Since then, Murton has left God in control of everything. "It's been amazing how He's worked in my life already, just to this point. He's made it apparent that we're obviously not the ones calling the shots, but He is in control and we've just got to follow his lead." Murton has followed God's lead all the way to a spot in the Major Leagues. He uses the game of baseball to show how God's made him aware of who's in control.

Growing up in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Murton attended Westminster Academy, where his dad coached football. Westminster was known for having a great baseball program that he was looking forward to playing in. As it turned out, his family moved to Georgia when Matt was 14, which left him thinking, "I'm leaving a good baseball situation down in Florida and a good chance to grow athletically." Fortunately, when he was sixteen, Murton got hooked up with the East Cobb baseball program in Georgia where he spent three summers playing before moving on to play at Georgia Tech.

During his first semester at Georgia Tech, Murton was hoping his performance would land him a spot in the Cape Cod League for the next summer because it was the better of the three summer leagues to play in at the time. He didn't end up making it. His choice now was to either play in the Carolinas or northern Ohio. Having family in northern Ohio, Murton opted to play there. "God blessed me during my freshman season and I wound up as a Freshman All-American and I still had to go to this league in northern Ohio. As it happens, some of the guys who were supposed to get drafted weren't and they were going to come back and play, so I wasn't going to get much playing time.”

Murton thought to himself, "What's going on? I don't understand. I had a good year, I end up in northern Ohio and I'm not even getting a chance to play." But God had a plan. After making a phone call to Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall, Murton was suddenly right where he wanted to be - in the Cape Cod League. Not only did he get into the league, but his team won the championship later that summer. "It was just God. I chose to go to northern Ohio. He knew that had I gone to any of those Carolina teams, I probably would have played and never had a chance to go to the Cape (Cod League)." The next summer Murton returned to the league as a veteran and took home MVP honors.

Matt knows who's responsible for paving the road that has led him from that 5-year-old accepting Christ under his kitchen table to the Major League ballplayer he is today. "Everything that's happened to me, He's had His hand in it. He puts you through things, and they happen for a reason. In the end, you can look back on it and say He obviously knows what He's doing.”

Murton's player file


photos courtesy of Stephen Green

RC: How did God prepare you for your time with the NABC?

Jim Haney: We spent 12 years at the University of Oregon, the last five I was a head coach. Subsequently, I worked for three NCAA Division I athletic conferences as an assistant commissioner and commissioner. Through coaching, the Lord provided me the opportunity to experience the life of a coach, on and off the court. As a commissioner, the Lord acquainted me with the governance structure of the NCAA and the business of athletics.

Carol Haney: God has prepared me through so many situations with numerous steps of trust along the way. First, it began in small things which He taught me to trust Him, then, as He does, He moves us to situations which require more and more trust until we reach the point of realizing that we need to just lay it at His feet.

RC: How has being a coach and coach's wife prepared you for your current leadership roles?

JH: My experience as a coach revealed to me the pressures coaches encounter as they fulfill the responsibilities of their jobs, including the pressure to successfully recruit players to the program, the pressure to win, the pressure for one’s student-athletes to perform well in the classroom and the pressure to resist the temptation to cheat. Then, there is the pressure from the job and its influence on the relationship of the coach and his spouse, and their lives lived as public figures. To this day, I can remember the shame that I had let Carol and our son down—the brokenness of all pride in who I thought I was, and the feeling of failure I felt when I resigned my position as head coach. When I reflect back on it now, I know that the experience Carol and I passed through was the best and most significant time of our lives. So many of our coaches are fired, resign or retire under pressure. We feel the compassion of God for our coaches.

CH: Being a coach's wife, you quickly reach a point of knowing that there are so many situations that you cannot, as much as you may want, affect the outcome in the natural. It is only when He leads you to understand that your confessions of His promises and standing on His Word, in spite of what you see or hear, will affect your situation.

RC: Jim, I know you are very involved in the NABC Ministry Team, and as a team, you are very supportive of the outreach event for coaches' wives—“The Gathering”—that will take place during this year’s NABC Convention. Can you tell me why you think this event is important?

JH: Since coming to the NABC in 1992, it has been our hope to encourage coaches to bring their spouses to the NABC Convention. The season has just ended, and the strain and demands on the coach and spouse are emotionally draining. We see the NABC Convention as a vacation opportunity for them. The Ministry Team has devoted itself to providing opportunities for coaches and spouses to bathe in the presence of God as they attend the Ministry Team events. “The Gathering” provides spouses the opportunity to gather together, share common experiences, renew friendships and be ministered to by the Lord. 

RC: Carol, having attended the NABC Convention as a coach's wife in the past, why do you feel this could be a great outreach?

CH: The convention is a great opportunity for ministering to coaches' wives. The timing and the uncertainty of the future for some wives due to their husband's career changes brings opportunity that might not present itself at other times.

RC: What advice would you give other coaches' wives as they seek to best fulfill their God-given role?

CH: Seek out Scriptures and Bible studies to strengthen yourself as a helpmate who is "girded up as on eagles' wings" as you learn to "run and not grow weary, and walk and faint not” (Isaiah 40).