Pastor Roberts: His Story, His Calling

Have you ever in life felt a calling from God?

For Matt Roberts, the new pastor at the United Methodist Church and Cove Forge Church, he ran from that calling for many years – until he finally answered that call that brought him into the ministry years ago. Roberts recently started his first appointment as pastor at both churches.

Roberts came from the Millersburg area, just north of Harrisburg, with his wife, Cassie, and their five children – Haley, 15; Lain, 13; William, 7; Wyatt, 4; and Miriam, 3 months. When they first answered the call to come to the two churches, Roberts admits his oldest daughter Haley was not on board but eventually came around.

"We all are at a spot where we are being called to be here," the pastor said.

For the 43-year-old pastor, ministerium was not in his life's plan. He spent the first working years in construction and then owning an excavating business. He says he first started volunteering at his church's youth center, and as you know it, "God works in mysterious ways." He then was promoted to the director of the youth center and at the beginning of his reign, there were seven to 10 kids enrolled in the program; by the time he left, there were more than 75 to 80 kids per day, all between sixth and 12th graders.

This job, Roberts said, "was the feeling that I was called that I needed to do something, so I took a different approach with these kids."

This youth center boasted a mechanic day, cooking skills classes and even a pool tournament which had cash prizes, tickets for Lake Tobias, Harrisburg Senators game and a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium.

"It was just a unique experience," Roberts said with a smile.

During this time, he took the two-year journey to become a licensed pastor, for which he is now - thus, bringing him to Williamsburg.

After the move of Pastor Heather Wurst and her family, the spot needed to be filled and undoubtedly Roberts was a perfect match for what the churches requested.

"This community has already opened so many doors for us. We have been welcomed so graciously and I just feel the love in this community," Roberts said.

Goals for the church

Roberts wants make use of his experience with youth pastoring.

"I'd like to see a stronger youth programs – programs for all members. I'd also like to be more involved in this community," he said.

For a five-year goal, "I want to see this church busting at the seams – standing-room-only; a need for two services."

A calling

Roberts talks about how, one day, he was picking up his girlfriend at college and a man came running out of a door, yelling, "Pastor!"

Roberts was the only one in the area and the man came up to Roberts and thought he was a pastor. When he told his girlfriend about the man, she said that there couldn't have been a man, because the dorm from which the man came out of was strictly an all-girls dormitory and no men were even allowed on the porch.

This story will be one of the topics during Roberts' sermon on Sunday morning. Roberts hopes to teach a Bible lesson and one of the many life lessons he has learned in his journey.

Roberts' message is simple: "I need to take care of my sheep [parishioners of the church] and give them something to do to fulfill the message of the church."

"My mission," he said, "is to create disciples of Jesus Christ."