[: 00:04

[Thibodeaux]

Hello, lovely listeners, it’s time again for another episode of Faithful on the Clock, the podcast for Christian professionals where clouds dump every drop of rain to get your faith and work aligned. Now, if you are out there today, maybe you’re feeling a little stuck or uncertain, you’re not sure if God is calling you, or maybe you’re convicted that He is but you’re just not sure how to move forward, my guest Matthew Terry is here to help. We talk about how he responded to God’s surprising call to teach in China and how that influenced his faith. Let’s hear him out.

[: 00:45

Welcome to Faithful on the clock, everybody. Joining me today is educator and screenwriter Matthew Terry. Today he's back with us in the United States, but he's on the show today because several years ago he felt called to go minister through education in China. He's just got this incredible story of, you know, taking a risk and letting God use you and bring you into a new place. So, Matthew, welcome to the show.

[Terry]

Thank you. Wanda, nice to be here. Thank you.

[Thibodeaux]

Thank you. So, just to help everybody understand the setup for this, can you just share just a little bit about your background? You know, what kind of work have you done? Introduce yourself to us.

[Terry]

Sure. Of course, I'm 64 years old. I'm a firm believer of Jesus living in Chicago. I was in a corporate world for — for many years. God laid me off, thankfully, laid me off from the corporate world, and I began teaching English in China. That lasted one academic school year until my wife Pearl had a sudden medical emergency. I had to fly back to Chicago. God let the — she's fine. God led me from that point to become a special education classroom assistant SECA, S, E, C, A and I work one-on-one, with — with high school students, severe and profound, autistic, Down syndrome. So, I've been doing that for the last 11 years, and God willing, I plan on retiring from that profession November 10 of this coming year. Interwoven between all that I've been working on, I'm doing writing, did a memoir, did a couple of screenplays, and I'm working on a mini series. So, God is leading me down different chapters, down different paths, and I'm happy to follow.

[Thibodeaux]

Oh, that's wonderful to hear. So, lots of creativity, it sounds like in the last couple years.

[Terry]

Yes.

[Thibodeaux]

So, I — from our conversation that we had had earlier before this interview, you know, you — you had some other work in your background. Can you tell us just a little bit about that and how you maybe transitioned into the teaching? How — how did that all come about?

[Terry]

Well, my — my wife, Pearl, she's a — she's a retired teacher, and when I came back from teaching in China, I had another drought of unemployment. So, she nudged me to go into substitute teaching. And I worked as a sub, and that segwayed into a — a SECA sub. And then one day, out of nowhere, I — I — I got a phone call: “Matt, would you like to work full time as a — as a SECA sub at — at this elementary school?” And she gave me the name of the school, and I said yes, because that school is only a five minute walk from where we live.

[Thibodeaux]

That's convenient.

[Terry]

So, I was at that elementary school for about five years, and then I transferred to a high school, working — high school, downtown Chicago. And when I was interviewing for that position, the — the assistant principal asked me, you know, “Why are you transferring from a school that's so close to where you live and to — to downtown Chicago?” And I said, “It's simple.” I said, “The furniture is larger, the classroom furniture is larger, and I'm a tall man. Say no more.” So she understood that immediately. So, yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

Alright.

[Terry]

this particular school since: 2025

[: 04:27

[Thibodeaux]

Okay. So, when you first got this inkling that you were gonna go to China, like, I can imagine that it kind — you know, there was some anxiety, some excitement. So, what — what did you feel like going into this? It's got to kind of be a scary move, because you hadn't, you know, been involved with that.

[Terry]

I felt confidence that God was leading me where He wanted to lead me. Of course, I was saying prayers the whole time before flying over there to — for God to remove these paths, if this is the — sorry, these roadblocks, if this is the path He wants me to be on, and He graciously removed the roadblocks. So, the only truly scary time I had while going to China was a short, 19-minute flight from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, China. My — what scared me was the realization that I, as a Christian man, am going into a communist country. And they close that to many Christians. They really — they don't want that — that — that — that— that type of person, for lack of a better phrase, to come into this country. So, that's the only time I was truly fearful. But God, during that flight, He calmed me down quickly. He calmed me down so quickly that when I touched down in Guangzhou, China, went through immigration and customs, no problem. And when I went — went down to the baggage claim, there were my bag, my — my luggage, waiting for me. And as soon as I left the airport, there was the car with another teacher with — waiting to take me to the college. So, I thought, okay, these are signs from God that He just cleared even more paths for me.

