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Serving Princeton, Rosewood, Brogden, E. Johnston Co., W. Wayne Co., North Carolina |
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ObituariesJoseph L. Raymaker, James D. Mitchell, Pearllean W. Woodard, Walda C. Johnson Headlines Munday finds good match at Hephzibah Baptist Church New maintenance worker, policeman for Princeton Etheridge finds money for Princeton FD Rosewood Middle School Honor Roll Girls basketball: Lady Bulldogs up, down before finals Boys basketball: Daughtry takes Bulldogs to victory over North Duplin, North Johnston • Rosewood boys take down Spring Creek before tournament Photos Movies Fool's Gold
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Munday finds good match at Hephzibah BaptistBy Barry Merrill 13 February 2008 — Matt Munday had his heart set on serving in the Air Force after graduating from Bandy’s High School in Sherills Ford, up in Catawba County in 1991. When they sent him home from basic training after he tore up a knee, he got down on both knees to find out where God wanted him to serve. Last Sunday, God and the congregation at Hephzibah Baptist Church called him to serve as the pastor at that church, as he was officially installed. The path to Hephzibah Church hasn’t always been straight, and there have been some detours and wanderings along the way, but Matt and his girls are happy to be in Princeton now.
Matt was raised in Maiden, a small town in Catawba County which Princeton dwarfs. His father is a retired electrician for Duke Power, and his mother was a secretary/personnel director for nearby Carolina Glove. All through high school, Matt says, it was Air Force or nothing, and when during basic training a knee injury that he had sustained playing tennis in high school caused him to wash out of basic, Matt was left with nothing. He had worked at Rose’s Department Store during high school, but when the Air Force dream disappeared that summer after high school, in August he was back home and he started praying and seeking where God wanted him. Around the first of the year, he sensed God leading him into the ministry. As Matt tells it, he was reared in a Christian home and raised in a Baptist church. In addition to his parents, a grandmother and grandfather were very influential in encouraging his relationship with God. He remembers being baptized in 1980 at eight years old. In July of 1992, he enrolled at Fruitland Bible Institute in Hendersonville, NC. His home church sponsored him at the school, but he worked at Burger King to help meet expenses. “I had a blast there,” he says, “and ate too much, but I had a good time.” He also related that the former pastor from his home church, the man who had helped lead him to Christ, was serving at a nearby church to Fruitland, and that mentoring and opportunities to preach at that church had been very important to him. In two years he got his associate’s degree from Fruitland, and he enrolled in school in Kansas City to earn his bachelor’s degree, but Kansas City didn’t agree with him. “There were not enough trees or mountains to suffice for me.” There was also a girl back home, Jennifer Whisnant, who he grew up with, and their renewed relationship was another tug on his heart. In September of 1995, he was back in N.C. and accepted his first church appointment, as youth pastor for Penelope Baptist Church in Hickory. The following June, he made Jennifer his wife. Jennifer works as a nurse, but the next year she had their first child, Kaycee. In September of 1998, they left Penelope and moved to Mt. Pleasant Baptist in Wingate, NC. Matt came on as youth pastor, but also served as an associate pastor, and served there for over 2 years. At the end of that time, their second daughter, Madeline, had been born, and Jennifer was expecting again. Matt and Jennifer decided to take some time off from the ministry at that point. “We needed to gather ourselves and our family, and we went back to our home town.” Matt went to work at a dental lab for a man from his home church, while Jennifer worked as a nurse. Their third daughter, Lydia, and their fourth girl, Jessica, were both born during that time. In 2004, Matt was contacted by a church in his home town, Catawba Valley Baptist, about serving as a youth minister. He accepted the appointment, beginning with six high school students. He saw that number grow to 30 during his three years there, but also sensed a calling into senior ministry. “I felt like we could have impact with the life of the whole church.” In September of last year, Hephzibah contacted Rev. Munday about coming to Johnston County. It wasn’t until Dec. 30 when the call officially went out, but the process of interviews and coming to the church were important for both the church and Rev. Munday to sense that this was the right thing for both. He and his family didn’t move until Feb. 1, as there was work to be done in the parsonage to get it ready, and he had to make some arrangements with his last appointment. Nearly a dozen church members left Princeton at around 4 a.m. to load up the Munday Family and their belongings to head back to Princeton. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain that Friday, and the red clay of Catawba County made the move more challenging. Still, once they got to the parsonage, a group got them moved in enough so they could spend the night there Friday night. Saturday morning 15 or 20 church members came to get loft beds set up, move in and unpack boxes, and get the truck unloaded. They had lunch on the grounds to celebrate the day.
Asked about the reception, Matt said, “They have been amazing, overwhelming, blown us away. From the start of the interview process, the search committee was very thorough, very professional, but very personable. They have loved us to death.” He noted how Dan Wells of the search committee and Don King, chairman of the deacons, have been in constant contact. He noted how Grace Worley came to watch the kids for them. Janet Evans brought pizza to the house one night. Miss Margie Wall showed up with collard greens one day. “Folks have been amazing,” he says. Last Friday they were still trying to get boxes unpacked (his watch is M.I.A.), and praying about the kids. They have home schooled their children until now. It wasn’t because they didn’t like the local school, as it was highly ranked, but “the Bible tells us to train up a child. It doesn’t say to send them off to school to train them up.” Once she gets the house settled in, Jennifer will probably go back to work as a PRN. “Her strongest desire is to be a mom, and to help me in the ministry. If a pastor doesn’t have a wife that helps, he’s not going to do very well. Thank God I have one.” He’s very appreciative of the reception, but doesn’t think they are getting “a new pastor honeymoon.” “It’s because that’s the way these people are. They genuinely love and care for one another.”
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Wayne Wilson News Leader
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