Conner and Meghan Lawson

Pastor Walton sat down with Conner and Meghan Lawson this week to discuss life in the US Navy, adjusting to new places, and growing in Christ.

Download the Conner and Meghan Lawson Harvest Time


Episode Transcript:

Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these 25 minutes together telling you the stories of our church, interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d like to invite you to join us at Harvest Baptist Church this week. We have 2 services, the first at 8:45 AM, the second at 10:45 AM.

During that 10:45 AM service, we have Japanese and Korean translation, and that’s also when we livestream at hbcguam.org.hbcguam.org. We hope you can join us this Sunday. Let’s begin today’s harvest time by welcoming pastor Gary Walton. Hi, pastor.

Gary Walton: Hey. Hafa adai, Chris. You know, we’re a couple weeks into the new year, 2025. And maybe for some people listening, you made some New Year’s resolutions or just some life commitments. Perhaps one of them was just reevaluating your spiritual life, trying to, you know, balance your life and wondering what your next steps would be as far as church and God.

And if that’s you, this Sunday, I hope that you’d stay connected with the commitments that you made. This would be a great Sunday to come to harvest, find a good church that’s, teaching the Bible. People are fellowshipping and growing together. So just a little encouragement that maybe this is the week and we’d like to invite you to come and join us. I think you find a very warm welcome.

You’ll hear that God’s word is a prominent key part of our, of our gathering together. And that it’s the foundation for our lives. And that’s really what we believe that, life is hard. It and it’s impossible without having a source, a foundation that we can go back to. And so one of the things that you’ll find at harvest is that we’re gonna use the scriptures as our source and I think it’ll be helpful for you so let me invite you to join us this Sunday I’m really glad to have, Connor and Megan Lawson with us here today on the radio so first of all welcome you guys thanks for joining us

Connor Lawson: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having us.

Gary Walton: Tell us, you guys have been in the military, your Navy. Connor, tell me a little bit about about how long in the U. S. Navy.

Connor Lawson: Yeah. I’ve been active duty Navy for 10 going on, this will be 11 years. Pretty crazy to think that. Yeah. Yeah.

Gary Walton: And, you came to Guam. When and where are you and kinda where have you served previously?

Connor Lawson: Yeah. We came to Guam in August of 2023. Before that, I was in Gulfport, Mississippi. And then before that, I was in, the kind of one of the main hubs of Norfolk, Virginia. And that’s actually where, you know, Meghan and I met, Okay. Over there.

Gary Walton: I wanna ask about that. Meghan, tell us about your family. You have some kids?

Meghan Lawson: Yes. We have, 4 kids, 3 boys, 4, 3, and 1, and then we have a foster child who’s 5.

Gary Walton: Okay. And you guys met Connor, you are already in the service? Correct. Okay. Megan, tell us about meeting.

Meghan Lawson: So we met at our church in Virginia. I think we were doing a service project, and that was kind of our first interaction. And we started dating shortly after, and then he proposed. And a week later, he deployed and then came back from deployment, and we got married in 2018 Okay. In Virginia.

Gary Walton: Okay. So you guys have been married

Meghan Lawson: Almost 7 years.

Gary Walton: Almost 7 years. Okay. Do you have any family military background or is this all new for you?

Meghan Lawson: This is all new for me.

Gary Walton: Okay. Tell me about your family background, growing up. Let’s start with you, Connor, and then, tell us about the background first, and we’ll talk about your spiritual story.

Connor Lawson: Yeah. Full home. Right? Mom, dad’s there. I have one sister.

I feel like we’re pretty stereotypical family living in the suburbs outside of Atlanta. Nothing too exciting. Nothing out of the ordinary. Feel like I was like any other boy growing up pretty oblivious to the world. Yeah. Just only in my own own little bubble. But, yeah, I mean,

Gary Walton: When did you join the military and what was that?

Connor Lawson: Right out of high school. Okay. If I’m being honest, I didn’t think I was smart enough to go to college.

Gary Walton: Uh-huh.

Connor Lawson: I now know that’s a lie. I know I’m absolutely smart enough.

Gary Walton: Yeah. Somebody fooled you on that one.

Connor Lawson: Yeah. I fooled myself.

Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah.

Connor Lawson: And I have some family members that were in the military, and then to be honest, the Navy recruiting office was just the first one in the strip mall I walked into. So there here we are now.

