A New Heart for the Gospel

It was August 4, 2008. A plane lifted off into the cold, foggy Oregon morning — and the engine stalled. Though the pilot circled for a safe place to land, the plane plowed through a house that was being rented by a family on vacation. The parents were out for a morning stroll when the crash happened. As they walked, they heard the explosion and the scream of sirens. When they returned, the house had collapsed and was burning. Their three children, along with the pilot and passenger, had been killed.

Tom Hatch was the Oregon State Police arson investigator assigned to the scene. He had seen countless fatal fires during his career, but this one was different. The wreckage was scattered everywhere. The weight of parents grieving their children hung heavy in the air. After three long days of investigation, Tom went home changed.

When Tom returned home, his wife, Denise, gently urged him to talk with a police chaplain named Chris Green. Tom resisted, but Denise kept pushing him to meet with Chris. Finally, he agreed — on one condition. “I told him he could ride along with me for a time, but that he should bring money for a bus ride home because by noon, we were going to be done,” Tom remembers.

Despite Tom’s efforts, he found himself enjoying Chris’s company. They used the bus money for coffee and spent the whole day talking. When Tom dropped Chris off at the end of the day, he realized he had made a new friend — one who would impact his life for decades.

“Tom learned a valuable lesson,” Chris says. “Even without a specific request, God provides the strength to endure and overcome challenges and may even empower a person’s abilities.”

It was 10 years later when Chris saw Tom again — but this time, Tom was facing the greatest challenge of his life.

Finding Jesus on the Brink of Death

In 2006, a rare virus had attacked Tom’s heart, leaving the once-strong officer in a state of heart failure. “They told me my career was over,” Tom said. Though he was able to finish his years with the State Police in spite of his health challenges, his heart plummeted the year after he retired. Suddenly, even walking to get the mail felt like running a marathon. By 2020, Tom’s condition had worsened so severely that he would need a heart transplant to survive.

Around that same time, Chris, now serving with the Navigators Military & First Responder Ministry, happened to see Tom’s name in a newsletter and reached out. “The timing was fortuitous,” Tom said. The pair grabbed breakfast, caught up, and prayed together — rekindling their friendship while entrusting Tom’s failing heart to God.

On July 6, Tom went into the hospital on his birthday for a quick medical test. Instead, he was admitted to the ICU. Though Tom was kept in isolation due to COVID restrictions, Chris, using his chaplain credentials, was still able to visit. During that time, Chris visited frequently, praying with Tom as they waited and hoped for a heart.

Sixteen days later, doctors offered Tom what they called an “at-risk” heart; the donor had died from a drug overdose. Despite unfavorable odds, the transplant succeeded. Tom experienced what his doctors later called a rare “Pollyanna recovery” — no rejection, no major complications. Beyond that, because Tom was the first heart transplant to occur at that hospital, the surgery was completely free.

“I remember sitting there, and I kept asking Chris, why is God keeping me alive?” Tom says. “I didn’t get it. There’s so many other fathers out there. But God just kept giving and giving.”

Facing death stripped away what Tom calls his former “ticket-punch” faith: Go to church, get baptized, read the Bible, and move on. In the hospital, Tom felt God’s presence like never before and knew his life — and faith — would never be the same.

“When I look back, post transplant I’m a completely different person,” Tom says. “Coming out the other side, I know God kept me alive for a reason. And I don’t want to stand before Him one day, and all I can tell Him is I ate great barbecue for the extra years He gave me. No, I want to serve Him.”

Tom spent months recovering, and a year in quarantine to protect his new heart. During that time, Chris began to disciple Tom and encourage him to pour into others. Tom started serving with The Navigators — first by praying with first responders through the NYPD prayer line during his quarantined year, then by discipling others in his local community.

One of those people was Joe, a retired Portland Police SWAT sniper who had walked away from his faith decades earlier. After a near-death experience, Joe came back to Christ, and Chris connected him with Tom for discipleship. Over the past few years, Tom and his wife, Denise, have discipled Joe and his wife, Tina, a former police officer. As the two couples grew in their faith together, they decided to create a Bible study group for new believers and those exploring faith. That small group has now grown to 14 members — many of whom are fellow first responders. Four of the group members came to Christ within the past year.

A Heart that Beats for Discipleship

Today, Tom dedicates time each week to discipling police officers, firefighters, and men navigating heart-health challenges. Through the process of physically losing and gaining a heart, God formed in Tom a new spiritual heart for Christ and discipleship — one that will continue to beat for eternity.

“God used my journey and brought me ministry through it,” Tom says. “Now I want to be in the trenches. I want to be on the front lines. Going through what I did, it made me realize that though I thought I had a relationship with Christ, there’s no comparison to how He has my attention now. He just had to put me on the brink of death first.”

Discipleship Tip:

When Denise saw Tom struggling with the weight of what he’d experienced, she came alongside him in his discipleship journey by encouraging him to connect with Chris. Are there people in your life you think might connect especially well in a discipling relationship? This week, consider how you might help introduce them to each other.