Matt Short

My name is Matt Short. I am 20 years old, I live in Thornton, CO and am what one might call a YWAMer. I’ve been doing missions work through YWAM for the past two years and love all that God has taken me through. 

From the “Beginning”

Two years ago I graduated High school with one thought in my mind, “YA COLLEGE”! Well that I was willing to put on hold for at least 5 months to do something I’d researched, a Discipleship Training School (DTS) through Youth With a Mission (YWAM). My decision to do my DTS in Australia was simple, I heard they had great schools there. So in July of 2006 I left for Townsville, Australia where I embarked on the trip of my life.

At the Reef to Outback base in Townsville God rocked my world. It wasn’t long till I realized how worldly my goals, dreams, view of God, and life in general was. I KNEW there had to be more, more to this life, more to who I was to be, and most importantly… more to who God was than what I’d given Him credit for. I finally broke and simply surrendered my plans, the one thing I held onto the most. It was there that God began birthing something new in my heart. I knew my plans to return home and go to college right away weren’t a part of His will. He wanted to do more. He was planning to push me, challenge me, and take me farther than I would’ve dreamed. It was in that moment He spoke saying, “Go to New Zealand and I’ll use you there” no more and no less. Trust me, at the moment, I WISHED he’d said more. Now I look back and see he was teaching me the roots of faith.

 I returned home from my DTS on December 2nd, 2006 and automatically booked a ticket for NZ leaving January 2nd. Leaving my home once again was one of the most difficult things I’d ever done. With no pride I can tell you that the night before my flight I broke down and cried my heart out. I couldn’t see where God was taking me and the people I’d missed so much I was leaving again! Without knowing if anyone would even be there to pick me up from the airport and no plans to stay anywhere I arrived in NZ safe and sound. This is where God proves His undying faithfulness. A rockin dude from California, Dino, who was serving at the YWAM Auckland base happen to be dropping off a few other YWAMer’s at the airport the very moment I got in. So RANDOMLY he walks up to me, obviously because I looked SUPER lost and asked if I was Matt. God is SO good, huh?! He had received my e-mail saying I would need a place to stay but wasn’t able to get back to me so I was provided a place to stay for my first few days in NZ.

I only stayed at the Auckland YWAM base for a couple days before I left for a conference that I’d been told about. It was at the Sojourn Conference that the decision was made that I and two other super cool cats, Jamie and Marie, would intern under Jay Lucas, the YWAM New Zealand National Director. Only then, did I begin to realize how God’s will was so far greater than we could ever comprehend. There I was, a kid half way around the world with no plans TOTALLY being provided for by our all knowing Father. While I interned we worked on publishing a book that looked at people in history who stood up for their faith and thus changed every following generation for the Glory of God. The book’s intent is to inspire it’s readers to live lives of  unwavering faith, of no compromise, of complete and total abandonment to worldly things in order to bring God glory. 

Near the end of my internship, I had been praying and searching for weeks to find my next step when I met the YWAM Oxford base leaders. Benny was this crazy cool dude from Texas who’d just finished leading the Backpacker’s DTS and was returning home to get married before coming back to lead the 2007 Backpacker’s DTS in Oxford. After he’d shared with me what the school was about I began to ask God if staffing that school would be something He’d want…. and well, to end this part of the story so I can get on with things… He said, “Yes”. 

 It was only a short 4 months of being home, working, enjoying time with family, and seeing old friends before I returned to NZ. Luckily this time I at least knew someone would be there to pick me up from the airport. I got to the Oxford base on August 9th and began interning at the base. My jobs included maintaining the bikes, vehicles and simple spyware protection programs on the computers. It was good to be on the base a couple months and get to know my way around before the school began in October.

The Backpacker’s Discipleship Training School began on October 15th, 2007. In total it had 28 students, 6 staff, and our two awesome leader’s, Benny and Lindsay. Being one of three male staff our small groups were about 4 students to every staff member… a really good size in my opinion. Each staff member was placed in charge of a small group, a handful of school work duties (i.e. worship prep, media, weekend activities, vehicles, ect.) and eventually an outreach to lead. We were to attend every lecture we could with the students as well as our own Basic leadership school lectures each week. The days were CRAZY busy but super fulfilling as soon as I sorted out how to manage my time.

I was placed in charge of leading an outreach team of 6 students to India and Nepal. We left on December 30th for Delhi, India via Shanghai, China. To make an EXTREMELY long story short, our team go split up the very first day of outreach at our airline’s fault and we were reunited in Shanghai to finish our trip together. God moved in incredible ways and used each individual to touch unique people throughout the outreach. We traveled throughout the north-central regions of India into Nepal and returned to NZ on Feb 27th. The students graduated on March 7th, 2008 and I returned home to the AMAZING state of Colorado on March 25th.

I now am living at home, working at Dick’s Sporting Goods and trying to raise funds for my return to the Oxford base.