Gary Walton: Okay. So if you don’t mind me asking, I mean, I know you’re young straight out of high school, but, even at that point, what would have been some of your your motivations? I mean, was it, you know, this is a good next step? You love your country? You know, what was what was kinda going on at that moment when you said yes to that Navy recruiter?

Connor Lawson: Yeah. I mean, I I always did enjoy talking with my grandfather and some of the stories that he kinda allude to. And I feel like it yeah. I I do love my country. I do wanted to to serve and kinda give back in that in that capacity.

But I wouldn’t say, like, I was just over the top that I absolutely have to do this. Right. Right? There are some times that I would, like, toil, with in prayer and be, like, what am I doing?

Gary Walton: Yeah.

Connor Lawson: Give me an answer. Tell me tell me to do something. And, obviously, my parents are like, no. We’re not gonna tell you what you’re gonna do. Right?

You need to decide for yourself. And how we know God works. He’s not gonna specifically say like, hey, you’re gonna do this. Right? You gotta you gotta kinda navigate the scriptures and kinda figure that one out.

Gary Walton: Well, what what about your spiritual background?

Connor Lawson: Yeah. So really more of like a church was kinda just for like a Sunday style. It probably wasn’t till later, maybe in middle school, high school, I started going on things like Wednesday nights. We had things like royal ambassadors. It’s kind of another maybe like Awana.

Gary Walton: Okay. Yeah.

Connor Lawson: I could say similar. It’s more like outdoors focused. Yeah.

Gary Walton: Sure.

Connor Lawson: And then we also had, like, a youth group style service on Wednesdays. So as a middle school and high school, I started doing that as well, but, no, I would say, like, true deep, like, kinda impact on how I live my life probably until around, like, high school is ish time frame. I began to grow and understand more. The youth pastor began to kind of disciple me, invest in me, and kind of push me to learn scriptures and kind of a little bit of the why of why you need to believe. So things began to build the foundation fundamentally.

But, of course, I did know, like, the bible stories and things like that you go through Sunday school. Sure. I had that kinda foundation, but probably wasn’t till high school where things began to get a little more serious.

Gary Walton: I’m always interested in the people that influence our lives, particularly spiritually. In most, fruitful, maturing spiritual lives, we can look back and there’s some people along that path. So a youth pastor for you?

Connor Lawson: Absolutely. Yeah. I think in that season for sure.

Gary Walton: Yeah.

Connor Lawson: And then later on, not till probably I was in the military, you have a wide variety of cultures and

Gary Walton: Yeah.

Connor Lawson: Just kinda customs and things like that and a wide variety of people. So then there’s a point I had to really reflect and ask myself, like, what am I doing? Where am I right now? Like, what is what’s going on? Right?

This is Yeah. Fundamentally not what I believe in. So this is not the path that I I need to be at. So then I started going to church, again. Yeah. And met some some some guys there, especially my wife. That’s where I met my wife. Right? As we mentioned.

Gary Walton: Yeah. Let me, Meghan, let me pull you into the story. I wanna come back to that part of it. But how about your background and then, you know, kind of lead us to your spiritual story?

Meghan Lawson: Yeah. So I am number 4 of 7 children and grew up. I was homeschooled. My mom homeschooled us in very, like, small town, but big Christian town.

Gary Walton: Yeah.

Meghan Lawson: And sometimes we joke that we lived in the Christian bubble, which was really good looking back. And I recognize that there was a lot of really great influences in my life before I went to college. But, yeah, I was one of 7 right in the middle.

Gary Walton: I’m one of 7 right in the middle. So Yeah. Got a connection.

Meghan Lawson: Yeah. There you go. My parents were really intentional, I feel like, with pushing scripture memory and family devotions. And we were at church Sunday, Wednesday. They really were careful about what influenced our minds at a young age. So I’m really grateful for, my upbringing in that way.

Gary Walton: Mhmm. You said college, then how how did you meet

Meghan Lawson: Yes. So I left my small town and moved to a bigger city, and that was really where I feel like my faith was really tested. I wasn’t no was no longer surrounded by all of the Christian influences that I was growing up. And I really had to decide, is this what I wanna do? Because I can go either way right now.

And praise God, he protected me from so much and really strengthened me and grew my faith in that time. And then, we met at the church that we were both started attending when we moved to that part of Virginia. And here we are.

Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. It is interesting, that you can track for anybody’s life story, their journey. There’s these seasons of life where we come to crossroads or decisions. And and in those times, the the slot the slightest direction we begin to take has a pretty big impact.

