Go Make Disciples: Loving God’s People

Hickory Grove has played a major role in Nate’s life since his family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was in the third grade. Pastor Tejera has likewise had a huge impact, faithfully caring for and walking alongside Nate and his family for the past nearly 20 years.

“When I graduated with my bachelor’s and then with my master’s, he was there,” Nate recalled, “and when both sides of my grandparents passed away, he was the first person that came to my house and comforted me and my family.”

It was Pastor Tejera who preached the gospel faithfully so that, during a summer camp when Nate was 11 years old, he finally understood the depths of his sin and his need for a savior.

And when Nate expressed an interest in pursuing ministry, Pastor Tejera ensured that he and the other interns understood the depths of what it meant to serve the local church. Yes, there were different ministries to run, and it was important to learn about the practical elements of communication and operation; but most importantly, there were sick to visit and care for, funerals to give, and people to love with the love of Christ. It was these lessons from Pastor Tejera that prepared Nate for what he would soon learn during his time in seminary.

“Seeing that firsthand and experiencing it, then going to seminary and connecting those dots, I understood: that’s what a shepherd is,” Nate explained.  “A shepherd is not someone who simply watches over you and counts you as a number, but someone who cares for your heart. That is the most valuable thing I’ve ever learned from my pastor.”

A shepherd is not someone who simply watches over you and counts you as a number, but someone who cares for your heart.

“This is Where You Need to Be”

Seminary wasn’t always on Nate’s radar. In Latin American culture, he explained, receiving an education like this was not common. However, Pastor Tejera wasadamant; if Nate sincerely wanted to do further ministry, he needed to be theologically equipped and trained.

Nate decided to follow his pastor’s instruction and applied to pursue a Master of Divinity at Southeastern Seminary. However, he also wanted to continue investing in his local church while he pursued his education; as his family had always emphasized to him, the mission comes first.

With this in mind, Nate began pursuing his Southeastern degree through distance learning. Many of his classes he took online or through hybrid formats, visiting once a semester on a weekend to complete the in-person portion of the courses. Through the Equip program, he also had the opportunity to complete seminary credit under the instruction of some of his pastors, including Pastor Tejera.

All of the pieces for Nate’s education fell perfectly into place and ultimately felt like “a seal of confirmation from the Lord” as Nate put it.

To Nate, it felt like God was saying, “This is where I want you, and this is where you need to be. So pay attention. Don’t just try to check off a box to say, ‘I did my master’s degree, so let’s get to the next step.’ No, enjoy while you’re here, because this is fruitful, and I need you to learn.”

Learning to Contextualize

In seminary, Nate was surprised at the number of things he learned that could be directly applied to ministry in his local church.

“I remember one of the first classes I took was a missions class, and the week after our first exam, I felt so encouraged,” Nate recalled. “I was like, ‘we have to do more mission work at the local church!’”

In his overzealous moments, Nate would hear the gentle counsel of Pastor Tejera, who encouraged him to keep learning. Nate quickly realized that there were things he needed to learn and wrestle with in seminary that he couldn’t gain by simply observing others. Conversely, by joining his theological education with active ministry engagement, he was able to contextualize what he was learning while working with his pastors who cared about him and wanted to help him grow as a leader and work through mistakes.

“There were valuable lessons that I had to have drilled into me,” Nate said. “There were premises that I not only had to think about academically, but I also had to ask, ‘Okay, how do I put this into practice, and how do I actually fit it into the local church context?’”

I also had to ask, ‘Okay, how do I put this into practice, and how do I actually fit it into the local church context?’

One example that stands out to Nate occurred during his first hybrid weekend with Jonathan Welch, assistant professor of Christian worship and director of Southeastern’s Worship Training Network.

At the beginning of each class, Welch intentionally opened with Scripture. To his students, he suggested that they do this in their local church setting. “Make sure you’re opening Scripture while you’re leading worship,” he told them.

“That was groundbreaking,” Nate said. At the time, he felt like it was such an obvious piece of advice, and yet he had never done it before. “I remember Dr. Welch showing me how to do it. And I remember that Sunday, I went back and did exactly that. So many people told me afterwards, ‘That was so intentional. Thank you for bringing up that Bible verse, because now it makes sense why we’re singing these songs.’”

Welch also demonstrated to Nate the importance of caring for those he met, even if only for a short time, as he made a deliberate effort to talk to Nate and get to know him during that hybrid weekend.

The Reason Behind Ministry

Most of all, during his time at Southeastern and directly after graduating, Nate was challenged to examine why he did ministry.

During one of Nate’s classes, Benjamin Quinn, associate professor of theology and history of ideas, explained that if a student struggled to work in a highly social context, such as in a restaurant setting, then ministry would be particularly difficult too — because the work of ministry is constantly people-oriented.

“That was so profound,” Nate said. “I have to focus on the lives that are present within my ministry that the Lord has allowed me to shepherd.”

Because of Nate’s cultural heritage and the faithful legacy of his parents, grandparents, and church family, the nations were already close to his heart before he came to Southeastern. In fact, he was drawn to Southeastern because it shared his heart for the Great Commission.

So, in each of his classes at Southeastern, Nate was delighted to be challenged to connect his studies to Jesus’s command to go into all the earth and make disciples. That helped solidify not only what he was doing but also why he was doing it.

“The Lord called me to go form disciples,” Nate said. “That means going to have small talk with people after church, to start a conversation so that in the end they could tell me how they really are, and maybe I can be a beacon of hope. Maybe I can pray for them. That is what Southeastern taught me. At the core, it’s the people. People are who I do this for. I don’t do ministry for my glory. I don’t do it to be a better preacher or to go to a better position.”

That is what Southeastern taught me. At the core, it’s the people. People are who I do this for.

“To Go Therefore and Make Disciples”

In May of 2024, after four years of study, Nate graduated with his Master of Divinity in Christian Ministry. That following summer proved to be personally formative and challenging for Nate. He realized that, though pursuing this degree had trained and equipped in ways he couldn’t have imagined, it didn’t qualify him for some type of ministry that was “bigger and better” than what he was doing right now in his church. Nothing was bigger or better than serving the people that God had placed in his life.

Ministry should not be done for personal gain, Nate realized, but then neither should theological education. He described his training, saying, “The thing that I learned the most is that I’m not doing this to benefit myself. I’m doing this to benefit a family that comes to the church where I get to serve so that their lives grow closer to the Lord, so that they yearn more to be in his presence and to walk faithfully with him every single day.”

In the same way that Nate’s time at Southeastern and in his local church equipped him, his ministry is now able to equip others. He hopes that his story will inspire others to go and receive a theological education like he did — not necessarily to pursue a job, but so that they can faithfully serve in whatever capacity God calls them to.

“We need more biblical counselors. We need more pastors. We need more lay elders in the church to be equipped to go do the work. We need more missionaries,” Nate said. “We need more men and women to be trained up in the faith, to have a doctrinal and theological basis behind what they believe, to go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

Please join us in praying for Nate and for his church, that he would persevere in ministry and trust the Lord’s calling in his life. Pray that he would find great joy in the day-to-day moments of serving others. Pray also for the members of his church and their hearts for the Lord, that the faith of generations would continue to grow and that they would have a passion for making disciples of King Jesus.