Highlight reel from Pastor Chuck Slocum’s interview with Barb Martin.
Watch the full unedited interview on YouTube.
Pastor Chuck Slocum, Peninsula Lutheran Church, Gig Harbor, has served on many kinds of mission trips—house building, local outreach, and projects that meet urgent needs. Yet when he traveled with the Nicolás Fund for Education (NFE) to Guatemala, something distinct happened.
“It was really rich,” he said. Not because the team arrived as experts, but because they arrived as students—ready to learn what God was already doing in the Ixil region. Pastor Chuck encountered a vibrant Mayan culture and participated in an “incredible ministry…empowering young people to get a sense about what their lives could be and all grounded in faith in Jesus Christ.”
One of the quiet miracles of a mission trip is that you step outside your familiar “bubble.” You discover that the Holy Spirit is already moving in places you might assume are forgotten. Pastor Chuck put it simply: “Jesus is on the loose there.” And when you witness that—teachers, students, families worshiping and persevering—you return home with renewed clarity about your own mission field: your family, workplace, neighborhood, and church.
Mission trips also form sacred relationships. Pastor Chuck still remembers the overwhelming welcome from students—so heartfelt that some team members cried. And the goodbyes carried the same weight. Those bonds don’t end when the plane leaves. They can continue through prayer, giving, and simple connections, such as pen-pal relationships, that help the whole congregation share in the mission.
If you or your church is longing for fresh faith, deeper discipleship, and a tangible way to love the poor, consider going with NFE. Join an upcoming NFE Mission Trip and come as a learner—ready to serve, ready to receive, and ready to come home changed.
