Personal and Family Bio

Name: Howard Matthews

Family: Wife: Anna  Children: Tristan, 12 and Mary Grace, 10

Hometown: Royal Oak (suburb of Detroit)

Education: B.S. in Bible from Baptist Bible College and an M.S.W. from the University of Michigan

Hobby: Michigan football and college football in general

Favorite T.V. shows: Home Improvement reruns and any news programs or news magazines like the national news, 60 Minutes, Primetime Live, 20/20 etc…

Favorite Music: Chicago, Credence Clearwater Revival, Motown, most mainstream contemporary praise and worship music, and Britney Spears (Just kidding!)

Favorite Movies: Any action movie (It's a guy thing.)

Claim to Fame: He is one of 16 children (same mom, same dad). Needless to say, he barely survived childhood!

Favorite Authors: Phil Yancey and Dr. Seuss

Heroes: Abraham Lincoln, Billy Graham and whoever invented the remote

What He Does For Fun: Reads the newspaper, coaches his son and gives his little girl "smackers" (kisses)

Favorite Trips: Taking the kids to Florida, a weekend bed and breakfast getaway to an away Michigan football game with his wife, and a week of "deer camp" with some of his brothers

Most Embarrassing Moment: When he peed his pants during a little league football game

Most Irritating Thing He Does to His Wife: He sticks a finger in her mouth when she yawns (She hates it!)

Life Passion: Howard’s passion in life is sharing the timeless truths of the Bible in a way that relates to the real world. His personal faith journey has been one of victory as well as struggle, and the messages he brings on Sunday mornings bear this out. His desire is to bring messages that help people cope with real life problems and help them apply the scriptures in a practical way in their everyday lives.

The Theme of His Life: Grace

Church Planting Credentials

Howard is passionate about church planting and brings some good credentials to this new church project. First of all, he and his wife Anna have been through an extensive church planting assessment through the Missionary Church USA. The Matthews came away from the assessment with the recommendation that, "Howard is a better than average candidate for successful church planting, and the gifting of his wife makes the probability for success even higher." Secondly, Howard has received specialized training for church planting through the Church Planter's Purpose-Driven Boot Camp at Saddleback Community Church and through the Church Multiplication Training Center.