Matt Short

I am beginning this blog by saying that I am SO blessed to have the staff that I do! And God has blessed me with one incredible bunch of students. Please see my Photo Gallery for pictures of me and my staff as well as the school photo. You can see a larger version of the photos if you follow the link that says “View flickr photo page”. Then you can see an even larger version if you click on “All Sizes” at the top left corner of the photo.

This past week was our first week of the BDTS and I feel like the students got a lot out of it. I spoke on “Unity within the Body of Christ” while others on my staff team spoke on “Bible Studies”, “Worship”, “Intercession”, “Devotions” and “Hearing God’s Voice”. Teaching for an entire hour was slightly stretching for some of my staff but that’s good. They’re here to be stretched and challenged probably more than the students will be. I know I have been! They pushed in and delivered messages that I feel like were right on what the students needed to hear.

I have been absolutely blown away by their commitment to serving as leaders. Being that this is my first time leading a DTS its pretty obvious that there will be things that I will overlook or forget to plan, but anytime that happens I know I have my staff to fall back on. Such as, last Sunday night was our welcome BBQ for the students and I had no one scheduled to help clean up afterwards. Without even a word my staff were in there cleaning dishes and helping put away food. It’s those simple things that help me SO much! I don’t know how to express to you how much I really appreciate these guys… I wish you could meet them.

I have been very impressed by the student’s hunger for the word too. I suppose it shouldn’t be much of a surprise though. While praying for them before the school I felt like God was saying this would be a school that really dug deep into the word and pressed into his presence in worship. They have done exactly that. God has SOOOO much for these guys and I’m STOKED to have a front row seat in watching the hand of God!

A “quick” story:

At the beginning of the week my mind was cluttered with all sorts of odds and ends. No longer were the students simply pictures, they had become tangeable, touchable beings that I needed to actually do something with now, haha. And though it sounds quite strange I was rather overwhelmed by this thought. On Monday my staff and I shared our Testimonies. I kicked us off and ran through mine real quickly, missing very crucial points of my life and not really glorifying God as much as He deserves for where I am now and what I’ve been through. Afterwards I took my seat and listened in on all that my staff had to say. Almost immediately I began to be grieved by my pathetic presentation of all that God has done for me. I HAD to say something about it! After my staff had finished, I stood up before the class and apologized for giving the students probably the worst testimony that I had ever given. It SUCKED to stand there and admit my stupidity! Humbled and looking quite silly in front of a room of twenty some odd individuals that I am to lead these next five months, I knew it was right. Later I looked back on it and realized that though my testimony wasn’t used to bring him glory my humility was. That’s good enough for me seeing how that’s the most important thing to me. I pray that God uses this to help the students know that they can be open and vulnerable in this place. I am not here to judge them, but to help them grow closer to our Lord and Saviour despite their downfalls and struggles. And I am right along side them in this journey.

I pray this testimony builds your faith as well, and challenges you to be humble even though it may suck.

God Bless

-Matt Short

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 2:54 am and is filed under BDTS '08 Leading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.