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matt kauffman

What's your favorite candy?
Depends on the situation, favorite everyday candy: peanut M&Ms, favorite spring time candy: black jelly beans, favorite Christmas candy: Almond Toffee Symphony Bar, favorite candy on Tuesdays: Cow Tails, favorite hard candy: strawberry CreamSavers.
 
Have you ever run out of gas?
Once.  It was on the Adirondack Northway (I-87) near midnight with the bible camp's van full of high schoolers wet and smelly after a day of hiking in the High Peaks.  And we were "helped out" by some weird hippies that also tried to hunt us down and kill us (I have the scar to prove it!).

Were you ever arrested?
Almost.  In college (as most stories about being arrested start out) my friends and I went sledding next to the Mormon Temple in Palmyra, NY.  A girl broke her back, the cops came and we almost got arrested for trespassing.

Favorite Author?
Richard Foster (Freedom of Simplicity, Celebration of Discipline)

Describe your spiritual journey so far:
I was raised in a typical suburban church, in what Richard Foster would call a "ghetto of affluence".  Here I learned to look out for myself and make sure I would "make it to heaven".  But along the way God has led me to be more concerned about following Jesus as He reaches out to others rather than focusing on whether I've "made it to heaven".  I continue to learn from Him how to live and how to help others truly live.  In the past year in particular God has broken my heart, and my wife's too, for those trapped in empty materialistic suburban lives, as well as the urban poor who are hungry to have their physical needs met and to experience God's true life.  I feel I'm gaining understanding into what it means to "deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow," and at the same time realize "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

What was one of the must crucial points along the way?
There were actually two points where I encountered God's grace in fresh ways:
  My 20th summer, spent leading worship in the campgrounds of Yosemite National Park, CA, where God sparked in my heart a passion for ministry and a passion for the environment, His glorious creation!
  AND
  My 23rd winter spent in Colorado, where God used my (at the time) fiancée to renew that fire for ministering, and living the everyday walk of faith with Jesus.
 
How has Sojourn changed your idea of what church is?
Sojourn has helped me learn how to authentically express myself in worship, be that in a church or wherever I find myself worshipping my Creator.

Describe your ideal weekend (hobbies, favorite season/place…)
Canoeing back to a quiet corner of the Adirondacks, where I could curl up under the white pines and have time to enjoy a good book, and some time to relax, reflect, and revive for the journey ahead!


quick study

What is your favorite word?
Pork

Do you shave your back?
Why, do you think I should?

Which Apostle/Disciple best depicts you?
John, because of course Jesus loves me best too!

What is your depiction of a perfect day?
Any day there's a battle to fight, an adventure to be had, and a beauty to be won!

Fast Food or Diner?
Definitely Diner, buy local!!!!!

If you were going to take on a biblical name what would it be?
I've already got one!
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804 S. Onondaga Rd. (Rt. 173), Syracuse, NY  13219