[4] The Navigators was founded in 1933 by the evangelist Dawson Trotman, who mentored United States Navy sailor Lester Spencer aboard USS West Virginia.

This ministry was established by a group of students in the Sigma Nu fraternity house who, along with Trotman, decided to spread their outreach onto the college campus.

In 1953, The Navigators acquired its current headquarters location at Glen Eyrie through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's sale of the then-vacant property to Trotman's organization.

[6] The Navigators organization was cited in a lawsuit[7] against the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) by Michael L. "Mickey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) in 2005.

The lawsuit alleged that Darren and Gina Lindblom, assigned to the USAFA through The Navigators, were favored by the Air Force to the exclusion of other religious groups in violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.