In 2005, a sermon preached at the Church at Brook Hills based on Psalm 67:1–2 reshaped our founders’ perspective.
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us… God blesses His people for the sake of His praise among all peoples.”
“The pastor proposed a question that hit me hard: ‘Have you disconnected God’s blessings from His purpose in your life?’” Spencer Sutton said. “I had never thought about it that way.”
Spencer Sutton, Forest Walden, and Mark Whitehead began praying about this reality, asking the Lord to show them how they could use their blessings to grow His Kingdom. Spencer went on his first mission trip in May of 2006, and the Lord continued to grow his heart for the nations.
At the time, Spencer was in the middle of a real estate career here in Birmingham, buying and selling houses, and things were going well. But at the same time, the Lord was laying the groundwork for something greater.
As the Lord worked in his heart, He also moved one of Spencer’s close friends. That friend invited him to coffee, looked across the table, and asked, “What do you want to do with your life?”
“I laughed a little and said, ‘Man, that’s a loaded question. But I’ll tell you what God has told me I’m supposed to do,’” Spencer said. “And I explained what God had been doing in my heart over the past few years.”
To Spencer’s surprise, his friend smiled and said he’d known the answer before he asked. He told Spencer that God had already made it clear to him: whatever Spencer’s vision was, he was meant to make it happen financially.
“God was doing something incredible in our lives,” Spencer said. “If it weren’t for God showing up repeatedly—providing resources, connecting us with partners—we wouldn’t have accomplished much.”
Spencer, Forest, and Mark continued to pursue God’s direction and began traveling.
“I was back in India with Mark and Forest, praying and asking, ‘God, what do You want us to do?’” Spencer said. “Everywhere we went, we saw need—education, poverty alleviation, community development. There were so many things we could do.”
They returned passionate about making something happen, but with a chaotic plan—wanting to address every need they had seen. A friend and board member encouraged Spencer to focus, to choose one thing.
“We all knew—water was it,” Spencer said. “Water impacts everything. It affects community health, education, and daily life. If God led us to address this through the local church and ministry partners, it could open doors to share the gospel.”
That moment marked a turning point, and neverthirst was born.
“I had no experience as a fundraiser, no clue about scaling an organization from scratch. We just took the next faithful step. Because He was in it, He sustained it,” Spencer said. “He has blessed us immensely, and our hope has always been to take those blessings and make His name known among the nations.”
The heartbeat of neverthirst has remained the same: using clean water as a way to platform the gospel in some of the most unreached and hardest-to-reach parts of the world. It’s still about asking, “How can God use us to make His name great?”
“That’s the overriding story. You can be part of what God is doing in places where the gospel is not even known,” Spencer said. “Communities can change through access to clean water—but even more importantly, people can have access to the gospel.”
