Some Personal History

First, I would like to share some personal information on who I am and what my experience has been in ministry… then share a little bit from my heart about some things that I feel need to be said. My name is Steve Matheson, and I was born in Miami, Florida in 1969, which I guess makes me a member of “Generation X”. I won’t spend time writing about the years of my life which were not so glorious, but skip right to the time that I became fully alive in August of 1993. The Spirit of God spoke to my heart one night after a softball game… there was no altar call, no invitation from a Pastor… the Lord just quietly but powerfully showed me what I had done with my life without Him, called me to Himself, breathed life in to me and I was never the same. Within three months I had joined Youth With A Mission, completing a Discipleship Training School at their base in Lakeside, Montana followed by a summer of outreach in Puerto Rico. Over the next two years I traveled and ministered with YWAM across the United States and into Canada, as well as taking a staff position at their flagship base in Kona, Hawaii for a year. Sensing the Lord moving me back to the place that was my home before I was born again, I moved back to Las Vegas and worked construction until I was asked to join the staff at Calvary Chapel Spring Valley as their Junior High Pastor, where I remained for the next two years. While at Calvary Chapel Youth Camp in Big Bear, California the Lord brought into my life the girl that I would marry, and spoke to my heart about moving to Twin Falls, Idaho and working as the High School Youth Pastor as well as a programmer for CSN. After getting married and serving the Church there for two years, my wife and I moved up to Hailey, Idaho to plant a Church that became known as Calvary Chapel Wood River. It was a fruitful and a growing time as we ministered there for almost six years, but once again the Lord moved us on. We moved to Boise for just over a year, eventually taking a staff position at Calvary Chapel of Boise, teaching in their School of Ministry. However, the Lord revealed that He was calling us back to Twin Falls for a season.  We served for a while at a Calvary & CSN there.  Now presently we are living in Twin Falls and I am Senior  Pastor at Calvary Chapel Buhl, as well as remaining a part time study guide writer for  Calvary Chapel Boise.

 

Why This Website?

Ministry has been both rewarding and challenging for me. When my wife and I left the Church we had planted in Hailey, we were burned out both physically and emotionally. In fact, to be honest, neither one of us were feeling the need to be involved much more in “Church”. I had grown tired of what I had become in the ministry, worn out from the expectations of not only other people but those that I had placed on myself. I had only tried to be a “good Pastor”, say and do the right things, teach the Word faithfully, and lead people into right living and right relationship with God. I had attempted to work out and put into practice all the patterns and goals that I saw in the “successful” Churches that I had been involved in, and pass the vision on to the people that were entrusted to me. And the Church was actually very successful, from all outside observance. Yet, without knowing it, I had allowed my own Christianity to slowly drift from a passionate, love relationship with Jesus to a rule-oriented, performance based routine. I had also begun to think of God as the Father, Son and Holy Scriptures, neglecting the Spirit who leads us into life. I had lost my joy, and exchanged my freedom for bondage to religion; but felt that it was a legitimate exchange, because after all, “we must be willing to suffer hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ”. I actually didn’t know how tired and unhappy I was until the Lord graciously led us out of that ministry and into a season of rest and healing. Again, however, at that point in our lives neither my wife nor I really felt the need to be part of the organized Church as we had known it, possibly ever again. And as I began to look around even more at what the Church in the United States had become, and what it was doing to people and making of them, I began to wonder if anyone really needed to be part of it at all, or if those that are “spiritual” should maybe rebel against it and scrap the whole thing.

But as the Lord began to work on my heart, He began to place a different burden upon me. He began to call me back to His Church, which is His Body and His Bride, for whom He has an intense vision and dream in His heart. I can relate what God did in my heart to an account in the Old Testament, where God spoke prophetically to His prophet Ezekiel and showed him a valley of dried up bones, letting him know that those bones were His people. They were in bad shape – dried up, lifeless, disconnected from one another… from all appearances, hopeless. But God told Ezekiel, “I want you to speak to these bones and watch what I can do”. It strikes me as important that God didn’t tell him, “Ezekiel, complain about those bones, because they’re not what they should be. Have discernment on the bones. Run away and withdraw yourself from the bones.” No - rather, God said, “I want you to, full of faith and the Spirit, stand fast and prophecy to these bones. Speak to them and see what I can do.” And as he did, he saw them become not only become joined one to the other again but he saw God breathe His Spirit into them and they became alive again, a living body that was able to move and follow the Lord. That is the vision that I believe God has given me for His Church. Anyone with half a brain and a working index finger can be critical when things aren’t what they should be. Anyone can run away and look only after himself. Many are doing those things in reaction to what the Church is and is not today. But the Lord is looking for those that will seek His face, step up in faith and speak words of life to His people until He brings those words to pass.

That is the goal that I am now pursuing as I continue to minister to God’s people, following His lead. That is why I offer my perspective on the daily radio program, “To Every Man an Answer”, and why I teach the word both from the pulpit and at the School of Ministry. I believe that God has something better for His Church than we’ve ever seen, and if I can have any small part in bringing that about, I want to be available for Him to use.

That is also why I’m putting together this website. I believe that, as it says in Ephesians 4:11-12, the job of a leader in the Church is to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry”. The word “equip” means “to make strong, ready, and prepared for action”. So I hope that this site serves you in some way.

If you have any feedback that you believe can help this site become more effective, or if you’d like to get ahold of any of the teaching material that I have available, please Email me through the contact information provided on that page.

 

God bless you as you pursue the Lord and seek to find His plan for your life and for His people.

Steve Matheson