[Thibodeaux]

So, kind of set you up and — kind of right at the — from the very beginning, just kind of —

[Terry]

Yes. Sure. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— calmed you down, maybe gave you very subtle signs, but not so subtle, if that makes sense, you know —

[Terry]

Correct. Because even flying into the Twin Cities, when — from international you have to go through the customs, and there you have to have a long wait to go through customs. Then you get to the baggage and you have to wait for your baggage to come down the carousel. All that you have to wait. This time, they're waiting for me. Everything was waiting for me.

[Thibodeaux]

So, when you landed and you realize, you know, I'm here, I'm gonna do this thing —

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— what was the most exciting thing that really kind of hit you, you know, that you started to kind of feel that fire now that you're there that you can do this job for God?

[Terry]

Oh, well — well, I — I really started to — to enjoy it from the backseat of the car, of the car, from the airport to the — to the campus. Because I'm seeing all of these billboard signs, and there's not a single word I'm understanding. Everything is in Chinese characters. So, whole different landscape. The culture is different. The — the sites are completely different. But what really gave me a big ear-to-ear grin was I saw a huge Papst Blue Ribbon beer billboard. In English! Yes, okay, something that I recognize.

[Thibodeaux]

Then you knew you were fine. You knew you were fine right then.

[Terry]

Yep.

[Thibodeaux]

Right?

[Terry]

But — but — but — but the woman, Vivian, the — she's — she hails from New Zealand. She was so kind when she met me at the airport. She — she kind of gave me a heads up: “This is what you can expect. The campus is very clean. You're going to love it. You got your own dorm room.” So, she — she would be — really made me feel at ease at the onset. You — you — you — you don't go — the only immediate culture shock I had was, my dorm room was on the — the third level of the — the building, and they didn't have any elevators, so I had to take the steps. And Chinese people, generally speaking, are shorter in stature. Hence, the stair steps are not as wide and not as deep, and I kept fumbling and — and — and tripping while I was going up the stairs.

[Thibodeaux]

Well, I can say, as somebody who's four eight, I would have appreciated that, but I can see your struggle.

[Terry]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[: 08:37

[Thibodeaux]

So, you know, when you're feeling that initial calm down, you know, you had that warm welcome, what did that do for your initial transition then into the classroom? Because it, I think it puts you in a certain mindset that you realize, okay, this is gonna be okay. So, did that — did that transfer at all or no?

[Terry]

Well, I was in it — I was — I was completely at ease before I was teaching, because I had the teachers, the Western teachers, they wanted them to arrive two weeks prior to the students. And the first-year college students, they have to go through military training exercises on campus. So, the first-year students always start a week after the students arrive. So, that gave me three-week cushion. But during the — the — the — the — the getting-to-know you phase of the — meeting the other Western teachers and my supervisor, she said — Lena, her name, she says, “Matt, we're going to have you teach second-year students, which means you'll be teaching a week early.” And I thought, “That's fine. Lena, that's fine. Whatever — whatever you want me to do, I will do it.” So, that again, I — I — I had no issues with that, and I — I had lesson plan prepared already. So, the first — the first hour, the first class of the first day of the first week, I stumbled, not physically. I stumbled, and I was kind of, now, okay, now I'm a little afraid, because I did the roll call, and I greeted each student as they entered, and I started talking to them: “My name is Matt. Matt Terry. I'm from Chicago.” Just the break the ice kind of thing. And I was met with crickets chirping in the classroom, just dead silence. And — but the — I had 22 pairs of Chinese eyeballs looking at me. And I — I said this. I said to them, “Okay, either you don't understand what I'm saying, you do understand and are too shy to speak, and you're too shy to speak because you fear that your — your — your English isn't that good, or all of the above.” Crickets chirping. Nothing. So — so, I — I simply did what I call the Nehemiah prayer. When he talked to King Artaxerxes, he closed his eyes, said a quick prayer, unknown to only God and Nehemiah what he prayed. I closed my eyes, and I said silently, “Dear God, what next?” And the — and the Holy Spirit prompted me to take a piece of chalk and write on the chalkboard my wife's Chinese name, Ming Chu, M, I, N, G, space, C, H, U. And I wrote that on the chalkboard. And the students looked at the words. They looked at me. They looked at the words. And they're — I can just feel their brains are translating: “She's Chinese. Oh, Matt, is she Chinese? Did she speak Cantonese? Does she speak Mandarin? Did she come with you? How long you've been married? Do you have children?” All these questions are flying at me. Right? And I'm loving it, absolutely loving it. And then I thought, I said another quick prayer: “Okay, now, what next? This was not on my lesson plan, God.” So, I said, “I'm gonna teach you how I — how I met my wife, and I'm gonna — we're gonna — we're gonna do this in a little, excuse me, a little skit.” And of course, they don't know the word skit. So, I wrote skit on the blackboard. I said, “We're going to reenact this. Reenact is what — we're going to play act, and I'm going to teach you how I met my wife.” And I pulled up many, several Chinese students, a few to portray Ming Chu, a few to portray me, and a few to portray my best friend Kevin, who was with me when I met my wife. And we just play acted, completely improvised, peppering this lesson plan with new vocabulary word, and that, oh boy, that struck home. I mean, these kids were laughing. They were — they're learning new words. And then when — when this was done after 10 minutes or so, I said, “Now you can ask me any questions.” And many of them told me the story that I just taught them, and they used English, and they used the words that I taught them, like pastries, skit, reenact. I told them all these and that — that was truly a blessing from the Holy Spirit, truly a blessing, and that really broke the ice, and that cemented the beginning of strong relationships with — between teacher and students.

