Jack
Hayford talks
about his own role as Matthew’s pastor during 2nd Chapter of Acts’ early days.
As the person credited with getting Matthew and 2nd Chapter of Acts their first
record contract, Pat Boone talks about his early impressions of
Matthew’s singing. Life-long family friends, Jimmy and Carol Owens talk
about meeting Matthew as a child and watching him grow spiritually and
professionally over the years. Their daughter, Jamie Owens-Collins adds
her impressions of growing up with Matthew and talks about how Matthew and 2nd
Chapter of Acts has influenced her own singing career.
I think Matt could have
made fortune as a white Stevie Wonder. Instead, he elected to be part of a
group, adding tremendously to the sound of 2nd Chapter, taking great delight in
it, just serving the Lord in that, and of course, he emerged as a solo
performer. But always with his music directed to the Lord and then to bless
others in His name. And not take advantage of the opportunities that have been
there for him to take.
Concerning 2nd Chapter
of Acts, I’ve never felt they changed one iota from the unknown kids that I
first knew at Church on the Way, just in services. I feel they’re still humble,
seeking the Lord’s direction. Willing to forgo any kind of material success, if
God doesn’t lead them into it. And really trusting on Him to give them whatever
they need in terms of financial support or whatever. And that is remarkable,
even in the gospel music field. Because gospel music and a lot of performers
have gotten to be pretty much like pop performers. They’re interested in sales,
position of the charts, they’ve got PR firms and management firms. And they
want to appear in the best places. There’s not anything necessarily wrong with
that, because there’s all ways that you succeed in your chosen profession. But
2nd Chapter and Matt seem to me to always stay the very people they were in the
70’s, the same priorities, of not having bought into the glitter and glamour of
the perks of any kind of success. And even being willing to bypass commercial
success just to be what God wants them to be. And that is truly remarkable.
2nd Chapter and Matt,
they made God their agent. They defer to Him in everything. And He gave them
their surprising abilities and they trust Him to guide them in the
opportunities and to give them success and reward whatever that might be or
whatever it might not be. And so, of course, they’ve become giants, not because
they struggled to do that, but simply because they trusted God to provide it.
We saw vulnerability,
we saw gentleness in Matthew. He had incredible musical talent. And Matthew was
a loving kid. He just won our hearts. And I said then, and I still say now, if
I could have done it, I would have adopted him. I would have loved to have
raised him. But he wouldn’t be what he is today if I had. God knew where He
wanted him in the right place. But as far as my heart was concerned, I would
have liked that. I really love Matthew, and in these last years of his life he
has become ever more successful as a spiritual communicator.
Jack: Matthew and his sisters Nellie
and Annie were part of our congregation. Matthew was just a kid. He was barely
able to sing. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure his voice had changed and it
was during the period of the Jesus’ Awakening in the 1970s. And the 2nd Chapter
of Acts, the music group formed and it was extended out of the life of our
church here at The Church on the Way. And Matthew was in his early teens, I
think he was 13, was singing nationally in time at concerts. That was the 1st
acquaintance I had. I was their pastor and watched him in his early stages of
growth in the Lord.
Kim: As their pastor, what advice
did you give to this young, brand-new Christian?
Jack: The advice for Matthew early on
was to straighten up and fly right. He was a kid. But he was sincere. He always
had a heart, a great heart for God. But he was going through developmental
stages of what it meant to really grow in the Lord, what it meant to face the
tendencies toward teenage rebellion. The thing that Matthew had was the
parenting, really the parenting fact that he had a brother-in-law and older
sister. So I was sort of there to buttress that. And support them. But he was a
good kid.
Jack: I think foremost what impresses
me is the man Matthew has become. He is a godly sensitive, sensible accessible
human being. In whom I think the incarnate love of God and Jesus Christ comes
through with crystal clarity. And this has come in a great price to him. He had
gone through great pain and struggle physically, he came through it
victoriously. His priorities are straight. He has a clarity of mind and
commitment to the Lord. It makes me so happy every time I see a new CD coming
out of his, and I enjoy so much his ministry. That kid has become a real man of
God.
Kim: How did you see Matthew as a
little boy, and how do you see him now?
Jack: I think the counsel I would
have for any one person who senses some desire to move into the kind of role of
influence and ministry that Matthew’s been given is #1, never allow yourself to
become impressed by yourself. And #2, always keep your priority on the grace of
God’s workings and your gifts and the desire to glorify Him in what you’re
doing. We’re so easily deluded by our own quest for recognition, identity, we
can paint it all kinds of colors of holy when it really isn’t. And I think that
Matthew worked through that magnificently. The influence of the team together
and on one another in the 2nd Chapter had that influence. Not everybody has
that benefit.
Jack: I think the importance of the
role of the local congregation in the life of an individual whose going to be
reaching out in any kind of influence ministry, artist or other public ministry
is absolutely critical at every point. And it’s the responsibility of the
church, not just to the individual, but a church cannot influence a person who
becomes kind of footloose and fancy-free or allows themselves to become
self-important is I’ve got my own thing and home used to be home. Anytime you
drift from rootedness in the living local church you are actually moving off of
the rock. Because that’s the rock of Jesus working in and among His people.
It’s not institutionalism, but it’s the way Jesus Incarnates His life in His
church. And we all need to run off as doing something, as cutting that finger
off and thinking it’s not going to rot. But if it does move for awhile, it's
going to look morbid. So people need to keep linked to the local body.
Jamie Owens-Collins:Matthew was and is one
of the great characters I have ever known in my life. From the time he was a
young kid, he was just like a free spirit. He was a little bit wild. But
underneath it all, he always had this sweet tenderness about him. Especially
when you started talking about the things of the Lord.
Just before I met Matt,
I had actually heard a tape of a song they had done where they recorded
Matthew. At first I thought it was a little girl because he had this soprano
voice at that age. But it blew me away. I thought it was a little black girl,
because I never at that point in my life heard a white kid that could sing like
that. And then as we got to know him, one of his great favorites was Stevie
Wonder. And I can remember he would put on a Stevie Wonder album and would sing
all of these licks with Stevie Wonder only he would be singing the harmony to
all the licks with Stevie Wonder. And he could keep up with anything. Of
course, the famous story about Matthew is him singing harmony to his mother’s
vacuum cleaner. But he used to do that kind of stuff. When we were kids, he was
singing constantly. He made a song out of everything that happened. And we knew
that this was going to be powerful in his life, and sure enough, it turned out
to be the main thing in his life. He was kind of an amazing child prodigy with
this unbelievable voice, and he could do all of these vocal acrobatics.
It’s been really fun to
watch him and his wife Deanne over the years raise their girls. These beautiful
daughters that he has. And how he has just poured his life into these girls.
He’s still fun and goofy, but he has really taught them to love the Lord. I
think as they looked at his life they see underneath all the fun stuff where
there’s a real passion for God. It comes out in his music. If you just hear his
music, and you’ve never seen Matthew in concert, you might expect somebody
else. You see that passion and his heart.