Around the Ministry
 In
the early 1930s, a young sailor named Les Spencer met up with a
vivacious Bible teacher, Dawson Trotman, and the two made an important
discovery. Les was one of the Navigator founder’s first
disciples. He was serving on the USS West Virginia, stationed in
southern California, when he began studying with Daws. Before long, Les talked with Daws about teaching his shipmate Gurney Harris: Les: I’d sure like to get Gurney over here to learn what you’re teaching me. Daws: Sure he can come! But why don’t you get him started? Just pass on to him what I’m givin’ you. Les: I haven’t had the training. Daws: Doesn’t matter. If you can’t teach him what I’ve taught you, I’ve failed. The conversation proved a turning point for Dawson’s ministry. He and Les discovered that the goal of their teaching needed to be training others to pass on what they had learned. Les saw other sailors—including his friend Gurney—give their lives to Christ and begin their own chain of discipling relationships. Order Trotman’s biography Daws at www.navpress.com. In 1935, Les Spencer, Gurney Harris, Dawson Trotman, John Dedrick, and John Visick traveled the country singing at evangelistic meetings and establishing Navigator ministries. |
 Each time a sinner repents, heaven rejoices (Luke 15:10). When Navigators around the globe lead people to Christ, we join in the celebration. Navigator Don Allen, who works at Cal State Long Beach, California, relates the story of Brandon. Don and some friends were talking with students on campus, and after approaching several disinterested students Don’s friends met Brandon, a firefighter who has had three near-death experiences. Don and company would later learn that Brandon had just prayed, “Who are you, God?” Not long after, Brandon responded to Christ.  “Thank
You for what You have done for me,” she recalls praying, “that Jesus
Christ died on the cross for me. I am so sorry that I have ignored You
for such a long time. Thank You for being so patient with me and not
giving up on me.” Archie van der Byl, who works with The Navigators of South Africa, walked alongside his friend Andile as he drew close to Christ. Andile started attending an investigative Bible discussion group, then meeting weekly with Archie. After eight months Andile reached a turning point. Archie read Romans 5:8 and Ephesians 2:8,9, explaining that we don’t have to measure up to a certain standard to be deserving of God’s favor. “I have never seen it like that before,” Andile said. The next day he was ready to give his life to Christ. “What followed,” Archie says, “was the most sincere prayer one could ever wish to hear. I knew that at that moment there was great rejoicing in heaven.” |
  Bob Walz took on a big challenge. He agreed to answer some big questions about God.At a student gathering at University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Bob delivered a presentation titled “Big Questions About God.” On the list were questions such as “Does God really exist?” and “Did Jesus rise from the dead?” One student had a scowl on his face as he watched Bob. “He was very honest with me and said that he didn’t see how any of these points could prove that there was a God,” says Bob. “We had a good conversation back and forth.” Bob says one of the most difficult things about talking to others about God is that you can’t see what is going on in their hearts. “They may seem disinterested and even to disagree, but on the inside they are really thinking about it,” he says. “I had a lot of people praying for me and because of that I know God is at work in the students’ hearts.” Go to www.navigators.org/bigquestions for Bob’s PowerPoint for the Big Questions presentation. |
  Have
you ever felt like your back is up against the wall—like Moses did when
leading God’s people out of Egypt, his back up against the wall of the
Red Sea? That’s where Connie Milton (see “Inside Story”) was as recently as five years ago. “With my back up against the wall,” he recalls, “there was nobody else I could turn to.” Actually, he felt he couldn’t even turn to Jesus because he had rejected Him so many times before. “When I was in prison they told me that even though I had turned my back on Jesus so many times He would still help me,” he says. As we seek to fulfill our God-given calling, there’s a sense in which our back is up against the wall. We cannot reach the “nations” without men and women from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds as equal members of our team—men like Connie. I’m pleased to say that we are making progress. The Navigators is becoming a place where people from very different backgrounds can participate. I value Connie, his wife, Bonnie, and their strategic contribution to Navigator ministry in Chicago. Connie calls the Discipleship House where he now ministers “a place where we can all come as one big family.” More and more that’s an apt description of Navigators as well—a diverse family that loves God and people and serves together with backs no longer up against the wall. |
  College students can be hard workers! Just look at Charly and Christina Sommers’ ministry in Cincinnati, for example.In November, student teams from the University of Cincinnati picked up shovels and hammers to work alongside Navigators Mark and Anne Leeman in renovating a house in inner-city Cincinnati. The Leemans are launching a new work to provide housing, employment training, and counseling to urban residents, and the students worked on the Leemans’ first housing site. They cleaned up the yard, installed a new water heater, fixed the plumbing, and painted, cleaned, and rebuilt the front porch. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the Navigator students to continue to mix it up with and serve the poor of Cincinnati,” Charly says. |
