Nathan and his 2 older brothers, Ted and Mike, were raised by their single mother in Miami, FL, their father having passed away just 6 weeks before Nathan’s birth.
Nathan would spend his whole life in the pursuit of a relationship with God and bringing others along with him.
At a young age one of Nathan’s aunts began taking him to church, and his passion was so deep he would spend 12 consecutive years never missing one Sunday School service. All the while another aunt encouraged him to preach by giving him a verse to study and then talk about.
His church also encouraged his passion for the Lord by giving him opportunities to preach in his early teens, additionally, he travelled with a quartet for some time and he would close out the services sharing devotional messages.
Nathan received a Drama scholarship to the University of Miami. He also attended Texas Bible College for a year. Following that he spent 8 years as an Itinerate Evangelist.
Nathan’s greatest and most memorable memories was having the opportunity to baptize his mother during a Crusade in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and then later all 3 of his children too.
Nathan came to New Brunswick, Canada in 1974 and shortly thereafter was asked to join the staff of the Eastern Canadian Apostolic Bible Institute in Fenelon Falls. He met his future wife, Marilyn Barr, in the spring of ’75 and they were married the following winter. They had three children, Nate, Cassandra and Rachel.
Nathan pastored and founded Christian Schools both in Penticton, BC, and Winnipeg, MB, and pastored in Napanee, ON. Shortly after Nathan left ministering at the church in Napanee he started a new ministry there called the Napanee Christian Renewal Centre, unfortunately that ministry ended when Nathan began getting ill.
Twenty-three years ago Nathan had several mini strokes that resulted in a traumatic brain injury that compromised his ability to focus and sometimes to find the correct word to use.
Nathan enjoyed arts, sports, entertainment, technology and had an eclectic taste in music, but for him that was all window dressing. You could have easily removed those from his life and he would have been fine. Take away his ability, his capability to preach and share the gospel and he was rudderless.
Nathan reached people through pastoring, preaching, and evangelizing. He had a flair for the dramatic and wrote or put on many skits and plays, as well as writing a novel and many bible studies. He loved to laugh and joke around a lot. Marilyn says that if someone from the east coast told a “Nathan” story, and someone on the west coast heard the story they would be able to say “That’s Nathan!”
Nathan’s mother passed away in1979, eldest brother, Ted, in 2020, and his son, Nate, in 2016.
Nathan and Marilyn eventually moved to Saskatchewan to be closer to family. As the years progressed Nathan’s family realized he had early onset dementia and saw a marked decline in his mobility as a result of the strokes and eventually he moved into long term care. On March 21, 2021, in the presence of Marilyn and Victory Family Church Associate Pastor, Sandra Davis, Nathan took his last breaths and went on to be with Jesus.
In the last 3 weeks of Nathan’s life speaking was difficult for him, but he did manage to say to his daughter that he was still praying for “God to heal me so that I can preach again.” That was Nathan’s most often and significant prayer while he was ill. He wanted to create times of encounters with Jesus for others and his biggest desire was to impact as many people as he possibly could. Having lived for approximately 24 years feeling as though he wasn’t fulfilling that desire the way he would have liked, we would like to invite you to encounter Jesus through Nathan’s studies, his sermons, and even his unpublished fictional novel, as we continue to add them to this website, as it is our hope that even through his passing his lifelong dream can be fulfilled.