[: 13:32

[Thibodeaux]

So, that moment where you're — you know, you've got your eyes closed, you pray to God. You say, “What's next?” What can our listeners — who are often in situations where they don't know what's gonna happen, they haven't been there, you know, they have to go out a limb — what did that teach you about those kinds of moments and about trusting God in those scenarios? Because we can't always predict what people are gonna do or what the environment is going to be like when you're going into a new situation. So, if you could speak to that, that would be awesome.

[Terry]

Well, you — you just hit the key phrase, Wanda — trust in God to be in tuned enough, sensitive enough to what the Holy Spirit is prompting each of us to do. Often, and I'm talking with myself, it's so easy to block out the Holy Spirit. But when you're in a clutch situation — like, okay, I got 22 pairs of eyeballs staring at me, what do I do next? — then you — then you — then you just simply trust that God is gonna lead you through, and you just have to follow Him, to follow him. Don't — do not act in the flesh. But that's — that's easier said than done.

[Thibodeaux]

Oh yeah, I was — it makes me think of Moses, you know, and the burning bush, and He's like, “Well, I will tell you the words to speak. You've just got to go there.”

[Terry]

Absolutely, I'm not eloquent in speech. I am not eloquent in speech, but — but I will use Aaron as your mouthpiece.

[Thibodeaux]

know, we're filling a room of: 1000

[Terry]

Sure. Yeah. Correct.

[Thibodeaux]

Right? And we don't — we don't understand that. But if we — if we switch our focus to, “What are they gonna do?” to what is God gonna do —

[Terry]

Correct. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— and trusting that He's gonna do something, I think —

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— that can really shift how we're feeling inside, and then —

[Terry]

Correct. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— kind of, you know, bring that calm that we need, yeah,

[Terry]

Yeah. Yeah. And — and — and when we do get good response for doing a public speaking, and we do get a response, a positive response, from the listeners or the viewers of a podcast, for example, again, I'm speaking for myself, remain humble. Don't — don't take the — don't let this — stoke your ego. Don't let this Stoke your ego. Just — you do God's work. If it pleases Him, nothing else matters.

[Thibodeaux]

Yeah, that — that is another good point, though, because at the beginning, you know, we're scared to speak, and then as soon as it goes okay, then we'll take it, right?

[Terry]

Yeah, correct, yeah. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

So, just to realize that God is in that process the entire time, and we have to recognize that the entire time, you know, and not just let our ego creep in at the very end. I think that's, that's a really good thing to remember.

[Terry]

And — and that — and that involves complete surrender, complete surrender to trust God that — that He knows what He's going to do in our lives. Complete. Well, yeah, we can decide, “Okay, should I catch this bus at this time? Should I have McDonald's instead of Burger King?” He gives us free will, of course, but the surrender to His will is what's — what’s paramount. At least, personally speaking, it's paramount to surrender to His will.

[: 16:56

[Thibodeaux]

Sure. Well, I'm sure, you know, within that, you know, you had a lot of days where you didn't really know what was gonna come, you know, that every day, especially teaching new students, even if they're not in another country, you have things that are gonna come up. So, tell me a little bit about what that experience was like. Just, you know, as you're getting to know these students, how — like, as they're warming up to you, what was that like?

