The Zone Gathering

Nathan Gonzales was a member of the original zone leader team (which also included Leslie Adams and Brian and Kim Hill). I distinctly remember the night I asked him to join the team; I was kinda nervous because I didn’t really know Nathan that well and I wasn’t really sure exactly what I was asking him to do. But I saw the whole concept of “leading leaders” click in his mind, and he has been moving and shaking in the discipleship scene ever since. Nathan is a creative leader and has been a primary influence behind some of our major efforts within NCC small groups. He championed the One vision, initiated the blog, masterminded the One promotional video, and worked with Pastor Dave to bring the Discipleship Map to life. But what I love most about Nathan is the way he expands his influence by impacting one life at a time.

One more thing. I think my favorite memory of Nathan is his DC Talk performance at the NCC Variety Show.

Today, we talk to Nathan about life, ministry, and DC Talk.

How long have you attended NCC? What brought you to NCC?
Short answer: over six years. Like my wife, I first came to NCC back in the fall of 1999. Some good friends of mine from Oregon, the Powers, attended NCC, so I decided to check it out. (As a college student, free donuts didn’t hurt either.) Back then I was in DC through the American Studies Program but moved back to California to finish school the next spring. I returned to DC in May of 2000 and have been attending NCC ever since.

Tell us a little about the small groups that you lead and how that experience has impacted you.
I apologize because the timeline is a little fuzzy in my head. Heather and I started attending the Thursday Night Third Place group in early 2001. Nina (Krig at the time) and Heather went to the same Bible Study on the Hill and Nina invited us to the small group. The ironic part was that Nina had never been herself, but wanted us all to go together. That group was extremely influential in getting me plugged in at NCC. The friends I made in that group are still some of my closest friends I have in DC almost five years later! Later, I helped co-lead the group with different folks including Jenna Kelly, Steph Modder, and Aaron Mercer.

Last year I founded the Fantasy Baseball Small Group. I didn’t win the online league, but working together as a grounds crew for the little league baseball field at Ludlow-Taylor School with nine other guys was simply awesome. It was great to get out in the community and spruce up the field for the kids! This year, Michael Ferrigno and Jeremy Hancock are at the helm and expanded the group to two leagues and two baseball fields (truly one group with multiple locations)!

Now, my wife and I are zone leaders and we attend Alpha on Monday nights. I’m also a part of this year’s baseball group, the men’s basketball group, go to the Saturday men’s breakfasts, and try to go to men’s prayer on Tuesday mornings.

Where can you be found on Sunday mornings?
I’m at Union Station and/or Ebenezers, often playing on the worship team.

When did you start following Christ and what have been some of the spiritual turning points in your life?
I started to follow Christ at a young age. I remember being at my grandpa’s church in California and hearing about heaven and hell in children’s church. Seemed like an easy choice to me so I jumped on the heaven train. Growing up, I was blessed to be raised in a Godly home. I seriously couldn’t have asked for more loving parents and sister. They are the best!

I grew up in church and went three times a week. I did the summer camps and youth conventions, and was involved in our high school Youth Alive! club. But my freshman year at college was definitely a huge spiritual time in my life. I was away from home and met some great friends. That year, God became more real to me than ever before and the spiritual atmosphere on campus was awesome. I started taking ownership of my faith.

Coming to DC my senior year was also a turning point. I met more great Christian friends from all across the country. But nearly all of them came from different church backgrounds and denominations. Again, it forced me to explore my faith and my beliefs even further. I also feel like getting married (almost three years ago) spurred another spiritual level. It’s one thing to live for Christ on your own, but another to live for Christ in partnership with someone else.

Tell us a little about your background.
I was born in Concord, California, moved briefly to the Tri-Cities area (WA), Richland (OR), McMinnville (OR), and finally Dallas, Oregon where I lived from third grade through high school. Early on, my dad was both a pastor and worked in construction while my mom stayed home with us or did bookkeeping from home. Now, my dad works for the City of Portland and my mom is the office manager at the church in Dallas where I grew up. My sister works for the state of Oregon and my brother-in-law is the youth pastor at the church my parents go to. ALL of them are extremely gifted musically and all four of them play on the worship team.

