Missions on the Frontline
a ministry of WorldVenture
From Marines to Missions
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SHOW SUMMARY Hans sits down with WorldVenture recruiter, Nate Pache, as Nate shares about his personal journey from Marines to Ministry.SHOW NOTES MOF_2010_06_30_Nate-web_nvr.mp3 |
SHOW TRANSCRIPT |
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NATE PACHE: Thank you, Hans, its good to be here.
HANS FINZEL: Nate’s a young man who recently joined the staff of WorldVenture; but he’s got an interesting background and that’s what we want to talk about today, among other things, uh…serving as a Marine in Iraq…and we’re going to talk a little bit about that. I think you have some interesting perspective on that…as well as…you’ve spent well over a year in China.
NATE PACHE: Yes, Sir.
HANS FINZEL: That’s quite different…Iraq and China. Isn’t it?
NATE PACHE: It is, especially weather-wise. Ha…Ha…Ha! You know…I noticed a drastic dip in the desert percentage of where I was, but, yes, very different.
HANS FINZEL: …very hot …in Iraq?
NATE PACHE: Very hot! It is about 147º in the vehicles…
HANS FINZEL: No way…
NATE PACHE: …roughly speaking, when you add the added heat that your body armor produces, along with the desert temperature, and you have to have your windows up at all times for safety reasons, and so that adds heat as well.
HANS FINZEL: I assume there’s no air conditioning in those Hum-Vees?
NATE PACHE: They say there is…it spits water on you from behind but that’s about the extent of it’s handiness.
HANS FINZEL: Is it dry or is it humid?
NATE PACHE: It is actually very dry. In terms of analogy, I would say, imagine standing there and the world’s largest hair drier is blowing on you full force. It kind of feels like that.
HANS FINZEL: I just don’t know how the guys do it…the men and the women. Well, anyway, Nate works for WorldVenture. You’re a Mission Coach. What is a Mission Coach? Let’s start by unpacking kind of your vision for what you’re doing.
NATE PACHE: That is a good question. I like to think of myself as a WorldVenture ambassador. We spend a lot of time away from the office, as well as in it. And anybody that is interested in serving with WorldVenture, short- or mid- or long-term, we’re their point of contact. We’re kind of the front door as we like to say in the Department. And it’s our job just to form relationships…friendships with people, and guide them to the best possible spot that God can use them, given their story or their skill set.
HANS FINZEL: So you’re kind of a matchmaker of people and opportunity…and do we have a lot of opportunities here at WorldVenture?
NATE PACHE: Five hundred and forty-seven as of this morning.
HANS FINZEL: No kidding! And if somebody went to our website worldventure.com, where would they find those opportunities?
NATE PACHE: They would go under “Serve”…
HANS FINZEL: Serve…
NATE PACHE: …and they would go under “Opportunities”
HANS FINZEL: Uh…huh
NATE PACHE: And they could look by location or by job title itself…and there’s is a wide range of everything…doctors, teachers, but also computer techs, construction pros, church planters, leadership developers, agriculture workers…. I am going to go ahead and assume that for anybody listening to this, there is a spot given for what they do in life.
HANS FINZEL: And people ask me…do we work in only one specific part of the world? And, our answer is…
NATE PACHE: The only missionaries…the only place I don’t know that doesn’t have WorldVenture missionaries is Antarctica.
HANS FINZEL: …Antarctica and Iceland. Ha…Ha…Ha….
NATE PACHE: Yeah…Ha…Ha…Ha
HANS FINZEL: …the two I’s…Ha…Ha…Ha. So, if you’re listening and you’re interested in serving…you know, pick a part of the world that maybe you feel God is calling you to…or pulling your heart, whether its China or France or Kenya…or, you know, the Middle East. Go on our website…Serve…Opportunities, and a guy like Nate will be your contact person. So we’d love to have you research because the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. So, why did you take this job, Nate, before we get into a little bit of your background, I just want to … I know you told me the other day you felt this was kind of the perfect job for you. Why did you say that and why did you accept this challenge?
NATE PACHE: It really was the perfect job for a couple of reasons. A convergence of factors, if you will. For one, our time in life, ours…for my wife and I…we were married recently and we moved to Colorado. And we were looking for something to grow with…something that would shape us not just professionally but spiritually. I know a lot of people…I feel fortunate in just being in this environment…being able to work here, but also being around all of these people and being shaped by them…an iron on iron type of situation, you know. And also, I think that my wife and I hope to serve overseas in a long term capacity. And what better way to get to know an agency than to work with it and have it be a major part of your life and have them see you. And be able to evaluate you and tell you what your strengths are. Because, I think that is a big part of it…finding those authority figures…finding those wise…older…and well rounded people that can speak into you and maybe guide you along the way. And then lastly, it was a nice convergence of my experiences. I’ve lived in China, I met my wife on the campus of the US Center for World Mission. I have a lot of missionary friends…so when you put all that together in a pot, WorldVenture was just an amazing convergence, again, of just everything that I have experienced thus far in my life.
