy—it’s easy to cry out to God when I need something desperately . . . when I feel like He’s all I have. But really, He’s still all I have when things are going well.

So I suppose I was Lorne Sanny’s prime audience when he wrote “How to Spend a Day in Prayer.” Someone who needed a direct but loving reminder. Someone who had forgotten the value of a day spent, eyes fixed, on the better thing.

Lorne Sanny was the second international director of The Navigators, and, from what I’m told, he was a man who was often discovered in his office on his knees in prayer. He knew how to spend time with God.

Not long after finishing my initial read of Lorne’s article, I headed to Glen Eyrie Conference Center on a Saturday, to spend a couple of hours in intentional communication with God. I didn’t follow Lorne’s rubric religiously by any means, but his writing inspired, challenged, and reminded me of the ’90s me. The person I was before I started checking my phone 80 times a day. Before I started believing the lie that you can keep depth with God relying on old investment. Before pride became my pet sin.

During these precious hours with God, He spoke to me by giving me peace, and a sense of closeness that I had been missing. He gave me wisdom (James 1:5) in a decision I was examining. It wasn’t new revelation or anything extrabiblical. But it was powerful, and God communicated His love through it.

My most memorable takeaway from Lorne’s writing, and the thing that really drove me to the Glen that Saturday, was this quote:

“If God has given us plans and purposes in those times alone, we will be ready when opportunity comes to move right into it. We won’t have to say, ‘I’m not prepared.’ The reason many Christians are dead to opportunities is not because they are not mentally alert, but they are simply unprepared in heart. Preparation is made when we get alone with God.”

Major life decisions fill me with compulsive panic. I feel unqualified, unprepared, unworthy of hearing any direction from God. I find myself wishing that, like my husband, I had been spending consistent time with Jesus for months before crisis surfaced.

God still seems to have mercy on me, but I know I’ve missed out, over and over again, in my inattention to Him. My problem is certainly not mental alertness. I can think with the best of them. But my heart often walks into situations completely unprepared. I hate that.

Do you want sweeter friendship with Jesus? Do you want to be better equipped for His next move in your life? The first step may be to simply make the time. Purposeful days don’t just happen.

“The test of such a day is not how exhilarated we are when the day is over but how it works into life tomorrow. If we have really exposed ourselves to the Word and come into contact with God, it will affect our daily life. And that is what we want.”
–Lorne Sanny

You can read The Navigators Vision Statement in its entirety on the Statement of Faith page.