God’s Intervention on my Behalf (Matt)

Testimony

I experienced the grace of God through Jesus Christ when I was only ten years of age. My family had made a continual effort to raise and teach me in a Baptist church throughout my childhood and I owe them for consistently bringing me into the environment by which I learned the Scriptures that changed my life. It was through their contribution and investment I responded to the gospel message and was saved and baptized at a small country First Baptist Church in Celeste, Texas. My parents were not the only ones to influence my decision to follow Jesus. My grandfather also had a significant impact in teaching me and giving guidance to the call God had in my life.

Call to Ministry

My call to ministry began when I was sixteen years of age living in Greenville, Texas.  My church was taking a youth group to a camp in Panama City Beach in Florida for a week-long camp. I had never before attended a Christian camp and I was desperately looking for any reason to travel so it only made sense for me to tag along and experience the Florida beach. Little did I know, God was to use my petty instincts of a rebellious teenager to draw me to himself and rediscover my faith in him alone. My youth pastor, Randy Wager, forever impacted me with his wisdom and honest input on spiritual discussions. I was amazed at the freedom of living in God’s grace through Jesus Christ that I knew I had to give back to serving the Lord.

Over the next three years, God would reveal to me he wanted me to devout entire career to full-time ministry. The pinnacle of this realization was after a late Saturday night of waiting

tables at my job at the restaurant Red Lobster. I had been struggling with a feeling of inadequacy serving God with all of my heart. I knew there was more of my life I could possibly surrender over to Jesus, and that Sunday morning I awoke, and suddenly, I understood that God was asking me to surrender to serving and to go wherever he would ask me to go.  I responded by approaching my church pastor the next day and announcing I would pursue this call on my life to serve the Lord in vocational ministry. My youth pastor and college minister, Will Crum, was extremely influential in mentoring and discipling me towards realizing this call to ministry.

The Influence of Other Christians

Throughout my life, I have constantly been affected by the words and actions of Christ-followers speaking and living the gospel. Whether it was sharing the truth of the Scriptures or demonstrating grace by a helping hand the church family I was raised in helped me understand what Jesus did for me on the cross and pointed my faith towards him in all aspects of my life. My youth pastor Randy was the first minister to sit down with me regularly and talk about real life issues with me. He showed me a practical way to Jesus that challenged my faith in a culture that was bent on destroying my values and conforming me to its worldview. His influence led me to a rediscovering of my faith in Christ that I had not truly grasped before in being saved as a ten-year old. In the same manner when I was a college student, Will Crum, came into my life and began teaching me about practical application of my faith. He was a listening “ear” to my struggles as a Christian and spoke life into my situations. Without these leaders, I never would have made the decision to follow Christ’s calling and realize my mission to serve in ministry. I feel in whatever way I possibly can, I want to affect others just as these ministers affected me and changed the trajectory of my destiny.

The stark realization I continuously felt by being led by both of these ministers was the Lord was calling me to serve in ministry. At the time, the call was what I can now identify as a general call to ministry initially with my rededication in Panama City Beach, Florida and a specific vocational call to ministry when I was serving tables at Red Lobster. God was revealing he wanted me to serve in the church with every gift I was able to give. At first I did not have a clue what that would look like, but over time, the Lord has revealed to me that perhaps I do not have to be a preacher to serve him. I understood that I have other gifts and abilities that he has gifted for me to use for his church and glory.

Specific Calling

I have often asked the Lord why he has not given me a specific area of ministry in which to serve in so that I might focus completely in that area of expertise. Instead, God has been revealing to me one step at a time, the area and kind of ministry he wants me to serve in. I feel God has allowed me to serve in a number of capacities and it would be a waste if I rejected any particular one of them unless he instructed me to do something otherwise. Over the years I have discovered I have many spiritual gifts to serve in God’s ministry including teaching, preaching, music, and serving in technology roles. For example, I am serving currently as a web developer at a Christian non-profit as I study and work through seminary. I expect my area of ministry to continue to change and develop throughout my life as I continue to explore areas in which to serve God depending on what he is calling me to do.

One of the ways God revealed himself to me was through the area of worship music and I instantly became attracted to playing any musical instrument I could get my hands on. My area of passion lies particularly in teaching and in worship music but I have specific knowledge and a natural liking for computer-related technologies. I have served as a media director and as a youth minister using my teaching gifts discipline students and instituting technology solutions to further spread the message of the gospel. I have also been blessed by being a worship leader for many years throughout a college ministry by playing guitar, piano, and singing.

Future

I see the Lord directing me to serve more as a teacher capacity as I study in seminary. Although the idea of serving as a senior pastor certainly intimidates me, I believe God is leading me down the path of serving as a pastor and it is something I am not entirely jumping into until I am absolutely sure. I believe serving as an associate pastor and gaining experience will clarify the next direction for my ministry career. I do know this for sure: the Lord has called me to make disciples for his glory and whether that is through teaching or through a worship pastor position is irrelevant to me. I believe without a doubt that he must increase and I must decrease (John 3:30).