Matt and Robin Miller
I take no credit for what the Lord Jesus has done in my life. “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) So, “speaking as a fool,” as Paul described it in 1 Corinthians 11, I will “boast” about what I have received, but, I’ll give Him all the credit.
The Lord gave me a faithful Christian mother and father. Dad was a rocket scientist (really!). Mom was a prayer warrior (which is why I’m saved and am still here!) They are both with the Lord now. I have a younger brother, still in California and a much younger sister, now in Seaford.
At sixteen (1969) I realized deeply and personally that Jesus Christ had gone to the cross for me and my sins. I asked Him to be my Lord and Savior and made a public confession by baptism by immersion. That began a love for Him and the Word of God that has lasted until today. I was part of the 70’s Jesus People movement in Southern California; Bible studies in parks and homes and schools, concerts, baptisms at beaches. Exciting stuff! And, yes, I do know how old that makes me. It’s still exciting stuff. I want to see more of it!
I met my wife Robin in a group of Christian friends. We went to the same high school, but were in different groups. She was on the Dean’s list. I was on his other list. Months of sharing with one another and fellowship in Jesus grew into the other lifelong love of my life. Married in 1975, we finished college (Robin with an AS in Library Science and me with a BS in business), left the LA area and for a number of years lived in a series of small rural towns.
God gave us two wonderful and believing children, now grown. Daniel, our son, and his wife Holly, live a couple of hours away in PA. They gave us two grandchildren, Benjamin and Lillian. Grandpa is more fun than being Dad, but I don’t remember Dad as being quite so tiring. Martha, our daughter, still lives with us in Seaford while she and her fiancé, Tom, make plans for their future together. Robin suspended her career as a Librarian for the full-time work of raising our children and homeschooling each of them all the way through high school. We didn’t really plan that, it just happened. (The Lord did it.)
Through all of this we continued to participate in activities and leadership in a number of churches. Due to our rural locations we’ve been in Baptist, Assemblies of God, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Independent Evangelical, Calvary Chapels, and Bible churches. God blessed me and called me to the role of elder in the Assembly of God, Nazarene, Calvary Chapel, Sussex County Bible Church, and Millsboro Bible Church. Robin and I hosted and I have taught home bible studies and small groups for over 14 consecutive years. I was licensed as a minister in the Nazarene church (1991), Calvary Chapel (1999) and ordained as a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ at Family Church, Incorporated (2002) and Sussex County Bible Church (2017). Robin and I completed a course in Nouthetic Counseling, i.e. Biblical Counseling (from noutheteo, the Greek word for admonish) (1998). I currently serve as a pastor at Millsboro Bible Church (established 2020).
Paul made tents. I managed a propane business, worked in a soda ash plant (Mike Rowe did an episode of Dirty Jobs there), became a police officer, then a deputy sheriff, crime scene investigator (for about 10,000 square miles) and later a jail supervisor. While a deputy sheriff, I completed courses and was licensed as a minister in the Church of the Nazarene. I served there as an elder and then interim pastor for three months when the church was without a pastor. I left law enforcement, spent two years earning a Master’s in Biblical Studies while working as custodian at Calvary Chapel, Ridgecrest. (That’s where I became a Pastodian).
I spent years trying to make the world a better place. I have been involved in doing everything you can do outside of people to change them; counseling, drug programs, alcohol programs, probation, jail, parole and on and on.) No one is going to shock me. I know what’s in our hearts. And, I know people don’t change. They can’t. The fact is that we are slaves to sin. But, if you introduce people to Jesus, He can set them free. He binds up the brokenhearted. He makes the blind to see and the lame to walk. He forgives sin. He died to take away our guilt and He rose to give us new life. Come to Jesus! Come to Jesus! Come to Jesus and live!
Reach Pastor Matt at mattmiller@millsborobible.com
September 2021
