Celebrating Eric Neubauer

Standing in front of the sandy yellow Comayagua Cathedral, once the spiritual heart of the Catholic Church in Central America, Eric pondered a world turned upside down. This Church was a gem of Colonial design. It represented the pain of forced faith and, at the exact moment, a genuine message of hope.

Eric scratched his head at the oldest clock in the Americas. The four-story tower next to the Cathedral housed the 800-year-old timepiece of Moorish design. Hourly, it rang out, echoing off the walls of nearby buildings. Eric’s heart beat like the clock above while his head rang with a million thoughts. 

This moment of wonder changed Eric’s life forever.

Eric: The Energizer Bunny

Eric Neubauer is our Energizer Rabbit. His infectious energy can overwhelm those he talks to. And no matter where he is at any moment, he is joyfully absorbing the world around him. He partakes in the energy of a place with an intensity of bliss, compassion, and faith.  

Before college, Eric was an agnostic battling substance addiction. When Christ grabbed ahold of his heart, he poured his passion and energy into his faith journey, and he experienced a radical transformation.

Joining Wonder Voyage

Eric was an associate college pastor at a Protestant mega-church in Dallas when he joined the Wonder Voyage community. His trip to Central America was one of his first journeys as a guide. This was also Wonder Voyage’s pioneer trip to Honduras.

Comayagua is a lush valley surrounded by a mountain exterior, bringing cool breezes in the summer heat. The weather and rich soil make this the breadbasket of Honduras. But the lively community also had significant needs.

We worked with several organizations on our first voyage. We focused on food, water, housing, and clothing relief. Eric gets a team fired up about serving no matter where they go. He works twice as hard and spreads joy like spiritual vitamin B. So when he became somber while visiting the Missionaries of Charity (MOC), I was thrown.

Beforehand, Eric was fascinated by the life of Mother Theresa. Her story stirred a deep-seated longing in Eric to help the needs of the poor and marginalized. Similarly, the sisters in Comayagua served those with the greatest needs. Eric observed their acts of love and spent hours conversing with the sisters about their commitment to Jesus and the decision to give up everything to serve the least of these. This planted a significant faith seed. 

Hoops of compassion

A couple of days later, we joined the brown-robed, fuzzy-beared Franciscan Brothers in town to serve Comaygua’s most desperate and dangerous village. These guys, most in their 20s, were energetic and funny. They committed their young lives to planting themselves where no one else wanted to be. They believed that this was where Jesus would be in Comayagua.

When teens from America visited, they challenged them to a game of hoops. The teens convinced these religious folk was joking, scratched their heads when the fully-robed Harlem Globetrotters dominated the basketball court.

Eric longed for more.

Eric interviewed the brothers about their commitment, pressing them about their faith. He longed for a liturgical expression for his own journey. His safe life in a church was no longer enough. Partly because of these moments and these interactions, Eric and his family spent a few years moving into a low-income community on the East Coast as missionaries.

Over the next few years, Eric led trips for Wonder Voyage to Honduras and other places around the world where compassion could be expressed. He eventually joined the Catholic Church as a lay minister. For years, he has served in one of the world’s largest emergency food distribution agencies and continues to lead trips for Wonder Voyage. 

The divine ambush

The story of Mother Theresa radically challenged Eric as he led a Wonder Voyage in the early 2000s, and ever since, he has challenged our teams with that same level of radical commitment. As a friend wrote to me: ‘The pilgrim journey is a soul’s best bet to be ambushed by the divine.’

Divine ambushes are a normal part of the Wonder Voyage life.