An Interview With Our Ministry Resident, Nate LabadorF

How did you get to Griggs?

I got to Griggs several years ago. I was working at Greenville Memorial Hospital and walking through the loading dock area when I got a random call from a fella named Nate Foote. Nate was some degree of cousin to my wife — once removed or something like that — and he called me out of the blue one day and said, "Hey, are you looking for a church?" I said, "Yeah, actually I am." He said, "Have you ever heard of Griggs?" I said, "Nope, never heard of it." He told me about Mitch Miller and said, "Hey, why don't you come on over? I'm moving back from Houston to the Greenville area and I want you to come visit."

At that point in my life I was actively looking for a church to join and become a member of, so I said, "Sure, I'll give it a go." We attended that next Sunday and really loved the spirit of the place. Our kids went into children's church, and at that point they had a pirate-themed children's church going on. For the first year or so, we called it the Pirate Church — because we had visited so many different churches, we had nicknames for them all: the green church, the blue church, and then this one, the Pirate Church. We kept attending and really enjoyed it. We went away for a brief stint and then came back, and I've been here ever since.

What made you stay?

The primary reason we stayed is that I truly believe God has called us to be here at Griggs. But there are several other reasons as well.

Our kids have friends here and they love coming to church. It's not a large church — there isn't a huge youth group or anything like that — but they have genuine friendships here and they're always begging to come. They're genuinely disappointed when they can't.

The people here care about us and care about my family. That genuine love has kept us coming back. It has been a real joy to get to know everyone and grow together as a church family.

Mitch has become my friend, and I am just honored to be at a church with him as my pastor. He has a gift for teaching and can express Scripture in a way that is full of compassion and love.

Most of all, I'm here because Griggs is a hospital church — a place where souls can come and be healed. That healing is something I have desperately needed. Over time, sermon after sermon, hearing the Word of God preached and watching Mitch care for me and for others, I can say with confidence: this is truly a church that exists for the care of souls.

What made you want to be a Ministry Resident?

God called me to ministry when I was in high school, and I've been trained for it for a long time. But through a number of different paths and for a number of different reasons, He hadn't brought me into ministry proper yet. He had to bring me to a point of real humility — a place where I was okay with simply being a lay member of a church and serving the best I could. I accepted that, and I told Him I would step into ministry when He called me through His church.

About six months after that conversation with God, Mitch suggested I apply to this residency. I did, and they accepted me. It's been a tremendous experience.

My main reason for entering the residency is to learn the soft skills and day-to-day operations of church life — how to meet people, build relationships, and care for them well. I've received theological training, but I don't have the practical, day-to-day experience of pastoral ministry. The residency gives me the opportunity to build those reps and learn what it means to be a pastor in real, hands-on ways.

What is a Ministry Resident?

At a large church, a ministry resident typically has a specific focus — a worship resident, a student ministry resident, something like that. At a smaller church, a ministry resident does just about anything and everything. The goal is to get the resident trained through practical, hands-on experience in ministry.

It's similar to a medical residency at a hospital. Once you finish medical school, you're a fully credentialed doctor, but you cannot practice independently until you've completed your residency. Ministry residency works much the same way — it's designed to train and prepare you for full-time ministry on your own once you've finished.

What are some of the ministry opportunities you've loved the most?

I genuinely love serving here. Preaching is one of the things I enjoy most — I'll take any chance I get. My small group has been amazing. We've had some rough times, but I wouldn't have chosen any other group to lead. It's just frankly awesome to be in that small group. I love serving with the recovery guys. We work through the same things everyone else does, but we definitely have our own flair and style. And I enjoy getting to know people, befriending them, and loving them well.

But honestly, one of my favorite opportunities here has simply been cooking for everybody. Flame and bacon grease are awesome tools in the hands of a pastor-in-training, and I really enjoy cooking and serving a meal — whether it's lunch, dinner, or breakfast.

What do you hope for our congregation at Griggs?

I hope the church continues to grow spiritually. I really hope Griggs continues to be this hospital for souls — a place that can lift up people like me who have been broken, help heal them, and send them out into ministry all over the Upstate and wherever else in the world God leads them.

I want to see Griggs continually pouring out its life for the souls of others — breaking down barriers and sitting with people in the pain they're carrying. That's what I hope for most. I hope Griggs gets even better at it and becomes known as the church that can heal you, no matter where you come from or what kind of hurt — church hurt, world hurt — you're carrying. I hope Griggs becomes the church that reaches out with open arms, brings you in, and lifts you up.

What keeps you going in the residency even when it's challenging?

I keep going because this is what God wants me to do. I've heard His voice, and He has continued to be with me. I know He's called me into this, even through the moments when I was close to breaking. He has sustained me.

In the middle of the residency, He helped me launch my handyman business and has provided me with so much work — I'm eternally grateful. I know He wants me here.

I've also learned so much through submission — to the voice of Jesus and to the elders here at Griggs. I'll be honest: I carry a lot of deep wariness toward church leadership in general, rooted in past experiences. But that has been healing here. At some point I realized that the elders at Griggs were people I wanted to submit myself to — not just leaders to be tolerated. And so I'm just happy to be here and to serve however they ask.

We hear you have a podcast with some friends — will you tell us about it?

Oh yeah! It's called Fresh Ground Theology. It's me and a couple of buddies just talking about coffee and theology and having a lot of fun. We recently added a third co-host, and she brings a ton of energy that my original co-host and I were honestly lacking — we tend to come across a little stodgy on our own. So we're grateful for the balance.

We cover mainly theology, with some coffee woven in. We usually discuss what we're drinking, we've done some taste tests, and we ask random questions along the way. It's just fun. We've gone through topics like blessings and curses, the Eucharist, and a series on the Holy Spirit. Right now we're in a series on the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church — its origins and history — which has been fascinating.

This summer — July 2026 — we're launching a series we're calling Rivals to the Kingdom of Yahweh, which explores the supernatural world as it's presented in the Bible. Further out, we're planning a series on young earth creation from the Genesis text, though that'll probably be 2027 by the time it releases.

We're also about to launch a short spin-off called The Weekend Cup, where we read or discuss a saint in about ten minutes — a quick, digestible episode to start the weekend. And on the off weeks from the main show, we release what we call the Distracted Christian podcast — a more pastoral solo episode from one of us, going a bit deeper. Right now that series is working through the classic Christian mystical work Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross, exploring what it means to draw close to God and what it means for God to draw close to you.

It's a lot of fun and there's always something new in the works. We hope you'll give it a listen!