HANS FINZEL: Well that’s neat…and we are glad to have you on board. We’ve had a lot of our staff here that work in Littleton eventually end up moving overseas, so if any of you listening are looking for staff opportunities we do have a listing of staff openings here in Colorado. I think we have just a little handful so you can check that out as well. Let’s back up to your service as a Marine. Let’s talk about that.
NATE PACHE: Yes, Sir!
HANS FINZEL: What motivated you to go into the Marines?
NATE PACHE: Guys like me that are in High School…we’re are not exactly excelling academically…but I think that’s because we just have the type of personality that enjoys the “doing” rather so much than the “learning” at that point. The Marines was a natural fit again. It just offered me…young male interests as in travel and adventure. But also…you know, it seemed like a really tangible way to give something back. I had spent eighteen years taking…so maybe it was time to spend four years giving in a sense.
HANS FINZEL: That’s awesome. And you went to Camp LeJune. Is that the…What is the boot camp for the Marines?
NATE PACHE: There’s two…everyone west of the Mississippi goes to San Diego and everybody east goes to Paris Island in South Carolina.
HANS FINZEL: Oh, Paris Island…there you go. And where did you go?
NATE PACHE: I went to the Rock…I went to Paris Island, excuse me. We call it the Rock.
HANS FINZEL: Ha…Ha…Ha…The Rock
NATE PACHE: ….Ha…Ha…Ha…I went to Paris Island, South Carolina.
HANS FINZEL: And why is it called the Rock?
NATE PACHE: Well, it’s called the Rock because it is an island. It’s surrounded by marshes and swamps. And you actually don’t see the “front gate” ever until you leave.
HANS FINZEL: Really!
NATE PACHE: You ah…a little known fact is that on the bus ride in you are instructed to put your head between your legs and you actually don’t know the way back to the frontgate. So even if you tried to make a run for it I don’t think you’d be able to find it. Ha…Ha…Ha…
HANS FINZEL: Ha…Ha…Ha…Well, I’ve been recently watching “Band of Brothers” and I know that in the boot camp and that, their objective is to get you to quit. Was that the same kind of thing? I mean, even though you don’t know the way to the gate to escape …Ha…Ha…Ha…are they trying to…you told us the other day they are really trying to change who you are. Almost like being “born again”. Now we as Christians know what it means to be born again, but what’s the concept there with the Marines?
NATE PACHE: I think it absolutely is removing your identity as an individual and letting you know that you are now a part of a bigger, more important collective that has a shared mission and that it is your responsibility to do your best with your individual task to make that mission happen. It starts from the first second you get there. You get off the bus, you’re on the yellow footprints, and then you all have the same haircut…the next thing you know you’re all dressed the same, and now you’re all starting to walk the same, talk the same, and uh…even folding your clothes the same. And it really is …half the time…break you down so we can spend the other half building you up. So I wouldn’t necessarily say that they want you to quit, they definitely don’t want you to be there if they don’t feel like you can make it, or if its really just too difficult for you, but it’s really about pushing you and making you realize that you’re tougher than you think you are. And that you are stronger.
HANS FINZEL: And you were there on the Rock when 9-11 happened.
NATE PACHE: I was.
HANS FINZEL: And you told us that you don’t get any news there…you’re not allow to read the newspapers…there’s no TV. How did you find out that 9-11 happened?
NATE PACHE: I was working in the Chow Hall on Team Week, as they call it. And a couple of my friends and I were in the back working in the kitchen and a Coke delivery driver actually huddled a couple of us together and he…in a low whisper…he said, “You know…boys, I’m not allowed to tell you these kinds of things, but I have to tell you this…New York and DC are gone. They are nuked and they’ve hit us. We’re going to war.” Now, you know a young impressionable eighteen year old mind…half way into boot…the mind starts racing!
HANS FINZEL: Oh, my goodness!
NATE PACHE: So, I didn’t actually see it happen until October…someone taped it for me.
HANS FINZEL: So did they inform you of this as the weeks went on? Didn’t…you know…wasn’t there announcements about it?
NATE PACHE: There was not because they like you to remain focused, I believe, on your training and on your being a recruit.
HANS FINZEL: Wow…that is amazing! So you get no news from the outside world….
