MATT WILDER - Musician, Minister
(2006-Present)
Matt Wilder was born in Muncie, Indiana. He grew up in a forest “cottage” home down by the river. On the large, wooded lot, he and his siblings pursued Huck Finn-like adventures. These escapades included catching three-legged mutated frogs, rafting with snakes in his boat, and swinging off ropes into the river—and of course enduring the polluted river stench and the mosquitoes. In the woods, he enjoyed digging giant holes in the ground for no apparent reason. He also built “top secret” tree-house forts, and was moderately skilled at bashing bushes with his baseball bat to make trails.
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Matt, the middle brother, took pleasure in using his excess energy to tease his siblings (as Micah can probably attest to). But fortunately for them, he began using sports as an outlet for much of this vigor. He enjoyed some success as a high-school athlete: running cross country, track, and playing basketball. His high school basketball team, for example, won the Utah 4A state championship his senior year.
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Matt has played the piano since he was 6 and also played the French horn from 5th grade all the way through high school. He has always enjoyed composing piano music, and has participated and had success in many local music competitions as a youngster. At age 16 his family moved to Alpine, UT. Matt grew up LDS (Mormon) and spent 3 years in the heart of Mormonism before going on a 2-year Mormon mission to Denmark from 2002-2004. He spent those years trying to convert people to a religion rather than focusing on telling people about Jesus and God’s true Biblical Word.
In January of 2006, he was 22, attending his third year at BYU and studying piano performance when his life was turned upside down. His brother, Micah, had left his 2-year LDS mission 2 weeks early because he had discovered and professed the Biblical Jesus. Matt thought he knew the true Jesus. The Lord, however, was convicting Matt’s heart. And he was encouraged to learn more about this New Testament Jesus—the Jesus that got his brother, Micah, in so much trouble with his LDS authorities for believing and professing.
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Matt was dating Nicole at the time, who later became his wife. Together, they began studying the New Testament and attending Christian worship events to learn more about Christianity. Matt came to realize that the Jesus of the Bible was indeed a different Jesus than the one he had previously come to know growing up in the LDS church. This Jesus saved by grace through faith apart from works of the law by His shed blood on the Cross of Cavalry; this Jesus, by that single sin offering alone, had perfected for all time those who believe in Him.
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Matt received assurance of eternal life as a gift through faith in Jesus—and this came through reading God’s Word, the Bible. As a result, he saw no need to remain in an organization which required him to work on behalf of his salvation. He and his wife, Nicole, by the grace of God, finally mustered the courage to confront LDS family and friends about their new-found faith in Biblical Christianity after months of investigation. This journey into the Grace of Christ was kick-started in Jan. of 2006 when Micah was kicked off of his LDS mission. The complete belief and unashamed profession of the Biblical Jesus came months later in the fall of that same year.
As a result of Matt’s new Christian faith, he could no longer answer the LDS “temple recommend” questions that would give him an ecclesiastical endorsement. Such an endorsement was necessary for Matt to have in order to continue attending BYU, the LDS private university. Ready for his 4th year at BYU and already a few years into the music program, he took an early exit from the university. He forsook his academic and music scholarships for the Adam’s Road ministry, in hopes of preaching the message of grace to the lost.
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Matt rejoices in his new understanding of the Grace of Jesus, and attributes the mercy and Grace of God—and Him alone—to his conversion to the truth. The Biblical Word is now the central focus and guide for Matt’s new life in Jesus; he tries to align his life in accordance to it.
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He now lives in Florida with his wife, Nicole, who is also a former Mormon and born-again Christian. Matt’s time is now spent ministering the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Adam’s Road ministry. He and his wife had their first child, a baby girl named Tessa, on September 30th, 2010. She has brought much joy to their life: a strong personality with an already developing sense of humor. Matt still enjoys basketball and running when time allows, and thanks God for his new life in Christ Jesus and the fellowship he enjoys with other believers in Jesus Christ.
