The first emotion with which we associate Christmas is pure unadulterated joy. And yet . . . READ MORE
Blog
A Personal Note to Our Seasoned Saints
The following is a personal letter I recently passed along to the hundreds of women and men among our older generations with New Hope Church. It gives a glimpse of a shepherd’s heart, the complexities of our day, and the gift which are our senior saints. Dear Friend, This isn’t your normal church letter. In READ MORE
Munus Triplex and the Crucifixion
The geography was made for the moment. Caesarea Philippi, located 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, was a place of unusual significance. No mere spot on the road, this city had been built up by Philip II, the son of Herod the Great. In honor of Caesar Augustus he called it Caesarea, and READ MORE
Meditation on Mom’s Burial
My beautiful and Christ-like mom, Susan St. John, passed away suddenly on May 13, 2020. Here are a few simple words upon which I meditated as we laid her to rest at the National Veteran’s Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is not suppose to be this way. After all, the Lord God “looked at all READ MORE
Remarks Following the Death of George Floyd
Pastor Matthew shared the following remarks with the New Hope Church community during the time of lament in the worship gathering on Sunday, May 31, 2020, less than a week after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. These past several days I’ve been in Tennessee because, as many of you know by now, my mom READ MORE
My Platform Response to Ahmaud Arbery’s Death
Here are my comments regarding the Ahmaud Arbery shooting and subsequent video, shared from the platform of New Hope Church on May 10, 2020: I have to take just a moment and acknowledge something that has dominated the headlines these recent days, and, if I may say, should have been dominating the headlines these recent READ MORE