4 August 2013 Novi Sad, Serbia [Agnieszka Kluska, tedNEWS] Matthew Gamble was born and raised Catholic, but became an atheist at the age of 14. Increasingly fascinated by the Rastafarian religion, Matthew found himself on the island of Jamaica at the age of 19, and soon began smuggling marijuana into Miami, Florida. Shortly after that time, God led him to a Christian pastor who listened to his story and handed him a Bible. As he began exploring the teachings of Jesus, his life began to be transformed from the inside out. Since that time, he has received undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Andrews University and in 2008, he completed a Doctorate in Ministry specifically looking at trends of effective Gospel communicators in a postmodern culture. He is presently serving full time as the Senior Pastor of the Elmshaven Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Helena, California, the USA. Matthew has a passion for preaching from God’s word. He is living in Angwin, California, where he is ecstatically married to his wife Susan, his college sweetheart. They love sharing life with their daughter Julia Marie. Matthew’s first book, Reboot Your Spiritual Life, was published in 2010 by AdventSource.
tedNEWS: How do you like the congress? What did you like best so far?
Matthew Gamble: What immediately jumps into my mind is the baptism! Seeing 12 people baptized with some 3,000 people in attendance was amazing. There was something about the atmosphere seeing the body of Christ come together to support those who were surrendering their lives fully to Jesus.
Additionally the music (especially the theme song) was on a different level! The talent level of the musicians and singers brought us all into the throne room of grace! Quite frankly, I thought that all of our main gatherings were brilliantly produced to the glory of God.
tedNEWS: Is the European Adventist youth culture much different from the American youth in the church?
Matthew Gamble: Not from my perspective. As a matter-a-fact, during my lecture about how to be a revolutionary for Jesus, I started the workshop by opening the floor where I could hear from the young people what their observations were about their local church. Many of the comments would be representative of what the youth of America are saying. As a denomination, we need to be reminded that young people are the ones God chose to launch this worldwide movement that we know as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Ellen White was a teenager when she received her first vision. The young people are ripping, roaring and ready to go! We need to empower them and get out of the way!
tedNEWS:You met Christ at a certain point in your life. You don’t have a Christian past. Some of us grew up in Adventism and there are no thrilling stories to tell. Would you trade you trade your non-Christian past for the Adventist background or do you perceive it rather as a burden in many ways?
Matthew Gamble: There’s no question that if I could have been born and raised in a Seventh-day Adventist home, I would have loved that… so long as my family was centered around Jesus and His grace! Many people who were headed in the direction that I was don’t make it to Christ. I’m grateful for the fact that Jesus got a hold of me when He did!
tedNEWS: Is there anything from your past that is still a thorn in the present?
Matthew Gamble: Wow! That’s a personal question… The Bible places our sins into three categories… the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16-17). So the answer is yes… I find that there are issues in my life that persist in all of those categories.
tedNEWS: What kind of church or fellowship do you long for? What changes are essential to achieve it?
Matthew Gamble: I long for a church that is so full of Jesus and His Holy Spirit that a continuous flow of people is finding salvation and freedom in Him. I long for a church that is so radically relevant and appealing to people far from God, that our churches are forced to have multiple services to accommodate all the people. I long for the day where our church facilities aren’t just used on Sabbath mornings, rather that every hour is seen as divine resulting in our facilities being used as community centers where people are growing mentally, physically and spiritually. I long for the day where we resist the Devil and stop finding ourselves spending fruitless hours debating music theories, dress codes and other man made gospels and traditions (see Galatians and Colossians).
The bottom line is that I long for the Holy Spirit to pour out in extra measure, uniting us as one.
May we continuously recognize that Jesus is our Senior Pastor and we are all part of His body!
tedNEWS: Matthew, we have really been blessed by your preaching. When do we see you again in Europe?
Matthew Gamble: When you invite me! [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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