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Matthew Carroll

Carroll-Matthew.jpgg“I had always been in the church, but finding ministry in college was not at the top of my to-do list,” says Matthew Carroll. “Looking back, it was definitely a Godsend. Mike sought me out very actively, and because of him, my faith is still intact throughout the pitfalls and challenges of growing up in college.”

CCO staff member Mike Mattes was encouraged by one of his CCO colleagues, Melissa Hicks Hanna, to connect with her friend Matthew at Ohio State University. Mike and Matthew spent a lot of time hanging out together, and Mike invited Matthew to be one of the student leaders of the Christian fellowship at OSU. Mike also invited Matthew to attend the Jubilee conference, which he did three years in a row.

“Jubilee was a great time to get away and be with people all about God,” Matthew remembers. “It helped me put in place where faith would fit into my life after college. I had some very intense conversations with God at Jubilee.”

Matthew graduated from Ohio State in 2006, and he recently moved to Clarksburg, Maryland, where he works as Assistant Sports Turf Manager for the Maryland Soccer Foundation. He is actively involved at St. Stephens United Methodist Church in Burke, Virginia, where he serves on the Staff Parish Relations Committee. “As part of that, I am also on the search committee for hiring a new youth minister,” he says. “I am also involved with the young adults group at my church.”

As he reflects on his college years, Matthew continues to be grateful for the CCO’s ministry at Ohio State. “It rounded me out. The CCO helped me make friends with people who were trying to be Christians in college, which is not the easiest thing to do with every temptation around. The ministry helped me know that God wanted me there for a reason, and that he could even use me as I studied agriculture.”

“I feel that we as Christians need to share our faith more by example than opening our mouths,” Matthew says. “Anyone can talk a great game, but living it out day in and day out is a grander challenge. My life would have been very different without the CCO at Ohio State. If not for Mike specifically, I don’t know where or how well-developed my faith would be now. At times, he was so actively pursuing me that I resented him, but that was the only way that I actually would have participated as much as I did. My faith was not defined by the CCO, but it was strengthened and refined by the CCO. I gained a mentor and a friend in Mike, and for that I am truly thankful and blessed.

“The CCO helped me continue on with my faith walk and allowed me to integrate my faith into the real world and not do what most people do, keeping them in separate compartments. I have to thank Mike for consistently encouraging me—forcefully at times!—to continue in my faith and see the potential I have in life and in God’s Kingdom.”