Matthews wants music to bring people to God

Kyle Matthews, successful songwriter and performer, can’t remember a time when he wasn’t “making up music.”
   
Matthews, who has written countless songs for international recording studio BMG Publishers — including two that have earned Dove award nominations — got his start at his father’s church in Waco, Texas. But Huntsville also holds a special place in Matthews’ heart.
   
“Weatherly [Heights Baptist Church] was one of the first churches I performed in out of college,” said Matthews, a member of Crievwood Baptist Church, Nashville. “I’m very excited to come back because last time I was so nervous,” he said, noting his recent performances at Weatherly Heights.
   
“Word Publishers is in Waco, so I got to know a lot of their writers and producers through the different churches my daddy pastored,” Matthews explained. “I was surrounded by talent and it just seemed like [song writing] was the normal thing to do.”
  
Nearly 15 years later he found himself recently graduated from Furman University with an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree in music, religion and philosophy and working as a worship leader at a youth camp called Centrifuge.
   
“I would just make things up to make it appropriate, funny and personal for the kids,” he said. “I got my teeth cut on what works and what doesn’t. But when I got to Nashville I discovered I still had a lot to learn.”
   
Matthews was a quick study, and by 1991 had a contract to write for the gospel division of BMG. Since then he has written or co-written an average of 35 songs a year. Many of these have been recorded by the biggest names in the Christian music industry including Ginny Owens, Grover Levy, Bob Carlisle, Point of Grace and Gary Chapman.
   
Matthews also maintains a vigorous touring schedule performing at churches, conventions and on college campuses at least three weekends a month. Last year he released his first solo CD, “See for Yourself.”
   
According to Matthews, he was a performer long before he was an official songwriter and attributes much of the inspiration for his songs to his road experiences.
   
“I remember one time I was performing at a church in Virginia and the pastor was really struggling with a message about truth, so he asked me to sing after the message,” Matthews said. “I composed one of my top grossing songs right there in the service.”
   
“I loved it that it didn’t come out of an artificial place, but instead came out of the need of the moment,” he added.
   
In an industry where feel-good lyrics are the norm, Matthews insists that his music be much more than just entertainment.
   
“It’s easy for people to become fans of someone else’s experience or testimony, but I want the lyrics to bring them into an experience with God themselves,” he noted.
   
According to Matthews, ministering to the unique issues faced by today’s Christians is the inspiration for many of his songs. This is particularly true for his latest hits “If You Want to Lead Me to Jesus” (Grover Levy) and “We Fall Down” (Bob Carlisle).
   
“There is a thread in all of my songs about how believers have to come to terms with their own failures. That is what ‘We Fall Down’ is all about.  We can either cover them up or learn by them,” Matthews explained. “As Christians we must be honest with our struggles if the world is going to take us seriously,” he added.
   
In an effort to “find new ways to skin the cat” when it comes to his career and ministering to Christians, Matthews has decided to start two-day conferences in Nashville where he will deliver musical sermons.
   
“I have a lot to share and teach from my experiences over the years,” Matthews said. “I believe some of those things will speak to the people who attend and help them grow in their relationship with the Lord.”
   
Matthews would also like to begin composing some modern hymns and perhaps even a musical.
   
Matthews, who has been married to Susan (a music therapist) since 1990, is a stickler about family time, especially now that he has two children.
   
“I’m never gone more than three weekends a month and I only travel one week during the month,” he said. “That way I can travel a whole lot and be with my kids and wife more than any nine-to-five dad I know.”
    
On weekends Matthews is home teaching a young couples Sunday School class at his home church.