The personal weblog of Bradley C. Matson.
As the snow retreated the spring of my sophomore year I was sprinting in my walk with God. I was defining and exploring new aspects of my spirituality; new disciplines, Pentecostalism, visions, and random callings from God peppered my exponential growth. This growth, however, could not be sustained.
Junior year of college I came to campus as the newly elected Vice President of the Student Body. Drunk with power and eager to utilize my new found abilities I searched for opportunities to flex my title. Then hurricane Katrina lit up the media. The Student Body President and I sprung into action with a school-wide effort to save those in need. The “Pulling for Hope” project was initiated, hurricane graphic logo and all.
This brought me down another path of service a few weeks later as I went with fifty other Hope students to Gulfport Mississippi to do hurricane relief work during fall break. A trip I repeated three times before the year was up. During that trip we did a lot of distribution and saw God work in amazing ways through answers to prayer and miracles. The operation was run by World Hope International, which was based at a local Baptist church. My eyes were opened to the administrative side of missions and how much management was needed to care for people in need; in need of supplies, shelter, and most importantly, Jesus. I had further defined my secondary calling. I was on fire.
Perhaps I was unready, my roots too weak, or God simply took me in a new direction, but as the summer before my senior year took hold my views were shifting. Call it backsliding, but I no longer engaged in the wild expressions and explorations in my faith I once had. Instead I started noticing the dark side of religion. I grew a new heart for the unbeliever and how they often saw the Church. I communed with the “outsiders” and empathized with their state.