NATE PACHE: Only if your parents send it to you. And that is…they usually have to be the smaller envelopes. The only time that you actually get to watch TV is at the dentist…so…
HANS FINZEL: Ha…Ha…Ha…at the Dentist…
NATE PACHE: Ha…Ha…Ha…so if you go to Dental Call you get to wait in the lobby and watch TV. And so its usually when you walk by the lobby there’s about 30 to 40 pairs of eyes glued…soaking in every second they can.
HANS FINZEL: Yeah…So let’s quickly talk about you were deployed to Iraq and when did you land there in Iraq?
NATE PACHE: January 17, 2005, just three weeks after the securing of Fallūjah…in December.
HANS FINZEL: Now we don’t have a lot of time here…but give us some of the highlights of your experience there and how it changed you.
NATE PACHE: I would definitely say that it was the impact on the people. Now, I know that there are mixed reviews on what people think happened, but from my point…the low level, organic point…the people were happy to have the new life that they did…and it’s going to be difficult and they knew that. One of the stories that I share is that when you vote…in Iraq…you vote with a thumb print and people see pictures of that…and what they don’t see…is when these men and women walk home, and there’s a gang of insurgence waiting to inspect the thumbs of these people to see if you have indeed voted. So maybe they can go home and perhaps kidnap or kill your family for committing such a horrible act. I don’t know if people knew what it was like to live under Saddam…to have your daughter not come home because someone picked her up in an unmarked car and sped her away to go be a mistress for one of his sons. To just have your property or your house taken…or…your family. I don’t think there was ever a real good explanation of how they were living. So, just to see the thankfulness at the beginning…in their eyes…not having to live like that anymore. And, I remember, as we’d talked earlier about getting to see them vote the first time…we put together the election for them…and as a highlight, seeing their courage. And what I mean by that…to make a long story short…for safety purposes we revealed their voting locations at the last possible moment to protect them. If the insurgence had too much time to plan, they would have inevitably attacked the voting location. So, we kept it a secret and then we told them at the “H” hour, so to speak…and some of them walked twelve or thirteen miles because they couldn’t drive there for another safety precaution. I remember they were lined up, about three thousand of them, and they were voting. And one of the insurgence…or a couple…had managed to crawl through the weeds to within a couple hundred yards, and they launched a couple of mortars…which, for those of you listening who don’t know…mortars are basically small explosive shells that get dropped into a tube and then fly and land in an arcing motion. And so they launched a couple of these into the crowd of voters and we heard the thud and we were waiting for the inevitable carnage to ensue…and that’s when they landed…right in the middle of the crowd and they didn’t detonate because they were duds. They were inactive rounds, and instead of running and instead of panicking, the crowd simply formed an “S” around it and then closed the line and they kept voting.
HANS FINZEL: Wow!
NATE PACHE: And that is when I really started to see what someone will do for something they believe in.
HANS FINZEL: That is amazing. Let me just say on behalf of all of us…Thank you for serving in the military, Nate.
NATE PACHE: It was our pleasure and its very humbling to come home and have people thank you for doing what you job was.
HANS FINZEL: Yeah…In case you are just joining us, this is Hans Finzel and you are listening to Missions on the Frontline. And I have as my guest today in my studio Nate Pache. Nate is a Mission Coach with WorldVenture and your job is to help coach people who feel that they might be called into missions. And you served in Iraq. We were just talking a little about your preparation before serving for the cause of Christ full time, you were serving the cause of America in Iraq. Any other things you took away? When did you leave Iraq and come home?
NATE PACHE: I left July of 2005, right after…about seven months after we had gotten there. And I guess, the thing I take away…is that the thing you’ll never hear about in the paper or the TV…are just the micro acts of selflessness by the people over there. On the Iraqi side and on the American side. I wish people could have more of a view of just the selfless humanity that develops even in that ugly situation. Guys handing out the last of their food to a kid that doesn’t have any…or…just giving away money they have…you know that they may have pocketed away for some reason or another. Or, an Iraqi’s risking his life and his family to tell us that the person down the street is actually an insurgent. You’ll never hear about those, but that is part of the reality…it is an ugly situation, its war…its never a good thing. But I just…I just wish that people had a broader view of how it works.
HANS FINZEL: So you saw it as a great opportunity to serve and the Iraqi people really appreciated it and we are making a difference there.
NATE PACHE: Absolutely! There are schools, there’s sewers. There’s a Baptist church…in downtown Baghdad now. Ha…Ha…Ha…
HANS FINZEL: Ha…Ha…Ha…All right!
