Matthew Winters

  • I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost! Really?

    If you’re my age or older, the theme song from “Ghostbusters” is probably playing through your head. Fun fact about me – I was obsessed with Ghostbusters when I was a kid, and my Mom always bought me the latest Ghostbusters toys. In light of recent events on Christian college campuses, I’ve discovered that many…

  • The New Normal

    I remember when the phrase “the new normal” became quite popular as states were trying to figure out what to do in the response to COVID. For me, it has become the response to life after the passing of my mother. From December 28 until February 15, every day was spent at a hospital, hospice…

  • Thoughts on the Asbury Revival

    Let me begin this post by stating that I have not been on the campus of Asbury University, so I am not speaking from experience. I have read lots of posts, pro and con. While I will not write from experience, I will write from my own personal hunger. What I see in many local…

  • Thoughts on Grief

    Grief is a beast I knew mostly in theory…until late-December. I have walked with hospice and church families through grief, but it is altogether different when you are the one on the other side of the table. Experience has a way of teaching you lessons you never forget. For me, it will change the way…

  • A Mother’s Journey to Heaven

    I would dare say Mom’s journey to Heaven began the night of Wednesday, December 28, 2022, when she quit breathing in the ambulance before it ever left the parking lot of her apartments. She was put on a ventilator that night and remained on it until January 1. We discovered she had a massive heart…

  • Bye, Bye, Bye! Thoughts on 2022

    If you know the song, you’re probably humming or singing it. That short segment is how I feel about 2022. It hasn’t been a horrible year, but it has had its challenges. In saying bye to 2022, I’m ready to say hello to several things. In saying bye to financial difficulty, I’m saying hello to…

  • The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

    Christmas has always considered magical by children and adults alike. Between the Hallmark movies and other means of commercialization (not to mention the song whose title is the same at this blog post), we have idealized this season into becoming something that isn’t always true. For some, this isn’t the most wonderful time of the…

  • General Christian Anesthesia

    For anyone who is reading this and has had surgery, you have probably been under general anesthesia. It certainly beats the alternative – feeling the pain as the scalpel cuts into your skin and moves to cut more. Then come the feelings of the area being stapled or sewn back together. And I didn’t mention…

  • A Stranger in My Own Land

    I came to Seneca, SC in August 2009 after a very challenging season of ministry. The initial church I served here called me at a 98 percent vote to be their Minister of Music and Education. After I heard several times at the previous church that they only hired me because they were desperate, it…

  • Not the Path I Would Have Chosen (Part 1…Maybe)

    I am always blown away by the people who have the “picture perfect life.” They make good grades all through school, go on to college with scholarships, take out little to no student loans, land a high-paying job fresh out of college, get married, buy a nice house, have 1-2 children, and appear to manage…