In 1933, serviceman Les Spencer, who had been discipled by Dawson Trotman, asked Dawson to help his buddies aboard the U.S.S. West Virginia. Dawson’s response, “You teach them,” surprised Les Spencer! That simple response captured two key Navigator values—the infinite worth of each individual and spiritual reproduction. By the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Navigator Bible clubs were operating on hundreds of ships and military bases all over the world.
 
Also in this quarter of vibrant Navigator ministry . . .

1948—Roy Robertson headed to China as The Navigators’ first international missionary.

1953—Billy Graham gave The Navigators the option to purchase Colorado Springs’ Glen Eyrie—“international home” of The Navigators. Since then, thousands of Navigator missionaries have been trained at Glen Eyrie and sent out to advance the Gospel around the globe.

1956—“Greater love” demonstrated by Dawson Trotman as he sacrificed his life in a boating accident to save a young woman’s life at Schroon Lake in New York. His protégé Lorne Sanny succeeded him and would lead the work the next three decades.

1958—Navigator collegiate ministry officially launched at the University of Nebraska by LeRoy Eims, who would later author The Lost Art of Disciple Making.