[Terry]

I — I truly felt welcomed by these students. I — I — I could feel the relationship, the — the cornerstone, not the Jesus cornerstone, but the cornerstone of building this relationship between myself and these students. And it continues to this day, because above — above my blackboard, to — a little bit of background — above my blackboard, I had the Psalm 32:8: “I will teach you and guide you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you.” And the students, when they saw this, the first week or so, I put it up — the course, my primary goal was to teach them English. “Matt,” — I allowed them to call me by my first name — “Matt, what does — what does ‘counsel’ mean? We don't understand what you mean, ‘watch over us.’ Does that mean you're going to follow us? You know? What does that mean?” So, I — so, I told them, I said, I'm going to teach you exactly the way God teaches me. He watches over me and He counsels me. He — He — He tells me to do things in a better way, to make sure that what I'm doing pleases Him. And I said, “I'm going to teach you, students, exactly the same way. If you have any problems with — with dorm mates, with food, with homework, family, anything, I don't care. If you have any problems, I will counsel you, and I will guide you in the proper way to go.” And several students told me that at that particular moment they could feel — they could truly feel that I cared for them, that they — that I truly cared for — which — which is true. I — I truly care for them, and I still consider them my students. So, again, Matt Terry doesn't have this kind of patience to do that, but — but God, being His — merciful, loving, gracious God — just allowed all this to happen. Just allowed all this to happen. I mean, remember, I'm in a communist country, and I'm putting scripture in my classroom, and they're not my classroom, their classroom. I'm — I'm putting scripture and, yeah, that was bold, but God gave me the confidence to do it.

[Thibodeaux]

So, really, what I'm hearing in all of this that you're saying is that, and I think God knew it, but you weren't there just to teach English. You were there to teach them many other things that they needed to know in terms of, like, character and being able to trust other people. Like, those are — those are lessons that you can't find in a book.

[Terry]

Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Correct.

[Thibodeaux]

It happens with the interaction. So, can you tell me a little bit about that? And just, you know how, maybe, how that helped you grow yourself as you developed these relationships with your students?

[Terry]

Yeah. Well, my intent wasn't to preach the Word. That was not my intent. My — my — I was hired to help these students speak better English. That was why. So, that was my goal. That's why, what I was hired for. God just led me down a sort of a missionary path with the students that — that — that eventually led to me having Bible studies in my dorm room. So, none of this was planned. Absolutely none of this was planned. So God, God plant this. I planted the seed. I gotta make sure I don't speak in the flesh. God allowed me to plant the seed. But God grew the seed. But God grew the seed.

[Thibodeaux]

That makes, yeah, that's a really good way to put it.

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

It makes me kind of, if I were to summarize that, you know, in — into a lesson for people, I would say that that is to be willing to see beyond your title role, because, like you said, you were hired there to teach English. And I think a lot of professionals, that's what they go in, and that's their mindset. I'm going to just do this one thing, and I think that kind of closes them off to the potential of what they can actually do, not just, you know, like, you know, the skill sets that they have, but really, like, what impact can I have for God and the people that are here? So, the fact that you were willing to respond to that and just kind of go with it, know what I mean, that's an excellent thing.

[Terry]

But — but that — that — that doesn't mean it was all hunky dory and peaches and cream. No, I got pushback. I got pushback from, particularly my — my — my fellow teachers. One — one teacher from — from another country, who's just north of Minnesota, he thought that I was there to seduce the college students, sexually seduce the female students. So, he was my biggest antagonist. And he, oh, he would spread rumors about me, and oh, it just drove me crazy. But again, I just surrender that to God, you know, “You take care of him, God. You just — you just take care of him.” And, you know, and God, He did, because He, He put rats in his dorm room. Put rats in his dorm room. You know that? I think that's how God silenced this man against me, by putting rats in his dorm room. And then the one — and another student, I don't know what his game plan was, but he sat in the back row on the corner, and he would not speak, and when he did speak, it was very, very rare. But there's something about that student who just intimidated me. The Spirit told me, watch out for this one. Just — just be wise with this one. But he — when I was teaching, I wouldn't see that he was — he was looking at me, but not looking as a student to a teacher. He was observing me. He was observing me. And I later found out that he was a member of the — the student Chinese Communist Party. So, I don't know what his plans were, whether he deemed me a cultural threat — threat to the students. I don't know that, because that's — that's when suddenly I had to come back to China, to Chicago, because Pearl had a medical emergency. So, that never came to fruition. I never found out what that was all about.

