We Welcome a Wise Disciple

Nate Sala walked away from Christianity as a teenager. It's what brought him back and what he has learned since that make him such a compelling expert for For A Purpose: Hope In A Broken World.

Nate's coming back to Christ came through a series of tragic events, including the death of his cousin and an accident that left his dad a paraplegic. The more I learned about Nate, it became clear that God is doing an incredible work in his life.

Nate has experience as a teacher, a pastor, and an apologist and is the founder of Wise Disciple, a popular YouTube channel. That experience, combined with his own deep walk of faith and his previous work with young adults at Summit Ministries, made him an ideal candidate as one of our experts for the film.

Even prior to Nate accepting our invitation to be interviewed, God was using his ministry to challenge me in my own walk with the Lord. In November 2024, I was in Colorado Springs, preparing for an interview. I was having trouble sleeping---mostly due to the high dose of steroids prescribed for my sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Behind that, however, was an emotional and spiritual weight with too much backstory for one blog, but suffice it to say, it was a critical spiritual moment for me.

I was browsing my phone as I tried to sleep when I came across a new video post by Nate. His video "My time here is coming to an end..." hit me like a ton of bricks. Nate was sharing about a key lesson we often overlook when thinking about the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness.

The Israelites were not wandering aimlessly in the wilderness. God was leading them. And He was doing it to teach them to trust Him. Yet, they kept failing to learn the lesson. Instead, they responded with anger and complaints. In his episode, Nate used a message by John Piper to facilitate the discussion. Piper raised his voice on several occasions to emphasize the important lesson: "Don't be like that!"

Here I was producing a documentary on God's incredible work through pain and suffering, yet I was continuing to struggle with the message of my own film. Just when I think I've learned an important lesson, I discover that the lesson isn't over that quickly. It's a process and it takes time---it's a lot harder than I think! The same is true for each of our journeys.

This message of purpose will be evident in the film. Beautiful stories of hope come about through great struggle and difficulty. Like any worthwhile endeavor, it requires training and excercise to develop the spiritual muscle to overcome our own stubborn wills.

Nate accepted my invitation to participate in the film. In May 2025, we conducted his interview and his contributions exceeded our expectations. Nate has a vision for Christians to own their faith and understand why they believe what they do and he brings that important component to this film.

Thank you for your support! The production of this documentary is possible thanks to the generous gifts of all who have supported For A Purpose. If you're led to help in this way and join with others who are helping make this a quality film to impact lives for eternity, please contact us or use the button below to make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor. Thank you!

Donate