Staff Spotlight: Meet Matthew Benedict

Recently, we took a moment in our latest “Staff Spotlight” to learn a few things most people may not know about our Operations Associate Matthew Benedict, FPQP^TM, RICP^®.

We found out that Matthew has some fantastic memories about where he grew up and knows his way around a chimney, but just don’t ask him to draw you.  More here:

Who inspires you?

My father and grandfather. I grew up on the mission field in Japan, with both sets of grandparents having moved there as missionaries in 1952. They as well as my father have given the whole of their lives to reaching the Japanese people in a country that has been called the “missionary’s graveyard” because of the challenge it brings in building friendships. Their patience and faithfulness in daily life there inspires me more each time I think about it.

What’s one thing you’re really bad at?

Drawing people. Give me anything geometrical and I can handle it, but people and faces—despite the symmetry that is there, it seems anything but symmetrical when I have a pencil in my hand. That said, I’ve been trying to do easy drawings to help illustrate Bible memory verses for our 2 year-old daughter, and, well, she gets excited about them, but probably not because they are pretty!

What’s your favorite memory?

One of my favorites is cleaning my grandpa’s woodstove chimney. He has since passed on, but during my high school years I would stop over during the winter to help brush out the horizontal pipe. He’d run the brush from outside and I’d hold a bucket on the inside. I can still smell the soot!

View Matthew’s full bio here >