More Than Expected: A Pastor's Journey

"More Than Expected" is the stirring autobiography of a man devoted to God. Born in 1934, Dr. Ned L. Mathews endures tremendous adversity during the Great Depression. Despite the financial hardship, he develops a relationship with the Lord and feels called to pastoral ministry. Rising from an impoverished upbringing and meager education, he surpasses all expectations by winning several speaking tournaments and earning multiple degrees. Then, after a dramatic, divinely governed sequence of events sees him through college during a financial crisis, further providence leads a friend to invite him to accompany him on a trip to visit his girlfriend. On the way, he sees a beautiful girl walking down a sidewalk conversing with friends "with a glow on her face." It was love at first sight. She later becomes his wife. Championing the view that marriage is one man for one woman for life, he and his wife demonstrate that the making of disciples for Christ begins at home. Their children have ministries for the Lord and already some of the grandchildren are pursuing the same goals. In the 1980s, he becomes directly involved in the "battle for the Bible" for control of the Southern Baptist Convention. In what is commonly referred to as the conservative resurgence, he fights, in debates with scholars, for the view that the Bible is inerrant, a view that still prevails in the nation's largest Protestant denomination to this day. Winning that battle changed the agencies and ministries of the Southern Baptist Convention and all six of its seminaries, in the latter case producing a total transformation. Filled with insight from an experienced pastor, this remarkable memoir also relays how, at the age of sixty-seven, Dr. Mathews starts a new career at the very institution that nearly ruined his faith. In an educational and edifying read, learn from the experience of a man who has overcome his deficiencies and lived as both a shepherd and a prophet.

About the Author :
Born in Tarboro, North Carolina, Dr. Ned L. Mathews has been a pastor for more than fifty-eight years. He grew up during the Great Depression, but was able to overcome the destitution of poverty to earn several degrees, including a bachelor of arts, master of divinity, master of theology, and doctor of theology. He is a journeyman diesel mechanic and machinist, a pastor of 58 years, as well as an emeritus professor of pastoral theology at Southeastern Theological Seminary. He was also involved in the conservative resurgence among Southern Baptists between 1979 and 1990. At the request of a fellow professor, Dr. David Black of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, he agreed to serve as the General Editor of the book Text-Driven Preaching, a book that champions expository preaching as the means by which the church will be revived. Co-editors are Danny Akin and David Allen. The book is also published in the Korean language. Currently living in the Wake Forest area of North Carolina, he and his wife have two daughters, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.