Nathan Neighbors
Follower of Christ, Husband, Father, & Youth Pastor
- Rang in 2011 in Time Square with our Mside College Mission Team
- Led Matthew to Christ at Spring Retreat
- Found out on Easter that Ashley and I were excepting our third son.
- Spent an amazing summer with my family and on mission with the Mside Youth.
- Began our fourth year of Ignite youth worship services.
- Preached the Word at Hub City Church on Labor Day Sunday.
- Great relationships built with students at discipleship home group.
- Totally crazy October & November prepping for Luke and living with back pain.
- Lower back surgery on November 11.
- Luke was born on November 17 and spent 10 days in the neonatal unit.
- Rang in 2012 at home with my beautiful sleeping family of five!
This week baby Luke turns four weeks old. To say that things are different around our house is an understatement. Even though he’s our third child, a new baby in the house changes the whole dynamic. We had just gotten our other two boys to the point of being pretty independent (dressing themselves, going to the bathroom on their own, brushing their own teeth, and even helping clean around the house). Now we’re back at square one with a new baby. Sleepless nights, 3:00am feedings, and dozens of daily diaper changes are part of our routine again. A baby changes everything. I’m thirty-five years old and have done this twice before, but getting back into the swing of caring for a newborn has really thrown me for a loop.
Can you imagine what it was like for Mary? She was an unwed teenager giving birth to a baby boy in a stable and having to lay her newborn down to sleep in a feeding trough. Did Mary fully comprehend the immense impact her baby would have on the world? Her little swaddled infant was about to change everything in her life…and in the lives of every person who walks this planet.
One of my favorite Christmas carols reminds us what life was like before Christ: “Long lay the world in sin an error pining.” But then he appeared. When Christ…Immanuel…God With Us came to this world there was, “a thrill of hope and the weary world rejoiced”. Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection changed the world. He changed my life and I hope he’s changed yours too. This Christmas may our lives be changed by this baby.
Each year we get our students a special gift around this time to tell them Merry Christmas and that we love them. Typically it’s a clothing item or bracelet with our mside youth logo on it. This year I wanted to give the students a Christmas gift with a bigger purpose.
A few months ago I came across Hello-Somebody. They are a Texas-based ministry whose mission it is to, “feed and educate children, by providing an avenue of knowledge, in order to break the cycle of poverty and hunger within their generation.” This is the kind of God-sized mission that gets me fired up. Hello-Somebody has only been in existence since 2009 and is run by a handful of people – yet they’ve fed over a million people and are now helping sponsor boys in Rwanda through Africa New Life.
Hello-Somebody sells watches, shirts, and hoodies to help support the work that they’re doing around the world. These $25 watches are not only awesome looking, they’re also very practical. The purchase of each watch helps feed over 100 meals to a child. If you want to buy more for your friends for Christmas you can even sponsor a child in Rwanda. The purchase of 70 watches sponsors a boy for a year’s worth of schooling and food.
Check out Hello Somebody and get a watch. If you didn’t make it to the Christmas party on Wednesday, come by and get a watch from me or order one online today.
Nathan Neighbors 