Aggielife
The Battalion
Page 3 • Monday, April 26, 2004
WAYH
oyslifeJ
imi
lounder and speaker
of Breakaway closes
[hapter of life in
College Station,
begins new one
Houston
omena!""
d.
By Lauren Smith
THE BATTALION
SdiolJ There was no one sitting in their chairs at the
nd Sie* end of the April 12 Breakaway, as thousands of
P of mtrBople in Reed Arena stood clapping and whoop-
whoa;; ing. Some stood witli tears in their eyes and others
Ellis a: with proud smiles on their faces, as they looked
all Sr Bun at Greg Matte, Class of 1992 and director of
a 1953iiB local Bible study, Breakaway,
impbf B Matte, who has been the director of Breakaway
til Plan, since it first began 15 years ago, officially
InitedliBnounced that he and his family are moving to
rll. Houston, where he will be the senior pastor at
their Bst Baptist Church.
)givesaB Matte calls himself, “just a kid from Houston
luaiestlieBiosaid, ‘God, do whatever you want with me.’”
earsseB “Everyone already knew (about the move), so
gdomai it wasn’t like a big bomb dropping,” Matte said.
.iwice.E “Ii;wasn’t dramatic, but it was upbeat and so pos-
diipisew itive. It was really encouraging, and I will still be
cost of iffi on the (Breakaway) Board of Directors and only
xpeitf' B miles away.”
ie$i$®fi David Saxe, who Matte mentored over the past
ipplicah; year, said he felt a nervous excitement upon hear-
ing that Matte would be leaving.
ise,HiisB“I am excited for him about the impact opportu-
lio are ii nit es he will have,” Saxe said. "He is the example for
tor a '‘lie of what a godly man is because it is amazing to
list sir :* a man completely live the way that he speaks.”
lationioiM Matte has not only impacted people who know
ssaid. Bn personally, but people who attend Breakaway
tudft and simply listen to him from afar.
thllie#B"iam from Colorado, and the transition toA&M
has been great ... I have been able to be spiritually
fed at Breakaway,” said James Gardner, a junior
John C. Livas • THE BATTALION
After 15 years, Gregg Matte, Class of 1992, who started Breakaway as a Bible study with a few friends in his living room, is leaving his position as the
speaker at Breakaway Ministries to join First Baptist Church in Houston to become head pastor.
itthenw
itkfei
Octotail
cholarsl: |
undents i
justiniffi
p at Ai 1
iplish lint
Ms management major. “God has done amazing
things ip my life through Gregg and Breakaway."
Matte said Breakaway has grown more than the
founders ever expected. After outgrowing several
apartments. Breakaway occupied the College
Station Conference Center, a College Station
School District band hall, Oakwood library. First
Baptist College Station and Second Baptist Bryan.
When those locations became too small.
Breakaway moved to Reed Arena.
“We just had a few people come over to our
house for an apartment Bible study when we were
sophomores,” Matte said. “It just kept growing,
and I was more surprised than anybody.”
Matte has led Breakaway for 15 years, and he
has a process he uses to write sermons.
“In the beginning, I would come up with an
idea, then ask God to bless it, and now I ask God,
‘What is your idea?’ then He blesses it,” Matte
said. “I go through three different stages: prepara
tion, which is reading books and commentaries;
preparing from a theological standpoint, illustra
tion. which is thinking of how I can use a story or
visual aid; and presentation.”
Matte begins this process on the Thursday of
the Tuesday before Breakaway, and each talk usu
ally takes eight to 10 hours to prepare.
“1 try to prepare in the mornings with a cup of
coffee, my journal and my Bible in my quiet
time,” Matte said.
When Matte and his wife, Kelly, were first con
tacted by the pastor search committee, they went
through a process together of making the decision.
“I was very humbled to even be considered.
Kelly and I started to pray two questions: Had
God completed what he wanted to do through us
in College Station, and had we done what we were
supposed to do?” Matte said. “From that if it was
yes, ‘Lord, are you opening a door in Houston for
us to do a ministry?’ We felt the answer to both of
those was yes.”
Although the decision was a process, Matte is
looking forward to the increased impact opportu
nities he will have in going to Houston.
“I did a math problem in my head: if there are
4,000 people that show up on Sunday morning
and each one of those people affects 100 people in
a month ... that is 10 percent of one of the biggest
cities in the U.S.,” Matte said.
Transitioning from a college ministry to a large
church will be a different experience that Matte
said he looks forward to.
“The biggest adjustment will be working with
the entire family, rather than one aspect of the
family,” Matte said. “And, now I work in a set
ting I was part of creating and am moving to a
setting that has already established ways of
doing things.”
Among speakers lined up for the fall are Dr.
Rick Rigsby and Jason Marshall, a former A&M
baseball player and Matte’s former roommate.
“We definitely believe that Breakaway should
continue, and it is much bigger than me,” Matte
said. “I have been blessed to be a part of it, but
there are going to be 10,000 freshmen who will
enter A&M next year that won’t have a clue who I
am. Breakaway needs to continue for those that
are still here as well.”
U’TALII
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