You know? Yeah. It leads us someplace. And unfortunately, you know, a lot of times, you know, people along that path head a a wrong direction. It takes them a little while and sometimes some heartache and some pain before they come to the next spot where God says, maybe we gotta make a u-turn, you know, and get back on it.

But, Connor, can you look at some specific times like that for you?

Connor Lawson: Yeah. I think I alluded to to one. I began to just seek friends in whatever manner. Right? And that was leading to things that I’d never really partaked in the certain parties and drinking and things like that, and I had to really reflect on that.

And I think another one, which is probably the most recent one, wasn’t until about we were maybe 3 or 4 years married, starting having kids. And the the why and, from an apolitical standpoint of how can I defend my faith, what do I believe in

Gary Walton: Yeah?

Connor Lawson: That has deeply impacted me, to to now. Right? To to genuinely, it sparked something in me. Yeah. Having having having kids different.

What am I teaching them? Why am I what do I believe in? Why do I believe it? How can I articulate that? What’s the defense of it? I think that has really impacted me and grown me significantly.

Gary Walton: Yeah. That’s really great. The desire to know and then having to really dig in and find and and find some people around us that will help us with that. Yeah. That’s great.

I’m interested in your just your family journey. I mean, God just kinda got you started along this, but, as he’s teaching, training you guys, equipping you for for what he’s called you to do, military has provided you some adventures. Tell us your coolest story.

Connor Lawson: I think one of the ones we came to as a family was, Clayton was about to be born, and now it’s about to be deployed. And I was also in a season I was about to transition to my next job. So I was leaving Virginia, moving to Mississippi. And there’s a lot of things going on. I was buying a home.

We didn’t know when Meghan was gonna go into labor, so I just had to start getting power of attorneys and things like that. And so I’m talking with mortgage lenders. And it was really cool. Right? The mortgage lenders.

Right? They felt for us. Right? They even mentioned to us that, hey, we are in the other room praying for you right now.

Gary Walton: Wow.

Connor Lawson: Which was yeah. Wow. I was right. I am not expecting that in any manner. And so many goodbyes that we thought were gonna be the last time she would drop me off at work. Like, okay. Bye. And then, like, oh, just kidding. I’m coming back. And then she dropped me off again. Like, I’m bye. Like, oh, just kidding. I’m coming back. I think it happened 2 or 3 times maybe.

Gary Walton: That’s hard. Right, Meghan?

Meghan Lawson: Yeah. Yes. It was very hard. I was almost 9 months pregnant and I wasn’t sure if he was gonna make it back for the birth of our first child. I was gonna sign for our house on my own. It was very very emotionally draining.

Gary Walton: Yeah. I’m tracking.

Meghan Lawson: But the 3rd time do you want me to jump in here? Go ahead. Jump in here. The 3rd time I dropped him off, I thought he was deploying and he called me and said, never mind.

We’re not leaving and I don’t have to go. And they left without him, and he was able to be there for the birth, and we were able to still sign for our house together. And after was when the mortgage lender, she reached out when I told her all this. And she said, we have been praying. In the other room, we’ve been praying for you.

And it was just really cool to see how God worked through that situation. And we just had to trust that it was gonna be okay. Whatever happened, even if he hadn’t been there, I was still gonna birth that baby, and God was still good no matter what.

Gary Walton: Yeah. Well, the military can have a way of, you know, keeping us on our toes. Right? Absolutely. I mean, we’re all, you know, we’re all pro military, but, there can be some challenges, you know, along that.

But what a great testimony of God’s faithfulness. And I love what you said, Meghan, that God God was gonna be good no matter what happened here, and he would have taught you some things. But when he steps in and gives us, you know, some of the desires of our hearts, yeah. That’s that’s that’s really great. There’s a lot of challenges, maybe particularly for you, Connor.

Well, actually, I’ll ask both of you because there’s challenges as a family in the military that we got a lot of people that are listening to this is gonna relate to. But, how do you cope with some of the challenges that come just to your faith and to your feel like, you know, your biblical responsibilities as a man, a follower of Jesus. How do you cope with all that?

Connor Lawson: I think first coming in, right, I was still young, right, mentally in the faith. Right? And I didn’t seek those conversations. Right? It’s more like I I sought to avoid them.

Yeah. Right? But funny how it is, it naturally comes up just fundamentally how that impacts me, right, of how I interact with others, how I’m speaking, how I got I’m, you know, controlling, example, my my anger. Right? I’m not getting upset at other people.

