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21st December 2011 by Claire Hill

Nathan

In Nathan’s bedroom there is a T-shirt a kid from his school made. It simply says: “Nathan is my hero.” This shirt expresses how hundreds of young people feel.

Nathan was a 17-year-old – head boy of his school – who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly during a soccer match. The cause was an undiagnosed heart condition.

After his death, letters came in from younger students saying that Nathan had inspired them and that they longed to follow in Nathan’s footsteps of being a leader to younger students.

Stories came in from literally hundreds of students and teachers who felt they had been impacted personally by Nathan. 

At his funeral 80 young people dedicated their lives to Jesus.

In the weeks that followed another 400 are believed to have made a decision to follow Christ – directly linked to Nathan’s influence.

In Nathan’s journal he had written a note to himself: "You must focus on raising and mentoring the younger generation.” And he has certainly done this.

It’s an amazing true story.

Mark – Nathan’s Dad

One journalist was compelled to ask the question: How did Nathan get like this? Who influenced him? Who shaped him?

The journalist met Nathan’s father Mark – a youth pastor who is influencing many young people’s lives, helping them live out their potential and glorify Jesus.

It seems that Mark is a hero to many. And he was certainly a hero and amazing role model to his son Nathan.

The Cop

But: How did Mark get like this? Who influenced him?

The journalist continued to search and discovered that Mark had been a depressed young person.

A local cop attended the church Mark and his mum were part of and noticed Mark had been absent. He asked Mark’s mum where he had been and asked if he could go visit Mark.

The cop went to his house, handcuffed him to a table and said something like: “We’re not leaving until we’ve talked this out”. He stuck with Mark and helped him through this time in his life.

I reckon he was a bit of a hero to Mark – he impacted his life significantly at that time.

Old lady

I think you knew this next one was coming.

How did the cop get like this?

How did he become someone who would care for this kid? It turns out he was raised in a single parent family.

One day when he was a boy, the old lady who lived across the road noticed his mum struggling. She offered to take the children to church to help the woman.

The cop started to go to church and learnt from the old lady about the importance of caring for your neighbours – taking notice of the need that is right in front of you.

You can be a hero

Want to be a hero? Want to be a leader who sees people’s lives impacted for Jesus?

I think we can draw a few precious lessons from this series of true, interlinked stories .

1. Little things can have a big impact

The old lady simply offered to take some children to church.

I bet she didn’t think it would lead to thousands of lives being impacted!

But God can do massive things with the stuff that we offer up to him

2. We don’t always get to see the impact

The old lady might never have found out about Nathan or Mark … maybe she doesn’t even know about who the Cop became – what he was like when he grew up.

God is often up to stuff we can’t yet see or appreciate – but he uses everything we do to serve him. Some stuff we won’t know about until we get to heaven!

3. They saw the need that was in front of them

They didn’t wait for some profound vision or calling to come to them in a dramatic moment. They simply saw the need that was in front of their eyes and responded to that.

4. We’re never too young or too old

The old lady could have thought that her ministry years were over. Nathan could have considered himself too young to let his life have significance. But they both made themselves available to God and he did colossal things through them.

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