NATE PACHE: People are wearing jeans…girls are going to school. You know people don’t have to be afraid to go to the restaurant at night any more…
HANS FINZEL: Praise God!
NATE PACHE: …change…I think they say it a lot around here a lot…change is like turning a ship…it just takes time.
HANS FINZEL: It takes a while. Yeah…but it’s worth it. Well, thank you for serving! Well then, after Iraq, how did you end up going to China for a year?
NATE PACHE: That is an interesting question. I was actually attending college at Philadelphia Biblical University and my financial situation changed…I couldn’t really continue that any more… and I had left that following summer…following my first semester of college…to do a summer camp in China with orphans. And, it’s strange for me also, because it’s kind of like coming full circle because I was adopted…but at seven months. So for me, it was almost like seeing where I could have been…but by the grace of God…how I could have ended up. It made me just very thankful in appreciating the situation I had been given and how I could have lived. And so, I went there the first time for a month…I went for a month. Then, I went back a second time the following summer for another month, and that is when the Director of the organization asked me to go on full time as a staff member.
HANS FINZEL: What part of China is it in?
NATE PACHE: That is kind of…central…south, if my memory serves me correct…and forgive me, any of you China experts out there…it was a little while ago. Ha…Ha…Ha…
HANS FINZEL: Ha…Ha…Ha. OK!
NATE PACHE: But, as my travel progressed…in that year you were speaking of…I lived in Long-Fong, south of Beijing about a half an hour, and I would travel between Gwong-jo, which is where all the adoptive families come through, and that is a little known fact. Also, Xi’an, where the Terracotta Warriors are…and Nánchāng which is this dreadfully hot city in the south and it’s home to the second largest world’s Ferris-wheel…as a random fact.
HANS FINZEL: but nothing…as compared to the heat of Iraq…
NATE PACHE: …Not even close…
HANS FINZEL: Not even close…I am just fascinated by how those soldiers are able to operate with that heat. So…China, what are your…you know, I have such a passion for China…and I would like for us to get a lot more workers in China. What are your observations about what’s going on with Christianity in the Church in China? We hear so many different stories…what’s your take on that?
NATE PACHE: It’s interesting to try to say, because it’s such a massive country. That you can talk to ten people who have worked there for twenty years and you will get ten different stories, like you just said. So what I like to say is that, to put it in perspective, New York City…what we like to consider to be a large city…has 5.2 million people, Beijing has about 26 [million], so there you have it right there.
HANS FINZEL: And, I’ve heard that there are like twenty-five cities in China that are that kind of world class cities, like the size of Los Angeles or New York. You know, America has two or three, Chicago, LA, New York…they have dozens and dozens of these mega-cities.
NATE PACHE: Very…very much so. You have people that have experience with the underground church and the persecution that gets attached to that. You have people that deal with Free Self-Church…for those of you who don’t know…that is the Government run church of the mainland. And you have people that associate with Chinese who are completely unbelievers and they get to disciple them so…I would say of the passion of the Chinese Christians over there…is wonderful! The devotion…the hunger for the Word…the growing zeal to be a part of the missional movement…of the globe…is…
HANS FINZEL: Did you see that? …First hand?
NATE PACHE: I saw the desire…I saw a heart for it. I acknowledge that it is importance and understanding that the Chinese will probably one day be a huge part of it. And the endeavor that they have to go forth for that. But, also, I saw a great need for workers in the sense of creating understanding about our faith. Cults are a big problem there.
HANS FINZEL: I’ve often said, whenever you have an explosive situation with so many…so rapid a growth of the church…you have a lot of false teaching…cults…and a very shallow understanding of the Bible. Would you say that is what you saw?
NATE PACHE: In a lot of cases! And its just a lack of resources and a lack of teachers. Its just like you said at the beginning…the harvest is great, but the workers are few. And, you know, when you look at China, too, this goes back to kind of being a mission coach…when people ask me about China, they just think of the Chinese…they don’t think about the pockets of Muslims in the northwest. They don’t think about Hong Kong and how different it is from Beijing. And they don’t,…you know, just the pockets of people and the different ways that you can be a part of that. And so, when you were asking me earlier about what a Mission Coach does, I try to encourage everyone to realize that if you have the heart, God can utilize what you have been given. I don’t care if you’re a house cleaner or you’ve been running Microsoft for twenty years…in places like China, there is a spot for you…to make an impact.
