A Cassette Tape, a Pastor’s Visit, and a Tornado
The unexpected path that led a kid from a Christian home into a lifetime of serving families and children.
God always has some “funny ways” of building a calling. That was Matt Brewer’s case. Tt started with a cassette tape, and later an EF-4 tornado that changed the direction of his life. These moments would later reveal that God had been preparing him for a higher calling.
He was fortunate enough to grow up in a Christian home, so Church wasn’t foreign to him. In fact, it wasn’t optional in his parents’ house. Every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. It didn’t take long before he started asking questions about salvation at just seven years old. Like many kids raised in Church, Matt had heard the words before—sin, grace, forgiveness—but hearing them and understanding them are two very different things. The real turning point came in the most unexpected place: a first-grade classroom, after getting in trouble for something that had never happened before.
That moment gave him a reference point for something he had only heard talked about until then: sin. After that, the Gospel suddenly made sense.
This is his story. Read on.
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It Started With a Cassette Tape
I was blessed to be raised in a Christian home. We were at church every Sunday and Wednesday. At the age of 7 (1st Grade), I remember asking questions about salvation for the first time. My parents had Christian music playing on a cassette tape in my room at night (yes, I am that old). I remember hearing words like “grace” in one of the songs, and I did not understand what it meant. That began the conversations within our home. My pastor came to my house at least 4 times to share the gospel and help me understand my need for salvation. However, it was not until I got in trouble one day at school for talking that I understood my sin and need for a Savior. I was the kid who never got in trouble at school, never had my name written on the board. When that happened (and I faced the consequences at home as well), I had a reference point for sin. The next time my pastor came over, it clicked. I understood why Jesus came and my need to repent and receive His forgiveness. That night, now over 30 years ago, I gave my life to Christ.
When God Changed the Plan
I continued to grow up in a Christian home, and as I entered high school, I began to feel God’s call to ministry. I was scared. I did not know what that meant. But God kept giving me opportunities to lead in my youth group, even though I was younger than most of them. I felt like Gideon, very much intimidated, and very sure that I was not the type of man God would call for something like this. But I had a youth pastor who believed in me and gave me opportunities to lead and serve. As I entered college, I began to find a variety of ways to serve in the local church to see where God was leading me. But it was not until an EF-4 tornado wiped out much of our college campus that God’s plan for my life began to be set in motion. That Summer, I had intended to work with students on our campus at a Summer-long youth camp. After the tornado, the camp was cancelled. Someone from my home church called me and asked me to come serve with the K-5th Graders in our church daycare and lead a Bible study program for them all Summer. I accepted, and I have never looked back.
I worked that Summer program for 3 years. During the school year, I served with that same age group in the church I attended while in college. As I moved on to seminary, I continued to serve K-5th Grade, in my local church and through a Summer day camp for 2 more Summers. A mentor, while I was in seminary, wisely asked me if I saw a pattern forming. He recognized that God was calling me into Children’s ministry. As I graduated from seminary, a job opened up in my home church. For the first time, they were hiring a dedicated Children’s pastor, birth through 5th Grade. I applied and was hired, and I have been honored to serve here at FBC Martin, TN, for the last 13 years.
More Than Just Kids
In this role, I quickly realized that Children’s Ministry is Family Ministry. It is as much about ministering to the parents as it is the kids. 18 years later, I am still serving and teaching kids on a weekly basis. But my heart has grown for the parents and the families I minister to. My passion is family discipleship. I want parents to know that while they are the primary influence in their kids’ lives, we are here to join with them and help as much as we can. I tell parents I am your resource. If there is anything you need, please let me know. You are not on this journey alone. It is my heart’s desire to equip parents to do all they can to ensure their kids are ready to face a dark world once they leave home. How can we make sure our kids are still following Christ into their college years?
I am grateful for the Lord’s salvation. I am thankful for the calling God placed on my life. I am grateful that He led me to Substack last Fall, and that I now have the opportunity to reach and equip parents in other places as well. I praise God that He put me in a Christian home with parents who cared about my future, who wanted me to be faithfully following Him in my adult years. It is because of their leadership, guidance, and support that I am where I am today. Maybe that is why I am so passionate about this now. I pray the same will be true for my own 3 kids and for all the kids God has put in my path to minister to over the last 18 years and in the years to come.
Conclusion
Looking back now, it’s clear that God was leading Matt toward the place he would eventually serve. Today, his passion has grown beyond the classroom. His heart is for families, because he has seen firsthand how powerful it is when parents take seriously the role God has given them in their children’s lives.
From a cassette tape in a child’s bedroom to a calling in ministry, Matt continues to live out what God intended for him.
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Call to Repentance
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Thanks so much for giving me a chance to share my story, Thomas! God has blessed me immensely, and I pray that I can pay it forward to others.