[: 24:02

[Thibodeaux]

So, you know, with that particular student, what can you say, like, to other leaders who are in that position? Because I think we all get there at some point where we meet somebody and it just doesn't feel right, not bad, per se, but just like we get that feeling of I — I gotta watch myself.

[Terry]

Correct. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

So, what advice would you get — or would you give — to people who are in those situations and who maybe don't know what the best next step is?

[Terry]

Follow what Jesus says. Don't worry. Don't be anxious about anything. But again, that's — that's easier said than done. Just ignore the situation as best as you possibly can. That's — that’s what I try to do. Just ignore the situation and don't — and don't take my focus off my primary job, which was to teach the students. Don't have the tunnel vision that, okay, this guy is — this student is intimidating me. Don't be so concerned that one — another student might be misbehaving in the classroom. Don't be concerned if my boss suddenly pops in and is observing what — your teaching style. Don't be concerned about any of that. You just do what you do best in a way that pleases God.

[Thibodeaux]

Well, to me, that makes a ton of sense, because people are gonna say what they're gonna say. They're gonna think what they're gonna think. But really, we are the only ones who know what the focus is. We know our intent, and we can try and communicate that intent —

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— you know, as best we can, but it's up to them to believe it. It's up to them to, you know, accept what we are saying, you know, believe that we are not out to hurt them or injure them, that we just want to do our job, and what that job actually is that we don't have any ulterior — ulterior motives. But I do think that those situations can be very difficult. They — they are stressful for people.

[: 25:58

[Thibodeaux]

But as we're talking about those stresses, you know, now you're kind of away from that. You've come back. As you're looking back on this experience, what is your biggest takeaway, whether it's in your faith, your business, you know, your career outlook…?

[Terry]

Looking back at it in hindsight, just knowing that — that my trust was in God was not wasted. Just, we're — just not wasted. Because it's easy to get lost in a minutia of whatever everyday stresses one would — would — would encounter. But when you look at — look back at in hindsight and continue to read Scripture, I realized, you know, God did have His best intentions for me. He did plan this for — for for — for my good and His glorification.

[Thibodeaux]

So, as I —

[Terry]

I'm sorry to — to interrupt. When — when I — when I was teaching at a — the high school level, the severe and profound, I was assigned to one particular student, and him and I, we — we gelled very, very quickly. But because of his — his condition — he suffers from autism and Fragile X — for some reason known only to God, he —he — not God, the student — began punching me in the face with closed fist, over 22 times in a — in a span of 28 days. And I was so afraid to be next to the student. I was so afraid to be — I was physically afraid for — to be next to the student. And I was heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken. God, why — why are you allowing this to happen? What do you want me to learn? What's the lesson that you want me to learn in all this? And — and — and to this day, I still don't know the lesson that he wants me — wanted me to learn, but there's a lesson in there someplace. There's a lesson in there someplace.

[Thibodeaux]

Well, it comes back to, you know, like you said, it's not all roses and rainbows, right?

[Terry]

Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

And again, coming back to that trust in God, being willing to — you might not know what the lesson is yet, but just trusting again that it is there, and being willing to accept even those difficult periods.

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

Because, like I said, you know, when you're over in China, or whatever it is, whether you're starting a business, there are gonna be those down times. And understanding that that is part of the narrative. You're not gonna stay there, right? You're going to move through it. But it happens for a reason.

[Terry]

Yes, correct.

[Thibodeaux]

Right. And I — I think that that is part of what can keep us going and not get so bogged down in what is happening. To just say this is only temporary.

[Terry]

�� that period of February of: 2023

[Thibodeaux]

I am a firm believer that when we have those questions, that's not a sign of weak faith. And I — I've started to tell people this now more and more, but it's not a sign of weak faith. It's just a sign that the Spirit is working in you to push you toward God. When you have questions, that is a sign that you want an answer from somebody, right? So, you are seeking God as you have that question, even if you don't, like, consciously recognize that. But that's what your spirit's doing. It's saying, I want — I need to get to the One who has the answer and trusting him — again, this is the theme of the episode, I guess, is trust, — but trusting that He is going to reveal that to you at some point, maybe not even in this lifetime, but he will answer the question eventually. You know?

[Terry]

Yeah. Yeah. Because He does answer all prayers: Yes, no, — yes, no, and I'll give you the — the — I'll give you my answer at a later time, or I'm going to hide the answer. But all the prayer, all — God does answer all the prayers. There's no doubt.