HANS FINZEL: One of my best friends is selling his business and moving to China. He’s in his fifties. He’s a great example. I mean, I think that we need to understand, this is the day of a Lay-Revolution of missionaries, in my opinion. We used to think you had to be some kind of a professional Christian to be a missionary, you know…seminary grad, bible school grad…but it sounds like…from what you are saying, there are all kinds of opportunities for just “normal people”. Ha…Ha…Ha…
NATE PACHE: Exactly! The non-superstar Christians…Ha…Ha…Ha…
HANS FINZEL: …the non-super spiritual, the business people, the nurses…the teachers…the medical people…entrepreneurs...you know. So, again, its ah…for everyone. I’m speaking with Nate Pache, today. He is a Mission Coach with WorldVenture. And, if you will go to our website worldventure.com, and look under the Tab called “Serve” and then look under “Opportunities” and there’s five hundred and ?
NATE PACHE: …thirty-seven!
HANS FINZEL: There are five hundred and thirty-seven opportunities right now all over the world, including…we would love to get more people in China in all sorts of ways, and there’s a lot of ways…everything happening in China is not just “underground”. There’s a lot of official…for example, my friend will be going to study Chinese with the blessing of the Government…and its not like he has to be sneaking around underground. I also found…what was your experience? In my times in China, I find that the Chinese people really have a fascination with Americans.
NATE PACHE: Absolutely! And a man that looks like you, Hans, you know six foot-four and German…it would not be strange for you in certain parts on the street and pose for a picture. Ha…Ha…Ha…
HANS FINZEL: Oh, it happened to me…well, one night when me and a group of my guys…we were walking through a marketplace…and there were these two big guys following us. And we were getting a little scared that we were going to get mugged…Ha…Ha…Ha! And we went into this shop and they went into the shop with us and it turned out they wanted to take our picture. They wanted a picture with them and us together. And I was like…I don’t even know you guys …Ha…Ha…Ha! But, I guess we are quite an interesting point for them…
NATE PACHE: Ha…Ha…Ha…very much so!
HANS FINZEL: Why it is that?
NATE PACHE: I think it’s the isolation for so long from so many things that surrounded China. Now with this globalization of the past decade or so, there’s just been this, like you said, there’s just been this explosion of new information and experiences available to just the regular Chinese citizen.
HANS FINZEL: And they kind of have a mystical view of American and Americans.
NATE PACHE: I think so! They don’t quite…I don’t know…a lot of the college students I work with…they think we’re all rich and they think everyone…they think everything looks like New York…they go as an exchange student to Montana and they find out that is not true.. Ha…Ha…Ha! But, they like us! You know…they like us!
HANS FINZEL: Ha…Ha…Ha! And that is one of the things that I think is great, because I have been to over a hundred countries and I tell you, there are lots of places in the world where we are not liked as Americans, and not wanted. But it’s a cool thing…if you want to serve in China, you will be wanted and appreciated and I find that everybody wants to be your friend.
NATE PACHE: Absolutely!
HANS FINZEL: And they’re also…did you find they are also very open to spiritual discussion?
NATE PACHE: You know, honestly, the way that I would try to initiate the gospel, because you do have to be sensitive, you do have to remember where you are, and that you’re not only perhaps making your life more difficult in not following the rules, you could be undermining the work of someone that’s been there for twenty years…in a matter of weeks if you try to be reckless. And so what I would do is I eat with the college students and I would pray before I ate and they would just want to know, “Why are you doing that?”
HANS FINZEL: …What was that? Who you talking to?
NATE PACHE: Yeah…what are you doing? Are you having a seizure? Are you…
HANS FINZEL: Ha…Ha…Ha…
NATE PACHE: So that’s the beautiful part of it…is that they are relatively…they don’t have a lot of baggage against our faith and Jesus. They just don’t know! They believe in the power of the mind, they believe in science, in business, and growth…and, you know those, in many cases, are their gods.
HANS FINZEL: Yeah…and they do not believe in Communism! I learned that real quick!
NATE PACHE: Heh…Heh…Heh!
HANS FINZEL: Nate, unfortunately our time is up!
NATE PACHE: Wow!
HANS FINZEL: It’s been great having you on the show today.
NATE PACHE: Thanks for having me.
HANS FINZEL: I’ve been speaking with Nate Pache who is a Mission Coach with WorldVenture. And again, if you have any interest in opportunities to serve short-term, mid-term, longer-term, you know…from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, to a couple of years…we have a desperate need for people in various opportunities all over the world. This has been Missions on the Frontline. We’re here to expand your vision and make you aware of new and exciting ways you can be involved in missions around the world. Please visit our website worldventure.com for more information. And I would love to hear from you. If you would write me at Frontline@worldventure.com. I just would love to hear from you. This has been Hans Finzel. See you next week on Missions on the Frontline.
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