“Oh man,” said Stephen Neu, cracking a grin that swept from ear to ear. “Get ready for a story.”
As Neu sat back in his chair, I could sense the ease but also eager anticipation as he was about to explain how the Lord softened his heart towards missions. His eyes even began to speak of the story before his mouth could. His open demeanor echoed the open ambiance of his office, and it was clear he felt at home with the question I asked him.
Ironically, his story began with a girl. Not just any girl though; it was the courtship of his wife that led Neu to start thinking of missions, especially global missions, in a more serious light. Neu chuckled a bit because he had no initial desire to go and serve outside of the country, but his wife did at the time. She not only wanted to serve internationally, but she wanted to live internationally.
With that quandary in mind, Neu decided to participate in the Israel GO Trip, a missions trip offered to Union students to help grow their knowledge of Christ’s love for other cultures.
“A big prayer of mine when going was for two reasons,” Neu explained. “If Ashley and I are going to be together in the future, this seems to be where her heart is going, and if I really do say that I want to be able to go anywhere and serve the Lord, my prayer was ‘God, show me I would enjoy doing this.’ ”
Not only was his prayer answered, but Neu’s heart for ministry began to evolve as the Lord walked with him step by step on a path of spreading the gospel outside the church walls. Navigated by the Lord’s hand, Neu was offered a position on the GO Leadership team, which required a second GO Trip opportunity. The next summer, Neu accompanied the East Asia GO trip team with the sole purpose of understanding the requirements of pursuing missions long term.
“I think my perspective really changed once coming back from East Asia because I saw, man, I can be investing in people now,” said Neu, bringing himself back into that moment of yearning for the cultivation of relationships.
Neu did not only love East Asia, but he also loved the culture, as it taught him what walking through life with others looks like. Sharing the gospel shifted from being structured to being a conversation and a source of encouragement.
“So now being back, what has it been like mentoring and investing in guys that are only a couple years younger and some even being the same age?” I asked curiously, since Neu had just graduated a little over a year ago.
“It can be really frustrating,” Neu softly admitted, followed by another chuckle as if he were replaying those moments in his head. “Ministry can be really frustrating because you want the people that you are talking with to make really big jumps in their spiritual lives, but that is just not the way we function as people, which is why university missions focus on the next step.”
Neu continued to speak of his college experience and how he made it his mission to invest in younger men by unconventionally rooming with two underclassmen his senior year. It was different, but it was a huge opportunity that allowed Neu to be around younger guys and speak truth to them in a new way. Instead of taking on the mindset of “I am going to change the world,” he was learning how to impact others through conversations and accountability because most of the people we impact are our peers.
“Seeing guys that I did know while I was in school really stepping up and becoming spiritual leaders, that’s really encouraging,” Neu said with an even bigger grin than before we started the interview. “Seeing them begin really disciplining even younger college students or high school and middle school students is encouraging. So yeah, I would say it is twofold. It is really hard, but it is also really rewarding at the same time.”
Just hearing the way he spoke about pouring into the lives of others as well as watching them pour into the lives of the next generation was encouraging. There are some people you meet and know without a shadow of a doubt that they place God first and foremost in their lives. No fakeness, no cliches, just the wholesome humility and genuine compassion of seeing others learn that love for themselves. Stephen Neu embodies that.
He knows he isn’t perfect. He knows he doesn’t have it all figured out, nor does he pretend to. But he has an art of conversing in a way that has you thinking of a new perspective of Christ and a new perspective of struggle.
It was refreshing to experience his down-to-earth nature and his willingness to continue to develop.
With that being said, who disciples Stephen Neu?
“When you are looking for people to pour into you, you are looking for someone who is one step ahead of you,” said Neu.
Two guys at Neu’s church who Neu considers one or even two steps ahead of him consistently pour into him through every hill and valley life offers. They are completely different from Neu in the sense that their qualities empower Neu to better himself and his relationship with Christ.
“There are very few people that I look at and say ‘I want to be exactly like you in the future,’ but there are a lot of guys that I look at and see parts of their life and say ‘you are really good at this, I need to learn that from you. You have a really strong emphasis on Scripture memory, I need to learn that from you,’” Neu humbly explained, listing multiple areas of weakness that could in turn become strengths.
I sat there in awe as he emphasized that we misinterpret someone who disciples as someone who is perfect, when in actuality discipleship is learning to grow in community and grow with individuals who are one step ahead.
And a step ahead that each believer can take is understanding the steps that can be taken now.
“I think being at Union, a lot of the time I fall into an ‘I am going to change the world someday,'” said Neu. “But in reality, we can be impacting students on campus through conversations, through Bible study, through accountability, and through just living life together.”
Photo courtesy of Kristi Woody