[Thibodeaux]

I think that's — it's encouraging for so many people in the professional world, because we like our predictability, we like our risk management, and, you know, our planning, and so to have these questions where sometimes we are not getting an answer, but still know that there's Somebody at the helm —

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— you know, and that we — we have to kind of give that up, I think, is what I'm saying, that —

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

We — we want the answer when we want it, but to just know that it's gonna come and just kind of release that, that I think is kind of counterintuitive to what we are taught in the business world. Because the business world says, “Get me an answer, and get it to me by, like, 8am.”

[Terry]

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. That — that — that's part of the reason why I don't miss the corporate world. I don't miss that. I don’t miss that at all.

[Thibodeaux]

Yeah.

[Terry]

But again, there — there — again, I was — I was so miserable in the — in the corporate world that it got to the point where I said, “Dear God, remove me from this sinking ship. And after I said that simple prayer, two months later, God graciously answered that prayer by laying me off.

[Thibodeaux]

Which led to China. Right?

[Terry]

Which led to China.

[Thibodeaux]

Yeah.

[Terry]

Which led to my writings, and which led to me these podcasts, which leads me to you — yeah, everything. God has a God has a plan for every one of us.

[: 32:10

[Thibodeaux]

Yep. Well, that is a perfect segway, because I want to talk about some of the creative projects that you are now doing. So, tell me about this screenplay that you are doing.

[Terry]

Well, actually, it’s — it’s — it’s — it’s — it’s got back — it's got past the screenplay. It's now developed into a mini-series, and —

[Thibodeaux]

Oh, wonderful.

[Terry]

I'm doing — it's called “English Corner.” And the reason is called “English Corner” — because when I was teaching in China, was required that all native speaking teachers, English teachers, they have what is called an English corner, and they would meet once a week in a classroom of their choice. And it was a volunteer that the students — was not required to — students to attend. They would just volunteer to attend, and the topic would be open. For example, the teacher could teach about dieting, cooking, American recipes, movies. In my case, my English corner is always open forum. We talk about whatever you want to talk about. I don't care. The whole purpose was so they could improve their English speaking skills. So, that's why the mini series is called “English Corner.” And right now, I'm — I'm in pre-production in a proof of concept film, POC, proof of concept, which is going to be used similar to a — the John the Baptist was used in the Bible. He's — he's — John — I'm not comparing myself to John the Baptist, of course — but John the Baptist was telling people about the — the coming of Jesus, that Jesus is — is — is coming, and when He comes, I will decrease, so He may increase. In other words, the POC film is used as a marketing tool, and that will — this — this film will be used to — to pitch to production companies or producers with the hopes that they would buy the first episode script. That's what the POC is all about. And I've — God has brought four wonderful actors into the fold. In fact, we're having a second table reading tonight, and — and — and is planned, God willing, that the filming will begin in — on October, yes, October 2 in St Louis, Missouri.

[Thibodeaux]

That's wonderful that that's moving along like that. So, if this reaches, you know, full production and people are able to see it, what do you hope that they will take away from seeing this?

[Terry]

na Group did a survey back in: 2023

[Thibodeaux]

That's fantastic. I — again, I am a big advocate of trying to discover all of the gifts that God has given to you. Because I think sometimes in the corporate world, they kind of get stuck down, and we don't really know. Like, maybe we go into something because our parents want us to, or maybe, you know, we think that that's going to make money. And so, we kind of don't even know what our natural aptitudes are that God has gifted to us. And it sounds like you are discovering that you had this creative side that was just kind of simmering there, and now you're getting a chance to use that.

[Terry]

Yeah.

[: 36:14

[Thibodeaux]

So, when you are discovering these new abilities, you know, you went out and you did the China thing, you got — got into that new environment. What takeaway would you give to the audience? Maybe they are in that place where they feel like God is calling them to go do the thing, take a new path, but they're not sure, do I have these skills? You know, maybe — maybe they have this mentality that they are x or y. What would you say to that?

[Terry]

Be prepared, because God is going to show you some wonderful things. I — I — I — I've never taken any — I've never been a formal teacher. I've never taken teaching classes. I've never written a lesson plan. I've never written a memoir. I — I don't have writing skills. I never took writing in college. I certainly never wrote — written a screenplay before, and let alone properly formatted that. But — but — but I did all this research, and I did studies and did some classes. And — and — and God — God seems to approve of what I'm doing. To use — to use scripture and Joseph, I felt God's hand was upon me, and I still feel God's hand is upon me for this project. So, just — just let yourself go and just — let — see how God will use you in ways that you just don't expect, you just don't expect, and how he's going to how he's going to use your and move you.

