Nate Hayden

Growing up in Hutchinson, Minnesota, Nate attended church with his family every week and was very involved in youth group all throughout middle and high school. However, it wasn’t until age 15, after the heartbreaking loss of his mom to kidney failure, that his faith truly became his own. In the months that followed, Nate remembers how God surrounded him with love and grace through the care of his hometown church, and how that season gave him a new foundation, which was a full reliance on the gospel for hope.

Nate went on to study business at the University of Minnesota, fully expecting to step into a sales career after graduation. During those years, an internship at his home church stirred a surprising interest in ministry, but he still finished his business degree and entered the corporate world. A year into sales, however, God opened another door, this time through a close friend, Dan Johnson, who had just stepped into a youth pastor role. Volunteering alongside Dan reignited Nate’s passion for ministry and pushed him to begin seminary training while working full-time.

That friendship eventually led Nate to meet Westbrook Community Church’s lead pastor. In 2022, he joined Westbrook as Youth Pastor, and the following year, he transitioned into the NextGen Pastor role. All the while, he pursued his Master of Divinity through Liberty University, graduating in 2024.

That same year, Nate was introduced to Collision and quickly became excited about its weekly focus on personal evangelism. After seeing firsthand the impact Collision had on Westbrook students, he knew he wanted to be part of the bigger picture. Today, Nate is thrilled to serve with Collision in the Minneapolis area, inviting more churches into partnership and helping cultivate a growing culture of evangelism across the metro.