Around the Ministry - The Navigators


		Washington, D.C., may be our nation’s capital, but it has a distinctly international flavor. The city is home to more than 170 embassies and international cultural centers. Approximately 20,000 international students attend colleges and universities in Washington, D.C., each year. About 15 percent of Washington, D.C., residents speak a language other than English at home.

With 6,500,000 square feet, the Pentagon is the world’s largest office building. But to The Navigators, it’s what’s inside that really matters: 23,000 military and civilian employees plus 3,000 non-defense support personnel.

Bill Veilleux, serving with The Navigators Military Leadership Team in the D.C. area, is focused on individuals, like his friend Harvey, working inside the Pentagon.

Harvey has logged more than 1,000 flight hours in an F-16 fighter—a remarkable feat. But, according to Bill, he doesn’t consider that the defining accomplishment of his 30-year career. “Harvey told me that as a follower of Christ, coming alongside the men and women serving with him and living out his faith were his most memorable moments,” says Bill. It wasn’t outward accomplishments that counted. It’s what’s inside that matters.

That same attitude drives Bill to travel to the Pentagon weekly, to encourage men like Harvey. A refreshing perspective from the book Work: The Meaning of Your Life challenges him: “Work connects us with people and provides opportunity for relationships that allow us to come alongside others and help them discover who Jesus is and learn to follow Him.” Even inside the world’s largest office building.

Eugene Burrell met Jesus in 1966 and had a burden to take the Gospel back to young thugs he used to run the streets with in Washington, D.C. Although he faithfully shared Jesus with his friends, everything changed once he attended a Navigator rally while in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“They talked about multiplying your life,” Eugene explains. “When they started talking about one-on-one discipleship and how one person can reach a large number of people, I recognized that’s what my people needed—some hands-on, grass roots, ‘let’s get into your stuff’ discipleship.” Today, Eugene and his wife, Diane, look back on more than 40 years with The Navigators—“getting into people’s stuff.”

Diane attended a Navigator African-American Conference and saw other people who looked like her giving their lives to knowing Christ and making Him known in their communities. That encouraged her to grow and get more involved in the Gospel-advancing movement among African-Americans. She helped start the Navigator ministry to women at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Forty years later, the Burrells not only lead the Navigator work at Howard University, but they also disciple men and women in their neighborhoods, churches, at the Naval Academy, and at John Hopkins University.

Ask Eugene and Diane what keeps them going after all these years and they’ll tell you, “The next generation of disciples.”

Ellen Pauloski (Third from right) with women from her University of Maryland Bible study group.

Ellen Pauloski works with The Navigators among the women at the University of Maryland—three subway stops from Washington, D.C. She and Kristen, a sophomore at the University, walked onto campus with a fervent prayer for God to use them in leading a freshmen girls’ Bible study. They spent a great deal of time before and after meetings praying for each girl and waiting to see how God would answer.

Chana was a freshman that really didn’t want to attend a Bible study but desperately wanted community. She came to their meetings and found a friend in Kristen. She also came with many questions and found encouragement from the Gospel of John. Although Chana considered herself a Christian she had no concept of what it meant that Jesus died for her sins and wanted a relationship with her. Through many conversations and Bible studies God began to meet her deepest needs.

“In a beautiful moment of openness, honesty, and vulnerability, Chana told us about a relationship that hurt her very much,” Ellen shares. “That led to an amazing two-hour conversation about God’s plan for our lives.” That eventually led Chana to ask, “What exactly is the Gospel? Is it just Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or what?” With a glance to Kristin and a pause to pray that God would give her the right words, Ellen explained the beautiful love story of God’s perfect creation that was cursed by our sinfulness and rebellion against Him. She shared how God sent His beloved Son to die a terrible death on our behalf—restoring our relationship with Him.

Through tears, Chana said, “I don’t understand why God would do that! Why would He send Jesus to die for me? I don’t deserve it at all! “ Ellen says she and Kristen could never have planned a night like this. But they had prayed for it and waited expectantly for God to move.

“We could have talked to her about Jesus all day,” says Ellen, “but only He could make her feel the weight of the Gospel and His great love for her.”

—Chuck Colson

Navigator influence in the Washington, D.C., area isn’t a new development. Years before creating Prison Fellowship, Charles Colson was a fixture in Washington, D.C., as Special Counsel for then President Richard Nixon. Here’s how he described the influence of The Navigators.

When I was in Maxwell Federal Prison Camp, I was assigned to do some yard work one day, but it was raining. So, I dug out my Navigator Design for Discipleship Bible study. I came upon Hebrews 2. The very thought that Jesus, for a time, became lower than the angels so that He would not be ashamed to call us His brothers, hit me like a ten-ton truck. I looked around at that mass of humanity, all colors and sizes, and all kinds of crimes, and I realized I was in prison for a purpose. So, the birth of Prison Fellowship goes back to that dreary day in prison and The Navigators discipleship series. I really come to life when I get in the prison and I’m with these people that I realize I’m not ashamed to call my brothers. I love them and I’m forever grateful to The Navigators.

Everyday people living out Kingdom life I meet many believers who worry that they are coming up short spiritually—wondering if they are making a dent in our lost, hope-hungry world.

There is a desperate need for every believer to understand the influence he or she can have in our hurting world. While the efforts of professional spiritual leaders should not be discounted, the greatest influence in the world today could be felt by the accumulated influence of everyday people living out the Kingdom life as God intended.

Doug Nuenke
U.S. President, The Navigators

Our Navigator staff members in the Washington, D.C., area give themselves to these “everyday people.” The people our staff members spend time with, pray with, and study the Scriptures with aren’t “spiritual superheroes.” They’re everyday people living out the Kingdom of God where God has placed them: on college campuses, in churches, in the military, and their community.

Wherever these people go they spread the seeds of the Gospel with their lives and words. Some seed falls on the road. Some falls on rocky soil. Some falls into the weeds. And some seeds find fertile soil where they take root and produce much fruit. Navigators help people go deep with Christ.

As you read about what God is doing through The Navigators in the Washington, D.C., area, I hope that you are encouraged to live out the Kingdom and sow the seeds of the Gospel—wherever God has placed you!

Find more of Doug’s insights in his new book, Making Waves. See www.navpress.com.