Like, those kind of things, people notice that. Yeah. I I can recall a time of, like, one of my coworkers, she was she asked me. She’s like, what’s wrong with you? Why are you like this?

What are you doing? And what’s why are you this way? And we had, like, a little bit of conversation, you know, about how I read the Bible, and this is important to me. But it was very surface.

Gary Walton: Mhmm.

Connor Lawson: I think now that I reflect back, on recent conversations where there where I work now or, back in Mississippi, I dive deeper into it. I I press more. I ask more questions. Like, okay, then what do you think? Right?

I I dive deeper. I’m more bold. I’m unashamed. Right? More now to to press the topic and press on people.

Gary Walton: Well, we’re, I mean, we’re all at a place where we’re trying to figure out spiritual things and, to be confronted with somebody whose faith is strong. There is an interest in it and intrigue, wanting to know, and I’m going through stuff. And how do I cope with life? You know, people are wanting to hear that. Meghan, I’m interested in your take on this.

You you know, you said earlier, no military backgrounds, all brand new to you. Some challenges of being a military wife and mom now. Tell me how you how you dealt with all that.

Meghan Lawson: Yeah. I think some of the biggest ones are, like, separation from family, especially here in Guam. We’re we’re not close to family at all. And then separation of, like, us together when he leaves and I’m with the kids and just taking care of them. We’ve had to cope in different ways.

One One of the biggest things I mean, really, it’s our community. It’s being involved in community, being involved in church, has made the biggest difference knowing that I have people that have my back and will support me Yeah. When he’s away. And and they do and they have. They’ve stepped in, here and brought me meals or just encouraged me, prayed for me.

And that’s been a huge blessing. But that doesn’t just happen when you move to a new place. And I think that’s one of the challenges is getting involved into a new community. And you really just have to go all in and you have to jump in quickly because we’re here for 3 years. We only have 3 years.

Gary Walton: Yeah.

Meghan Lawson: And my prayer was, okay, God, what do you want for us in these 3 years? How do you want us to serve? How do you want us to get involved? And he’s already made that so clear. You know, we’re already 18 months in.

Gary Walton: Wow. That goes fast.

Meghan Lawson: It goes so fast. Yeah. And I think the challenge also on the other side of that is, okay. I only have 3 years.

Gary Walton: Yeah.

Meghan Lawson: How much do I want to do? How much do I want to get involved? And that can be really tempting to pull back, especially at the end. But our prayer has always been, every time we’re nearing the end is, don’t do that. Like, Lord, help us to continue to immerse ourself in the church and continue serving up until the day we leave.

I think it was like a week before we left to come here. We were serving in VBS, and it was such a joy to serve with our church before coming here. We miss them so much, but, like, serving till the day we leave.

Gary Walton: Yeah.

Meghan Lawson: And we’re gonna have amazing memories of our time in Guam, just like we do of our time in Mississippi and Virginia.

Gary Walton: Yeah. I really love that. Thanks for for sharing that. I’m encouraged by this idea. You gotta dive in.

You gotta be all in right away. It’s it’s easy to come in and sort of hang back, maybe wait for others. And there’s a natural tendency to do that, but to be all in. And and actually, it’s the first time I’ve heard that part on the end as well to stay invested right till the end. This is our place.

So I’m thankful to hear, you know, of that and and I’m encouraged by that. So, maybe just kind of last little thought on this. There’s a young couple. They’re in the military, their 1st year. We’ve got a couple of this at harvest, you know, new marriage, maybe been in the military a while, but newly married or just all new in the military.

What’s your advice to them?

Connor Lawson: Yeah. Big would be the echo of what just Meghan just said. I think she said it’s so great. I think on the marriage standpoint, reflecting, my own marriage, I denied Meghan probably the first three years of our marriage of biblically leading her. Mhmm.

Right? And being the husband to her, like Christ is to the church. Right? I denied her of that and I wasn’t investing in the family unit that way, which I had to, you know, nip it in the bud. Right? And kinda get move past that and and do better, which I think I am now. Right?

Meghan Lawson: Absolutely. Okay.

Connor Lawson: Good. Yeah.

Gary Walton: That’s awesome, Connor. Tell me give me some more details about that.

Connor Lawson: So, specifically, like, we would independently maybe study, right, where versus now we have more conversations over that. I think, specifically in the the realm of theology, right, I have pressed on some things, right, that were contrary to what I heard growing up. And I’m like, okay. What does the Bible actually say?

