New Pastor Takes the Helm at Local Church

Cardboard boxes scatter the corners of the small office inside Seminole Heights United Methodist Church on an overcast morning.

Volunteers paint an entryway of the yellow structure as Matt Horan meets with the music director in preparation for Sunday morning, his first service as pastor of the decades-old church.

Horan, 39, lives in the nearby parsonage with his wife and two children. The former Catholic and Philadelphia native, with bright blue eyes and graying temples, admits his journey from English teacher to local pastor wasn't a predictable one.

"I became Methodist because a girl I liked went to a Methodist church," joked Horan about a 1996 visit to a church in Tallahassee. "I didn't find her, so I sat by myself and loved it."

The woman became his wife, a social worker. Horan credits her for adjusting to becoming a preacher's wife after Horan left his career as a teacher to go to seminary and become an associate pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist.

"I was going to be biology major and become a doctor," said Horan of his days at Florida State. "I took first semester of chemistry, and that’s when I learned that being in a science field is not for me."

So Horan became a marketing major, but calculus classes weren't his cup of tea. He realized a love for writing, but knew there wasn't much money in that. Even so, he became a creative writing major. He graduated and became an English teacher.

Horan credits the voice of God for his transition to the church in Seminole Heights.

"I heard a voice from God that said, 'Why do you feel the plan you're trying to create for yourself is better than the plan I have for you?'"

Horan hopes to attract new members to the church on the corner of Hanna and Central avenues in Seminole Heights.

"You don’t really find a lot of people who have a craving for organized religion," he said. "I think the church, and churches in general, need to build some credibility. The church has ruined its reputation from area scandals or not caring about people outside the church. The church will get a push for me to not ask what kind of church do I like, but what kind would people want to be a part of."

The first step? An inaugural sermon about how unqualified the apostles were who initially followed Jesus.