Inside Story - The Navigators

A Sure Calling

Mike Miller heeds the call to head NavPress

By Dean Ridings

At age nine, Mike Miller responded to an altar call, saying yes to Jesus and asking Him to guide his life.

Through the years he’s heard God’s call time and again, leading him into and out of several pastorates and publishing positions, including leading, shaping, and executing publishing strategies with LifeWay in Nashville.

Now at 51, a fresh calling has captured Mike’s attention.

It’s the calling of The Navigators, and Mike keeps a “calling card” in his wallet to show anyone who asks him why he’s made the move from his most recent pastoral role in Dallas to Colorado Springs to serve as executive publisher of NavPress.

“The Navigators exists ‘to advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost,’ ” Mike says. “It’s very powerful!”

In fact, it’s a calling that also resonates with his wife, Pat. Mike says that’s how the two of them have sought to live both personally and professionally throughout their 31 years of marriage.

“We’re about to move into a new home, and our neighbors are important,” says Mike. “We’ll do what we can to connect to them.

“But we have always enjoyed recreationally riding motorcycles,” Mike says with a glint in his eye and excitement in his voice. “Colorado Springs is such a great place to ride. We’ve already begun to get connected with the local group of Harley riders, to begin to build those relationships.”

Mike’s been riding motorcycles since he was 13 years old. Now with Pat on back, he says, “it gives us the chance to live and disciple among ‘outsiders’ who have not made any kind of a commitment to Christ. We’ve done that everywhere we’ve lived. That’s a pattern in our lives.”

Mike says that living and discipling among the lost is not only how he’s attempted to live but also preach since his first youth pastor role at 18 to his most recent position as executive pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

“I’ve spent so much of my life in the church world reaching out to the lost,” he says, “but you still have to spend a lot of time with believers. And the longer you’re a believer, the smaller your list of unbelieving friends happens to be.

“There are two or three of us Christian bikers who ride together, and we usually include a couple who are seekers or those that are interested or even hardcore nonbelievers who are friends in our group—and we’ll ride. It makes a big difference. That’s our way to do it.”

A few years ago, for instance, Mike went riding with some Christian friends and they met up with another biker at a gas station. The rider asked if there was a war vet among them. Mike pointed to Larry, who did three tours in Vietnam. “I’d been discipling Larry, encouraging him to share his faith,” says Mike. “This guy said he was on his last cross-country ride; he’d been diagnosed with terminal cancer. So Larry shared the Gospel with him. This man was so touched that he got on his knees right on the concrete in front of the Quick Mart and prayed to receive Christ.”

Even though the publishing industry can be a wild ride at times, nearly a year into his new role Mike says his calling to head up NavPress is sure.

“Twenty-first century publishing is much broader than just taking an idea and putting it in a book or booklet,” he says. “Messages can be delivered through video, in picture form, in audio . . . there are electronic and print forms of delivering the messages.”

Mike says NavPress is producing new materials with modern media in mind, exploring the use of the Internet and new electronic gadgetry. At the same time, he adds, there will always be a place for such seasoned materials as The Topical Memory System, Design for Discipleship, and The 2:7 Series.

So how would Mike Miller spell success? “If NavPress, our resources, and to some degree my own life can fulfill the calling, I will have done my part,” he says. “I’m grateful that the calling is so clear, right, and honoring to God.” Indeed, it’s proving to be Mike’s road map for life and ministry.

Learn more about NavPress and its many resources at www.navpress.com.