My name is Katherine Herring and I attend St. Matthew’s with my Husband, Bryan, and our 3 girls – Blaire, Katie, and Anne Travis – as well as my Mother-in-Law, Kaye. Andy asked my husband and I to share our story during Stewardship campaign (that’s right, we were BOTH supposed to be up here), and since then I have been a little nervous about what I would be able to say and what could make a difference. Especially after some of my amazing friends have already shared such wonderful messages. 

My husband and I both grew up attending churches of different denominations and sizes. The first time I attended a Methodist church was in elementary school. My parents knew the Methodist preacher at the church around the corner from the Baptist church we attended. So we would go to Sunday School and then drive around the corner to hear the sermon at the Methodist church. I was later confirmed and attended throughout high school before moving to Jackson to attend Millsaps.

Then when Bryan and I were getting married and looking for a church we would attend together, neither of us had attended one church regularly in Jackson so we tried a variety. St. Matthew’s was one of those churches and we both felt something different when we came here. It didn’t hurt that we had some friends here, and there was even a preacher from my grandfather’s hometown of Bogue Chitto. Something just felt like this was a good fit and we joined shortly after we married. Then we were busy with babies and a pandemic happened, so we were never really in a rhythm of attending regularly.

Following 2020 as we were all getting into a routine of gathering again, Andy reached out to Bryan and I to see if we would be interested in joining a “young couples” Sunday School class. Bryan and I weren’t so sure we were that young, but we were interested in the idea and Andy’s plan of discussing marriage and so we went. It was a little awkward at first meeting in the sanctuary and not really getting to see each other much outside of that hour. But fast forward a few years and we’ve gone from awkwardly standing around for a Christmas party to meeting up to hang out for a few hours after church and organizing Ladies’ Night Out (by the way I’m sorry I never planned an outing for just the guys last summer or that Pickle Ball tournament). 

One of the amazing things about my experience here at St. Matthew’s has been that I feel like I have found “My People” and getting up here to share my thoughts doesn’t feel so scary to me. My family has a place where we come to spend time with the people that get us in a place that feels like home. The girls rarely complain about getting up and getting dressed for church on a Sunday morning, and I often am asked “how many days until I see Ms. Dot?” or “can I go eat supper with Emmie or Alice?”. And a highlight of my service to our church now is helping with VBS, or Children’s Moment, and teaching pre-K Sunday School. It is truly a blessing to spend time with the children of our church. And I’m pretty certain they do a better job teaching me about God’s word than I am doing for them.

All that to say during this year’s Stewardship campaign there are so many areas where we can participate with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service. Teaching is just one of those ways, and that doesn’t only mean a Sunday school class. There are opportunities including VBS or children’s moment that are smaller commitments, as well as taking part in Trinity United Methodist Mission or chaperoning a Youth Group event.

I read a quote the other day from Bob Goff that resonates so much in this season: “I think His plan all along has been for us to meet the people He made and feel like we just met Him.” What if God has chosen each one of us to be here, at St. Matthew’s, in this season because He knows we need each other? Because we are the right people to serve THIS church at THIS time.