I went to Whitworth Elementary, LaCreole Junior High, and Dallas High School (home of the Dragons). Sports was basically my life, playing baseball, football, and basketball. I experienced the highs and lows throughout my has-been career from an undefeated football season in sixth grade to my senior year in baseball when I think we went 2-21. I started writing for the school newspaper and haven’t really stopped since. For those of you who remember it, I was on Channel One Student-Produced Week my senior year in high school where I hung out with Lisa Ling and gang.

Wanting to get out of Oregon, I went to Vanguard University in Orange County, California for undergrad. I studied communications and started playing bass and guitar in bands (including the PlutoHotDogUnion and Lench) with my friends. I came to DC through ASP and fell in love with the incomparable and beautiful Heather Hirschy and we got married on May 25, 2003. (You can read more about her here.) Last year, I finished my Masters degree at George Washington University and love my job writing about politics.

What is your favorite Scripture passage?
I would say the 139th Psalm, but especially 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

What are your favorite books?
A partial list would include Moneyball (by Michael Lewis), Bobos in Paradise (David Brooks), Spiritual Leadership (J. Oswald Sanders), Veeck as in Wreck (Bill Veeck & Ed Linn), Roaring Lambs (Bob Briner), On Writing Well (William Zinsser), and A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat (Joel Kilpatrick). One secret is that I actually love to collect books but have a tougher time getting around to reading all of them.

What are your favorite movies?
Another partial list would include Mr. Deeds, Nothing to Lose, Happy Gilmore, Hands on a Hard Body, all six Star Wars movies, Josie and the Pussycats, Say Anything, School of Rock, and Can’t Hardly Wait.

What is your favorite fast food?
Taco Bell. (In’N’Out would be a close second if I lived in SoCal.)

What is something that most people at NCC would not know about you?
For a few of my teenage years I was obsessed with DCTalk. Obsessed to the point that I stayed up late to watch them on Arsenio Hall one night back in 1992. I then proceeded to go out and buy an outfit similar to the ones they wore that night, including khaki shorts, a blue button-down shirt, and a polka dot tie. (On a side but related note, back in the day I saw DCTalk, Newsboys, the Dynamic Twins, and Heather & Kirsten in Salem, Oregon all for the low ticket price of $5.)

Tell us a little about your day job. What is your dream job?
I love my job at The Rothenberg Political Report, where I’ve been for almost five years. I have a great boss and get to do a lot of writing. We’re a non-partisan (seriously, we are) newsletter that analyzes races for Congress, the Senate, and governor. I get to meet people from all over the country and learn random political facts that everyone else in the world can not know and live a full and happy life.

I guess I wouldn’t mind playing in band that tours the country or working in front office management for a baseball team, but for now, I definitely feel blessed to have the job that I have.

Who is your hero? (besides Jesus or any other member of the Trinity)
I would point to four male role models in my life. First and foremost, my dad, who exemplifies what it means to be a Godly man, a loving dad and husband, and a servant. I would also include both of my grandfathers and my father-in-law. I have so much to learn from each of them as I grow up.

What do you do in your free time?
I love 1) being with Heather (my wife and best friend), 2) playing, listening to, watching, and purchasing music, 3) basically anything baseball oriented, 4) eating out and 5) spending time with so many of our great friends here.

In NCC:THE MOVIE who would play you? Who would play Pastor Mark?
For me it would probably be Zach Braff or Mark Ruffalo. Pastor Mark….how about Conan O’Brien.

What is your favorite Pastor Markism?
We going to start “at 30,000 feet” but then “zoom in” and “put a frame around it,” but first we better “hit the pause button.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 at 7:57 am and is filed under Spotlights, Zone Leaders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.