State Farm’s Good Neighbor: Nathan Hornback
One of the definitions of Humility in Merriam-Webster’s English dictionary is: freedom from pride or arrogance: the quality of state of being humble.
After spending time talking with our December Good Neighbor Nathan Hornback the Lead Pastor at Living Stones Church in Elko, I find this definition very fitting. Right away when I let Nathan know that he had been nominated for our award his immediate response was that he was blown away that he would be chosen. His second reaction was that, “It’s not really me. All these amazing people are running with ideas and vision out doing amazing work with me, “Nathan’s love for his community and his congregation was evident immediately.
Nathan and his wife Audrey started Living Stones in Elko ten years ago as a bible study with two other couples. A year later they had quickly grown into a full church congregation with a mission of “In the City for the City”. It is because of this mission and vision that Living Stones Church has made the commitment to the downtown area. They are currently renovating their building as a part of the revitalization. A large part of this choice was to keep the down town thriving. They had the opportunity to move to other areas of town, but nothing made as much sense to their overall mission as staying put and making sure that they could bring back some beauty to this part of the city.
Nathan has lived in Elko since 1998 when he moved here with his family when he was twelve years old. He therefore considers this his hometown. It is where he and his wife have decided to raise their two daughters five year old Finleigh May and Lennon Ivy who is Four. Audrey and Nathan spend years very involved with the local Department of Child and Family Services because they adopted both of their daughters. It is incredible the work that they have done to try to get more foster families throughout our area and bring awareness to the need for secure fostering and adoption.
After working in the mining industry for a few years he found his true calling with being a Pastor at Living Stones and working in the community that way. 2020 and the year of COVID-19 has proven to be a wild ride for many people and especially many church communities. Nathan said that being able to figure out how to pivot and navigate serving people in the best way has been difficult. It has required a lot of zoom meetings and social media interactions unlike before. He is naturally a people person and he therefore wanted to still stay plugged in with people. It required figuring out how to rework programs. During this time of social distancing and extreme change from what many of us have long considered normal, Nathan was reading an article with statistics on depression recently and it commented on how as many as 11% of healthy adults have admitted to contemplating suicide during the pandemic. This to me seems like an outrageous number. How we help connect with people battling these demons is important.
Nathan and his congregation have adapted to helping people in small ways. Looking out for those that need help around the community where ever they can. They do things like pick up groceries for people that are too nervous to go out of the house, and they recently helped purchase laptops for Grammar #2 Elementary School. It takes neighbors being neighbors and always looking out for each other right now.
Living Stones is gearing up for their Year End Gift which benefits the global water crisis. They partner with Living Water International every year and they help to raise over $60,000 annually. The Year End Gift is an amazing program where 50% of donations stay here in the local community and the other 50% goes directly to Living Water International where last year they helped to dig six fresh water wells that will last over one hundred years and serve 3,000 people. These lives are directly changed by the work done and donations given. Each year teams are sent from our community to dig the wells themselves and help these communities get the water they desperately need. It is an amazing impact to have for generations to come.
The work that Nathan and all of the great people at Living Stones Church are doing is truly commendable. We are incredibly grateful to you. Thank you for reaching out every day and being Good Neighbors whether it is to someone halfway around the world, or to the person around the corner. Our office appreciates you.
If you have someone you would like to nominate as a Good Neighbor please call our office at 775.738.3423 or email us at
kayla.ozman.waav@statefarm.com.