Gary Walton: Sure.

Connor Lawson: Not what does my tradition say? Right? But, exegetically, what does the scripture preach? And that’s why something right. I’m super appreciative about you. Right? Day one coming in.

Gary Walton: Well, this church is. I mean, the church overall harvest with other good healthy churches, but, yeah. I mean, we’re just we want the scriptures to tell us, you know, where we’re going, what we’re doing. So I appreciate that.

Connor Lawson: But, absolutely, like, in that in that context of just having the discussions. Right? Okay. What does this mean? Right?

What is the the truth? Right? Because, ultimately, I think that’s what we as humans seek is, like, what is the truth. Right? Yeah.

We believe to be Jesus. Right? That Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. Right? That no one comes to the father except through him. Right. That is the objective truth that we that we believe.

Gary Walton: Hey. This year, at harvest, we’re talking about, Jesus first. In that realm or understanding that, in in your personal life or in your family, what has been the biggest test for you about that? Seeking Jesus first, going your own way. Any testimonies of of God’s faithfulness as you’ve chosen to seek, Jesus first?

Meghan Lawson: There have been a lot. I’ll go most recently. Well, coming to Guam, I think, was a big one for us. It it wasn’t necessarily our choice. We were the military told us to come here, which I really had to have a big attitude adjustment about.

So I think seeking Jesus first for us in that situation was, it’s not seeking comfort. It’s not seeking what’s comfortable being near our family or the community we have. It’s okay. Where does He want us? And how are we gonna serve him there?

And then fast forward a little bit, we were praying about fostering and we kinda decided to just do, respite care. If you know this island, you know about the need. Yeah. There’s over 700 children in foster care. And as we attended Harvest and we heard that need over and over, we were praying about it, and we got the first call from CPS.

And it wasn’t for respite, it was for full time. She gave me a little bit of info about these children, and I just came home crying, telling Connor about this phone call. Like, there’s actual children that they want us to take in. It’s not just a number anymore of 700. It’s a child that needs a home.

And less than a week, we had gone through everything, and we had a child in our home. All of a sudden, no load training. No, like, you know, we were we were all in. And God has worked in our marriage and in our relationship with him in extraordinary ways just in the past 11 months. Wow.

Because we said, okay, God, what do you want for us? It’s not about our comforts. It’s not about even our memories here in Guam. It’s not about the experiences we’re gonna have. It’s about how are we gonna serve him and seek him first.

And, fostering has been one of the most, probably, like, humbling

Gary Walton: Wow. Wow.

Meghan Lawson: Growth experience for us. Absolutely. It’s been huge.

Gary Walton: Wow. I’m so blessed by that. What would you add to that, Connor?

Connor Lawson: I would say yes and amen to that. Yeah. And it’s such a a a great reminder. We were trying to driving to church one morning, so frustrated. And I’m trying to remember what Meghan said to me.

It’s it’s something along these lines. It’s funny how this journey is such like the gospel that the grace that we have to show this child sometimes out of frustration that Jesus, even when we didn’t deserve it, just continues to show us his grace. Right? And it was such a beautiful picture. Right?

I’m not an emotional guy. Right? But I started tearing up. I was like, man, it really hit me. I’m driving.

I was like, man, this journey is absolutely like that. Right. Even when I don’t want to to love on this child because they’re annoying me because they’re just not listening. Right. That’s me. Right. That’s that’s me. Right. When I’m in my sin or I’m in the flesh. Right.

So it’s very humbling. Right. That like what she was saying, but it’s been such a great journey that we said yes, even when we were so unsure.

Gary Walton: It’s fantastic, you guys. I’m blessed by that, encouraged by that. I love that you know, this idea that when when we said yes and we obeyed something, we felt God prompting to do. He’s used this to be the the a pruning process, but a growing process that we wouldn’t Absolutely. Yeah.

Hey, time goes fast. Thank you guys for being willing to come in and talk a little bit, praying for God’s blessing on your family and, that God would continue to equip you for, serving him. Absolutely. Thank you. You had a good time.

Connor Lawson: Yeah.

Meghan Lawson: Thank you so much.

Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you again to services this week at Harvest Baptist Church, 8:45 AM, 10:45 AM, Sunday morning. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45 AM service. We also broadcast that service live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org. We hope to see you this Sunday.

Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.

Scroll to top