Matt Scott

  I grew up in Tennessee and was in church as far back as I can remember. I gave me life to Christ when I was just 6 years old on a Sunday Night after church. Sports were a huge part of my life as I played 4 sports in High School. My hope and dream as I graduated High School was to be a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves or any other Major League team that would take me. So I went to Lambuth University to play baseball. At that time I was a part of starting a college ministry at my church and I began leading worship for the college and youth ministries as well as being a part of the Sunday Morning Worship Team.
 

     Towards the end of my sophomore year God was calling me to follow Him into ministry. I followed that call by doing one of the hardest things I have ever had to do which was give up my dream to play baseball. I walked into my coaches office, handed in my uniform, and told him what I was doing. It was definitely the toughest but the most rewarding decision I have ever made. I transferred schools to Union University where I met my amazing wife, Tiffany. The college ministry at church grew and I was growing as a young worship leader developing a Worship Band.

 

     Tiffany and I got engaged on Valentines Day 2004. Following graduation she moved back to her home town in Central Florida. Our wedding was not scheduled until the following spring, so I moved to the area as well. I was super involved with the Worship Team at our church while I was working as a driver for UPS. Tiffany was working as a High School Science Teacher but we knew that God was calling us to something more. God was still calling me to full-time ministry but I needed further training to make that a reality. Then we came across Hillsong Leadership College in Sydney, Australia. It seemed like God was saying YES - this is what you need to do!! In a matter of about 6 months we sold both of our cars and just about everything else that we owned. We walked away from our well paying jobs with benefits to move to a country where we did not know anyone. The only thing we knew was that God had called us there and we were trusting Him.
 

     While we were in Bible College at Hillsong, we saw God bless us in so many different ways. I was able to be trained by some of the best leadership in the world and we experienced a Church that is thriving and growing to all parts of the globe. I graduated in December 2010 and we decided to move back to the states with our 4 month old little girl. We were blessed to be able to come on staff at a church in the Central Valley of California. In our experience, we have learned invaluable lessons about what it means to be on staff full-time.

 

     In the last few months God has been teaching me more about trusting Him with everything, not just a few things.  Phillipians 4:6-7 says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". I have found that when we put our focus on the greatness of God, the sacrifice that He made for us, and then begin to praise Him, our enemies don't seem as big as they did before. The pain that we are going through isn't as painful because we realize that the God of all creation is on our side. He has gone ahead of us and prepared a table in the presence of our enemies (Ps 23). He does not leave us in the hard times in fact it is quite the opposite - He sits with us at the table.