For as long as he can remember, Nathan Troost has been a storyteller. As an elementary school student, he dreamed of becoming an author, and in a way, that aspiration has been realized. Rather than writing books, however, the 24-year-old is using a video camera to convey the stories of missionaries and others all over the world.
After identifying a passion for videography in high school, Troost pursued a journalism and mass communication major at Samford University in Birmingham and worked on honing his film skills. Thanks to a combination of course work, jobs, internships and freelance opportunities, he quickly built his resumé and became more certain of his love for video.
In 2011, Troost established a Birmingham-based nonprofit called Lantern Vision. With this organization, he was able to merge two of his great passions: missions and videography.
“In a nutshell, Lantern Vision is a nonprofit video production organization that seeks to capture and communicate the stories of Christians and ministries who are making a positive impact around the globe and to serve them by informing and inspiring others through visually compelling and innovative media production, ultimately glorifying God,” Troost said.
“The intent with Lantern Vision was to create a nonprofit organization so individuals, churches and corporations can contribute funds to help reduce the costs as much as possible for these ministries so that more people can see through these videos … what God is doing around the world and be inspired to serve Christ locally and globally.”
Kacey Cole, who works in Samford’s residence life department, met Troost when he was an undergrad resident assistant. The two became fast friends, and Cole has enjoyed watching Troost’s hard work and passion transform into Lantern Vision.
At an event for Samford students last year, Cole saw a promotional video Troost had put together to help spread the word about the mission of AVAIL, a nonprofit focused on acting as an advocate for Birmingham’s houseless community.
“Then later, guys from AVAIL came to Lantern Vision’s launch party and talked about how working with Nathan helped their ministry and [got] the word out,” Cole said. “Through his video, he really takes away the stereotype of the houseless and puts a face to the problem that is houselessness.”
Though Troost is a member of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, he said Stan Lewis, pastor of First Baptist Church, Birmingham, has been instrumental in helping his organization become a reality. The two met about two years ago when Troost — an undergrad tagging along with an older friend — began attending a graduate student Bible study in Lewis’ home. Not long after, Troost went with Lewis on a missions trip to Kazakhstan, where he filmed a video about a group that does church planting in Russia.
The video aired on several Christian channels. (In fact, Lewis saw it on the Christian Television Network in early January.)
“Nathan’s ministry is telling the story of missionaries,” Lewis said.
“So many of them don’t have access to venues to share their stories, and this is a vehicle for people to use to get the word out about what God is doing all over the world. I’m thrilled at how God has been using him to tell these stories.”
In addition to his work with Lantern Vision, Troost holds a full-time position at Samford as a video producer, and most of the videos on the school’s website are his work. His Samford work helps him gain further experience with videography as he grows his nonprofit, and he has high hopes for it in the coming years.
“Over the next five years, I hope to expand the ministry more so that we need to hire more ‘missionographers’ to capture the stories of these missionaries and ministries,” Troost said.
“My dream with Lantern Vision is to create a new television show … that would be picked up and aired on secular networks. I am currently working on a show concept I think would be attractive to secular networks, while, at the same time, weaving the story of the gospel into the show.”
Cole is happy to see her friend pursue his dreams in such an impactful manner and said she admires him for starting Lantern Vision.
“I think it’s one of those things a lot of us would want to do in life,” Cole said. “Pick a job we want and have talent in, and pair it with a passion. The majority of us aren’t brave enough to do that but Nathan is and it’s been neat to see this unfold.”
For more information, visit www.lanternvision.org.
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