Matt Chandler is a 35 year-old pastor of a church with three large campuses in and around Dallas, TX. He’s been there for seven years and has overseen the growth of the church from hundreds to thousands of members during his tenure. I heard about Chandler for the first time when I met one of the pastors from his Village Church at Len Sweet’s Mountain Advance in West Virginia several weeks ago. I was told with some enthusiasm that he was a brilliant preacher, a devoted husband and father, and a man who lives true to his convictions. This guy seemed too good to be true…

Then, just over a week ago Matt Chandler got a chance to practice what he preaches. On Thanksgiving Day an otherwise healthy Chandler had a seizure, woke up in the hospital, and learned that he has a one-inch by two-inch tumor in the front part of his brain. He recorded this video a day or two before he went into surgery a week later. 

I tend not to banter with folks who dislike Christians for good or not-so-good reasons since, coming to faith in Jesus as a former atheist and later Christian-bashing agnostic, I know those kind of conversations tend to go nowhere. I also try not to take sides in the he-said, she-said that transpires among Christians of different faith traditions or those who fall on different sides of theological debates over where God is or is not in situations like this. Instead, I find a journey like Chandler’s — the courage and “peace that passes understanding” that is evident in this man — to be both remarkable and compelling. This is especially true since this kind of evangelical Christian rarely gets as much air time as those who have made bad decisions or are less-than-loving examples of the faith they proclaim. 

Would love to hear your thoughts.