[Thibodeaux]

So, what I'm kind of hearing is, God will make you what you need to become.

[Terry]

Correct. That's — that’s a good way of putting it. That’s a good way of putting it. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

Right. Because what you — what you are now, like, you probably didn't think of yourself as, like, you know, doing these — these scripts, or, you know, producing a film, but here you are, right?

[Terry]

Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

You are becoming something that — but that's who God needs you to be now —

[Terry]

Yep. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— and he's equipping you to do that.

[Terry]

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I — I — I'm 64, years old, on the — on the verge of retirement, and I'm so excited that God has allowed me this new chapter in my life by becoming a director of a film. Me? He who is not eloquent in speech is going to be directing a film? “Yeah, that's what I want — that's what I'm having you do, Matt, so trust me on this.” Okay!

[Thibodeaux]

Yeah. Well, I think — I think that's a good point, though, because I think there are certain points as we go through our careers where maybe we feel unsettled and maybe we're not even sure why we know that maybe, you know, like you said, you weren't happy in the corporate world, but you don't know what you need to become. God does, right? But you don't know. And so He's just saying, I'm going to put you here and just watch.

[Terry]

Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

Watch what happens.

[Terry]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when I had my — my — my two and a half years of unemployment, I was — I mean, I was working many hours every day, searching for jobs and submitting my resumes. And, you know, of course, I ask people, you know, what — what do you think about this resume? Course, you ask 50 different people to look at the resume, you're going to get 50 different responses. And it drove me nuts. So, finally, I just said, I'm — I'm done asking people. I'm going to write this resume. God, do you like this resume? Do you see any deception in this resume before I submit it? So — so — so, I would submit it, and God kept telling me, “No, I'm not gonna give you this job either, my son, but you did good on the resume. But, you’re not gonna get this one, either.

[Thibodeaux]

Yeah.

[Terry]

So, but — but — so, He approved the — the resume and the application, because within 24 hours, I got the job offer and the contract.

[Thibodeaux]

Wow, that's — that is fast.

[Terry]

I — I guess my point in that little story is, don't put your trust in 50 different people to — because they think they know how to improve your resume. Don't. Don't. Put your trust completely faithfully in God.

[Thibodeaux]

Yeah. That — I mean, I remember, you know, I've been trying to think about, like, how I can sell myself better. So, I like that takeaway, though, that, you know, God knows how to sell you, and He'll sell you in the right places for the right reasons.

[Terry]

Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

You know, you don't have to worry about it so much. You know, because we do, we put so much effort into, like, getting it just right.

[: 40:42

[Terry]

Yeah. Yeah. But — but — but — but if it's all for the glory of God, I mean, I'm very — you — you just said, make sure you put everything just right. I mean, doing this whole film, this has to be so detail-oriented. And I'm glad that God gave me the eye for detail, because I don't wanna — I don't wanna — this is all for His glorification. And I want this piece of work to be the best it possibly can be — the best it possibly could be.

[: 41:13

[Thibodeaux]

So if — if people want to know more about that project and what you are working on, where can they go? How can we learn more about you?

[Terry]

Well, they — they can find it in several ways, and I'll speak this slowly so people can understand my noneloquent of speech. They can find it on mattfterry.com. You can find me on Instagram, Matthew F Terry, or — those are two primary ones. If you go to my Instagram profile, Matthew F Terry, and you click on my profile, and you — I set up a GoFundMe link. And I'm not pushing the GoFundMe link. The GoFund — you'll see that gives the — the — the — the description. And this GoFundMe really details what English corner is all about. The — the — that — it gives good detail and explains why I'm doing this. So, I'm not pitching this to get money. I just pitch it so people will have a deeper understanding of what the English corner mission is all about.

[Thibodeaux]

Well, I can definitely —

[Terry]

Is that —

[Thibodeaux]

Oh yeah. Yeah, and I will definitely make sure that those are in the show notes, so if people want to — can connect with you, that'll be super easy for them to do. But as we're wrapping up here, I always ask, or I try to ask, my interviewees, is there some kind of lesson or takeaway, some kind of guiding scripture that you kind of have on your heart that you want to share with the audience?

[: 42:44

[Terry]

. Psalm: 91:11

[Thibodeaux]

Well, I think His protection comes in many, many forms, and that is just one. So, I love that that's very good.

