Author Archives: Matthew Winters

Many of us moved toward 2020 with great anticipation. We had these great plans and dreams we wanted to see come to life. What did we get instead? The most volatile political climate of my lifetime and a virus that has done so much heartbreaking damage to people. Everyone from those in quarantine to thoseContinue reading “2020 Best Year Yet? I Want a Refund!”

Over the last several weeks, I have really reflected on my willingness to serve God in various capacities. When I was younger, not divorced, and didn’t have some of the life circumstances I currently possess, I could be pretty choosy about where I served God. I could be more particular about location, church size, salary,Continue reading “Willing to Serve without Terms and Conditions”

I was reading I Samuel 15 the other day, and something jumped out at me. It’s a principle that we see on multiple levels. Children are great at doing this. Adults have been known to do this too. The thing I’m talking about is “partial obedience”. Partial obedience happens when we choose to obey oneContinue reading “Is Partial Obedience Enough?”

These pictures are scenes from around our little town of Seneca, South Carolina. It seems that, at every turn, we are bombarded with disaster. A few weeks ago, COVID-19 began shaking our nation after affecting many lives in other countries. As we are still processing the deaths and life changes stemming from this virus, manyContinue reading “Thoughts on Recent Tragedies”

Have you ever wished your life was like a Microsoft Word document where you could cut parts of your story and paste them into someone else’s life or just highlight and delete portions and leave mysterious gaps so you wouldn’t have to face that those things ever happened? I have. You have maybe left certainContinue reading “Can I Edit My Life?”

“But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty powerContinue reading “God Said That? About Moses?”

I do not consider myself to be an on air personality by any means, but I was contacted a few weeks ago by a lady named Bridgett Banks. She hosts the “Ignite Your Purpose Radio Show” on Blog Talk Radio. Bridgett invited me to discuss the state of the 21st century church in relation toContinue reading “On the Air in 5…”

We’ve all heard it. There is a generic language we here in most places – home, Walmart, work, and on the ball field. Then there’s “Christianese”. It’s a special language only known to those in church culture. It varies from church to church, but much of it is the same across the board. I askedContinue reading “Churchy Talk: “I’ve Got a Burden””

I wish colleges and seminaries offered a class called “Pastoring Through a Pandemic”. Unfortunately, there is no such class. There is also not a class for what to do when a female senior citizen shows up to the door dressed inappropriately when you go visit the home, but let’s stay on subject. Because we learnContinue reading “Pastoring Through Pandemic”

For the last 4 1/2 months, I have been getting out of bed between 6:30-7:00 am to get ready to leave to lead worship for our 9:30 traditional service. Today was much different. Because of my interim/part-time role at the church, I do not have the time invested into it that our regular staff pastorsContinue reading “The Strangest Sunday Ever”