The Future Leaders Program is nearing the end for the Class of 2009. As we finish out our year we will be doing a series of blog posts looking back at our experiences throughout the program. Today we’re talking with Matt Walkley.

Hello!
If you’ve been keeping up with the Future Leaders Program over the past year, then I wouldn’t be surprised if you have no idea who I am. Then again, if you haven’t been keeping up with the program, then I can only presume you really don’t know who I am either…

I had the unique opportunity over the past 12 months to participate in the Future Leaders Program while not technically being a Future Leader. I have been leading worship with the Gathering and Frontline since late 2007, and as my leadership role leading worship increased, the more I realized how much I needed training and spiritual development to accompany it. Though I didn’t feel called to the Future Leaders Program in full, the training and development portion of it was what I craved. Through some awesome conversations, craftiness on my part, and grace from Rich and Lauren, they blessed me with the opportunity to participate in the Wednesday morning sessions and other events of the Future Leaders.

What Happened
This past year has definitely been a bit of a whirlwind. Late nights leading worship on college campuses, early Wednesdays with the Future Leaders, working close to full time as a freelance web design/developer, and still trying to get my money’s worth of my Netflix subscription. My friends would often ask me “How’s life?” and my answer was always, “Work, Music, Sleep, Repeat.” While it may sound a bit mundane, it’s actually been an awesome way to spend these years of my life. Not many people can say they spent their 20s working flexible hours, learning about God, all the while doing what they were created to do several nights a week — worshipping God with awesome music.

As I mentioned earlier, my main drive behind wanting to be a part of the Future Leaders was so that I could be developed spiritually. That’s exactly what happened this year. It was awesome to be surrounded by so many like-minded partners in ministry, encouraged in my daily walk, and pushed to pursue God in new ways.

Aside from just the chance to participate in FLP, my favorite part of this year was seeing the transformation and growth of the Gathering. This was my first full year of being consistent on a campus leading worship, and it was amazing to see more and more chairs filling up each week — but even more amazing was seeing more and more hands lifted high each week. My prayer for the campuses this year was for them to have “arms high and hearts abandoned” in worship, and God really allowed me to be a part of that.

Goodbye? Not so much.
Future Leaders was never a “year long” adventure for me. I thank God for the opportunities that were given to me over the past year through Mclean Bible, and I’m excited that God is now calling me to part-time employment with them. Over the next month or so I will be transitioning into leading worship more frequently for the Frontline Tysons’s service. I’m stoked and a bit nervous, but I know and trust God will be with me wherever I go. I look forward to seeing a transformation within Frontline in this next step of my life, and I pray that God would raise up a sea of worshippers with arms high and hearts abandoned!