[Terry]

Absolutely. Absolutely. So — so, if I may expand just a little bit more, one of the students I taught in China every — every week where he — we have Bible studies, and we're going through the book of John.

[Thibodeaux]

Oh, wow.

[Terry]

She's in Shang — she’s in Shanghai, and I'm in Chicago, and we're going through the book of John and — and I can see — I'm witnessing the Holy Spirit and God working through Xiao Jie. She's taking it from her memory, and I can see it filtering down into her heart. And actually, last week, she — she was bold enough to close in prayer.

[Thibodeaux]

Wow.

[Terry]

Closing. Yeah, she — she said she's — she loves the Holy Spirit. She loves that angels are watching over her, but she says she's not quite there to accepting, but she says she's really close.

[Thibodeaux]

Oh, that is wonderful, right?

[Terry]

It really is. Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

And that — that speaks to something else though, too. I mean, we had talked a little bit about maybe accepting the role that you didn't know you had. You know you, you came there to teach English and you taught other things, right? You introduced people to Jesus. But that takes time, and you are still communicating with —

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

— these students and still teaching, and you're not even there — there anymore, right?

[Terry]

Yeah. Yeah.

[: 44:47

[Thibodeaux]

So — so, what would you say, too — to the people who are like, “Oh, well, like, my job's done. I've left.”?

[Terry]

Well, I'm not sure how to answer that one. Maybe when I — when I left the corporate world, I left them — like — like the — Peter instructed, the — the — his followers, his disciples, dust the salt — dust — remove the dust from your sandal and move on. If you, if you feel that you're not welcome or you haven't made an impact, dust — to remove the dust from your sandal and move on. So, I'm not really sure if that answered your question.

[Thibodeaux]

Well —

[Terry]

I don’t think it did. Anyway!

[Thibodeaux]

I think really, what I'm getting at is more of the fact that, like, you check on people, right? And it doesn't just end right away. Like, you know, like, even the — even the first disciples, when they were teaching, they'd write the letters and they would see how they were doing, and I kind of, that's kind of what I see you do. You know, you're not just leaving it end. You're making sure that that is, that is still and that's, that's kind of where I was going with that.

[Terry]

Yeah, yes, correct, yeah. I'm — I’m still making sure that the — the — the relationship is — is strong, even though my students and I are separated by 13 hours, sometimes 14, depending on that on the season of the year, but that — that — that — that — I still want to remind them that I'm still here for them no matter what happens. And to put this in a more reality check, many of my students are now fathers and mothers with two kids.

[Thibodeaux]

Well, I guess the takeaway there is, like, you know, when God calls you, you gotta be ready for it to be for the long haul, right?

[Terry]

Yeah.

[Thibodeaux]

You know, sometimes it's not, you know, sometimes you can have you just go out for a day, right? But you gotta be willing to, you know, stay the course, run the race, right?

[Terry]

Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Right. And continue to nurture those seeds, nurture those relationships, even though it's so many miles away. Nurture, nurture, nurture. Because that's exactly what God is doing for us. He wants a relationship with us. He wants to nurture us, and that's — so, that's what I'm doing with my students. I'm nurturing them.

[: 47:00

[Thibodeaux]

Yeah. Well, as we think about this long-term relationships, do you mind if I pray for you as we wrap up?

[Terry]

By all means, thank you.

[Thibodeaux]

Sure.

Lord. I pray for Matthew. I hope that his project speaks to many people who are willing to open their hearts to You. You brought him to China for a reason, not just to teach those students, but to make this story reach beyond that classroom. There was a reason for that. So, I ask you to bless that ministry wherever it may go, and I ask that you do stay with Matthew for the long haul. Make his ministry flourish, and just give him whatever words that he needs to say. He teaches English, but the message is yours.

[Terry]

Amen.

[Thibodeaux]

Amen.

[: 47:57

Listeners, I can tell you that after I got done with Matthew’s interview, I felt way more settled, because for me, it really has been a journey to respond to the ministry call I have. I so appreciated his encouragement to trust God through all of that, and I hope it lands with that hope for you, too. In our next episode, we’re doing something a little different, because we’re doing a special episode on the release of Grace in the Grind. That’s a brand new devotional from Faithful on the Clock releasing hopefully in November, so if you’ve been needing a tool to really dive into the Word within your work, the next show is gonna get you all set up. Tune in for that in two weeks, and until then, everybody, be blessed.