Diagnosis: CancerDiagnosis: CancerIn
January of 1994, Matthew Ward was diagnosed with not one, but three types of
cancer. The word had become all too familiar to him many years before. By age
12, Matthew had lost his mother to a brain tumor and his father to leukemia.
For two
frightening and uncertain years, Matthew battled the disease and ultimately
experienced full remission. Now considered "cancer-free," Matthew is
convinced that God used his ordeal to move and prepare him for a new ministry:
using his voice to melt walls of disbelief, discouragement, bitterness, and
doubt within the body of Christ. For Matthew, music ministry is about reaching
out through the power of God to heal and restore broken lives. His songs are
carefully prayed over and handpicked for the express purpose of reaching all
who wish to have Father God sing over them.
Today,
Matthew’s ministry has expanded to include hundreds of live concerts and
appearances each year at churches and events across the country. My Redeemer is the first CD of
this new phase of Matthew’s career, and he followed that with Even Now.
Matthew
says that "My Redeemer is a direct reflection of the power of God to reach
into places you think He simply won’t. It represents God’s heart toward me
while I was going through one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to
face." While most of his career has been set to the rhythms of pop,
R&B, and progressive rock, for My
Redeemer Matthew slows things way down with ten heartfelt tracks
designed to create an atmosphere of praise and meditation.
Even
Now is truly a
music devotional. In the past few years crisscrossing the country and visiting
hundreds of churches, Matthew has been dismayed by what seems to be a trend of
replacing the traditional cross in the sanctuary with other symbols of worship.
His goal for Even Now
is to bring our attention back to the cross and what it means.
About Even Now, Matthew says he wanted
to tell his listeners that God loves us not in spite of, but because of, our
humanness. "We are spiritual beings having a temporary human
experience." He continues, "All God’s characteristics are equal and
without boundaries. We cannot diminish Him, and there is nothing we can add to
Him. We need to trust God and embrace the process that is our life in Him, line
upon line and precept upon precept."
Ultimately, this is what Matthew Ward’s ministry is all about: finding God’s strength to carry on through the pain and uncertainties of life, praising and worshiping Christ from the deepest resources of our beings, and by faith learning to live again.
Matthew Ward is living
proof that God uses circumstances to turn hearts toward Him. Where his My
Redeemer CD was inspired largely by Matthew's physical experiences as a cancer
patient, his follow-up CD, Even
Now, explored our emotional link with the God of the universe.
Throughout his recent
projects, the recurring themes of God's power and presence give a worshipful
quality to the music that transports and lifts our weary spirits from whatever
challenges we are facing and then sets us down gently at the feet of the Savior
for an intimate visit. We feel through Matthew's music how much God wants us to
talk with Him and be in right relationship with Him.
Matthew Ward is a study
in contrasts. He is intense, yet lighthearted; intellectual, but not
pretentious. He loves the outdoors and the activities of the
Witty and entertaining, Matthew in concert breathes a welcome gust of fresh air through the Christian experience as he peppers the time with stories and quips that remind us not to take ourselves quite so seriously. As for his own remarkable gifts, Matthew acknowledges that he has always known where his talents come from. "When it's all said and done," he says, "I don't want people to remember me for my ability to sing, but that I always turned their eyes to Jesus."