The Next Mission

Hey friends!

The reason I am writing this blog is twofold: one, to give a brief update from the end of last year into this one; and two, to tell you all about Slovakia this summer which I am fundraising for! If you want to skip to that section it is the last paragraph break. Also, this website is incredibly dry, I am working on sprucing things up around here. Thanks!

Life Update

At the beginning of August I got home from a summer mission job. This concluded roughly 19 consecutive months of travel starting with 11 months on O-Squad, 1 month home, 4 months leading S-Squad, 1 month split between North Carolina and home, 2 months with GMT (Group Mission Trips), back to Georgia for a couple weeks to help launch their fall squads, add another trip to Italy with Excel College later in November. Even though I did go travel in the fall, those were much more calm trips than being solely responsible for a squad of guys or being paid to do a specific job whilst constantly changing locations. All in all, when I got back in August I was absolutely exhausted… I think of some people I met that went on 3 or 4 squads with the race and I simply cannot imagine having that capacity. Those people also walk so closely with the Lord from what I see, which makes perfect sense. To be able to do months and months of ministry and not be burnt out is only possible through the Lord. My point in this is that when I got back home after all those months of living in a different spot at least every month (often moving around a couple times a month) I struggled.

Having first felt God’s love during my time with O-Squad, my context for living out the gospel was in community on mission to spread the gospel and grow God’s kingdom through partnerships with a variety of ministries in different countries. Going back out to lead my S-Squad boys was the Lord calling me to give to my boys what I had received from the men that led me on O-Squad. I needed to step out knowing that I had literally told my friends I wouldn’t lead again so soon. The only reason I was able to do that was because God was strong when I was weak. And I’ve never known the Lord more intimately than in that trying time of leadership in Southeast Asia. Working with Group Mission Trips was an opportunity to continue building the kingdom, get paid with dollars for my time, and see more of the US.

After GMT, I really had no plan. I felt the pressure to have a plan for my future right away. In that time I struggled to feel purposeful without a clear cut direction for the immediate future. Community was the most difficult part of this transition back home. The deep friendships I had formed were still there, but were spread throughout all the states. Community at home felt like starting at square one. I felt little energy to start all over and for the latter portion of 2023, aside from an apprenticeship city group at Mill City and serving at Faith’s high school ministry, community building went nowhere.

Fast forward to 2024 and it was clear that I needed a departure from Door Dash/trading crypto into a more structured job that allowed for a social life. (I also gave a 10 minute talk through that same city group where I wrestle through the idea of contentment in the Lord in the midst of that struggle which I will post as well.)

Since the beginning of March I have been working with Evergreen RCS, a small radon mitigation company operating out of Fort Collins serving the greater Northern Colorado region. This job has been such a God send! My boss and another of my coworkers are solid Christian men and being able to learn new skill sets under them and be a part of a great work environment and satisfying work in itself has been awesome. I am fortunate to be working with these guys and have learned a ton in just a couple months of work.

Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

In the past month or so, I was asked to be a part of the team that Faith Church Fort Collins is sending to Slovakia. The purpose of the trip is to help run an English camp through a local church in Banská Bystrica. We are partnering with Josiah Venture, a mission organization that has been working in central/eastern Europe for several decades dedicated to reaching the youth with the gospel and making disciples through the local church. At first I thought of all the reasons I shouldn’t go, but ultimately cast those aside simply because there will always be reasons not to go. I felt peace from the Lord in saying yes, so here we go! When I was in Kyrgyzstan on the World Race, we had the opportunity to go and teach English in the colleges and universities (similar age ranges of high school and college kids in America). I absolutely loved hanging out with those kids, having English conversations, and the opportunity to share Jesus with them outside of the schools. I am pumped to be able to teach English with some more structure, but more so in a country where you can freely share the gospel and don’t have to mask why you are truly there!

The dates for the trip are the 10^th-22^nd of July and I need to raise $2400 to cover my portion of the expenses. Most of the money is going to things like airfare, lodging, food, to cover our time there. The church that we will be at has had multiple teams from the US commit to doing this English summer camp with them and then back out for the last few years. Our team is just five strong, but we are all so excited to be able to go and do what we can to serve and come alongside this church in Slovakia. Please prayerfully consider if the Lord is leading you to partner with me financially to make this trip happen. Along with financial partnership, prayer partnership is equally as important. I plan to put up more updates as we prepare to go and then of course some recap of the trip and hopefully some live updates on Instagram/FB. So, if you would like to join in prayer shoot me a message so I can keep you updated with prayer requests and answers. Subscribe to this blog and you should see trip updates, but also just life updates and varying blogs about walking with the Lord. Thank you so much for taking the time to give this a read and considering partnership in this!

I almost forgot to include a donation link if you are inclined to give:

Just select my name from the drop down menu and donate directly here! You can also send funds via Venmo (click here) or Cashapp (click here) Just include Slovakia in the memo if you use Venmo/Cashapp. THANK YOU!!!!

– Nathan Schubert