The People of Matthews: Dr. Chuck Wilson

We asked a few people who work for the community of Matthews to share their thoughts and hopes for 2019. Here’s what Dr. Chuck Wilson, pastor of Matthews United Methodist Church, told us:

Photo courtesy Matthews United Methodist Church

• I want to work much harder at remembering names and forgetting slights.

•  I want to move from destructive criticism towards redemptive engagement.

•  I want my spouse to marvel at how much better we are at listening than early in our marriage.

•  I want to be increasingly less quarrelsome, sarcastic, and easily offended.

• I want to think about fixing people less and loving people more.

•  I want to do everything I can to NOT do unnecessary damage to a person’s reputation.

Matthews Gives Back with Covenant Day School

Photos by Cyma Shapiro

On Monday, at 9 a.m., 68 students from Covenant Day School in Matthews, and a few of the school’s teachers went to Target with the sole purpose of purchasing items for those in need during this holiday season. As in previous years of the CDS/Matthews Police Department partnership, they were accompanied by School Resource Officer Don Warren, who previously handed out approximately 40 cards identifying the wish lists of unnamed local children in need of gifts this season.

As part of the annual Matthews Gives Back program, the seventh graders were divided into small groups and assigned a child to buy gifts for. They eagerly scoured the isles with $100 in hand and the dictate to purchase appropriate gifts which will eventually be distributed by the Matthews Help Center. This fall, the class raised $3400 during the “Penny Wars,” a competition between homerooms, specifically for this event.

After shopping, the students are taken to the Crews Recreation Center to play games and eat lunch. They then wrap and deliver the gifts to the police department who, in turn, will deliver the final load to the Matthews Help Center.

“As teachers, we love watching the wheels turning in the students’ heads as they figure out how to stretch the money as far as possible,” said accompanying Covenant Day teacher Zach Turner. “We do not want them to just get one or two gifts - we want them to get as many as they are able to.  For the kids we are shopping for, this might be all they get under the tree, so we take that very seriously.”

This group is one of a number of local institutions, including Matthews United Methodist Church, the police department, and the Town of Matthews who will work toward a unified holiday support program.

“Each year, we’re just adding more community partners to [this],” said Matthews Help Center Director Sandra Conway. This year, the Help Center decided to “marshal our resources to make a bigger impact on the community,” she said.

To become a beneficiary of holiday gifts, families are screened by several local institutions before being chosen to visit Matthews Help Center’s “Holiday House,” where they can pick up toys for their children. Each family is given a budget for shopping and accompanying vouchers to do so, mirroring the experience they would have in a retail establishment. Last year, 374 children received presents.

Across town, students at Crestdale Middle School (among many others) are also doing their part by collecting toys and goods for local families in need. Officer Warren will pick up and transport those gifts to the Help Center as well.

“We’re just really excited to be a part of the Matthews community and give back in whatever way we can,” said Principal Jennifer Schroeder.

Rob Hunter: Serving God and Community

“My passion is taking whatever scripture it is, basing our lessons off that and relating it to a teenage life.”

— Chief Rob Hunter

Photo courtesy of Matthews United Methodist Church

As Rob Hunter has just finished his first year of “retirement” from his career as Police Chief of the Town of Matthews, he’s moved easily into a second career, found (another type of) contentment, fueled his faith-based passions and brought forward a fundamental continuation of his faith in his new full-time job as “Associate Director of Youth Ministry” at Matthews United Methodist Church on South Trade Street.

Where, as Police Chief, he oversaw a $6 million budget; 75 paid employees, 25 volunteer citizens and a myriad of complex and significant issues in the force and the town, he finds his joint religious responsibilities for nearly 300 teenagers, primarily in 10th-12th grade, no less important or insignificant – and no less God-driven – a perspective he takes on in every facet of his life, as he conveys with both wonderment and awe.

“That’s where God wanted me to be,” he said.

Photo credit: Rob Hunter

Growing up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, one of six children (his father died when he was two years old), Rob was impacted by many life situations – a break-in at his home, which left an indelible mark on him regarding the gentility and support his family received from the responding police officers, a superior/coworker in the security department at Carowinds (where he worked as a teenager) who showed him how professionalism, respect and caring were the “ideal” attributes for a police officer. As a newly-married man, he expected to obtain employment as his college degree dictated – in special education – but once again fate and God intervened and led him to a job in the police department.  Since then, he has never looked back.

“We are all God’s children,” Hunter said - a phrase and philosophy he clearly attributes to his mother.

And, as church became a staple of his newly married life and religion became more important, he found himself gravitating toward youth-related programs, becoming a youth leader more than one dozen years ago. It was work that he said kept him “grounded.” After a co-worker stressed that he was having a positive impact on kids who previously saw him in uniform as just a “cop,” he also began to see himself as a teacher and mentor.  A series of synchronicities (he, again, attributes to the work of God) catapulted him from being a youth leader to becoming a full-time employee in the church he clearly loves.

Among the responsibilities he now holds is to create programs and lead weekly Sunday night faith-based lectures referencing scripture to teenage life. “I try to make it applicable,” he said, adding that he utilizes both current events and his own life stories to make a point about failure, challenges, success and the character traits necessary to be a good human being.

“My passion is taking whatever scripture it is, basing our lessons off that and relating it to a teenage life,” Hunter said. “How does it affect you…to make it impactful?”  

As a youth, he recalls hearing many “stories” in church which he remembered as being irrelevant to his life. As an adult who oversees children, Hunter said he is always conveying teachable “accounts.”  

As a youth, he recalls hearing many “stories” in church which he remembered as being irrelevant to his life. As an adult who oversees children, Hunter said he is always conveying teachable “accounts.”

With nearly one year in his new position, how does he now feel about his work? “(I’m glad I’ve) not messed up royally,” he says with a laugh, referencing that he came to this job without an educational background in religious studies and that he was “just a policeman.”

“I think at the core of this is the heart – if you love these kids, if you love God, whatever I do (will be ok)……The kids see that you are human. We may stand up here and teach, but we don’t know everything,” Hunter said. “We’re committed to walk this walk together. My greatest accomplishment is that I haven’t failed the kids and I think that God provides (for) that.  I’ve kept them foremost in the spotlight of responsibility.”

And, what does he see for his future? “I’m excited to see what God has in store for me. I’ve already proven in history that I thought I knew who I was and what I was doing but he had a plan – not me, so I’m not sure about that one.”