Matt Dumont's Story

Good Morning. My name is Matthew Dumont.

Most of you know me and my family, but few of you know me intimately and there was a reason for that. I say was because of the story of an awesome healing that God has done in my heart - healing that has changed my heart and my life forever.

My family walked through the doors of New River nine years ago in 2000. We were instantly welcomed and felt the love here. We stayed and never looked back.

Through Life Groups and some great discipleship, I gave my life to Jesus. On 1/11/01, in a dinner with my good friend Jay, I prayed the Sinner's Prayer and asked Jesus into my heart. I was baptized that same year.

There was a problem, though. I did not surrender my whole life to Jesus. I talked the talk and pretty much walked the walk, but there was a small piece of me that I refused to give up, a small piece of me that I would not bring into the light. I kept it in the darkness where sin resides.

I was hiding this junk in my heart because I was afraid to deal with it. I was afraid of what you - my Christian brothers and sisters - would think. Deceiving man is easy but no one can deceive the Father. So there I was for nine years, depriving myself of the full love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Well, I finally grew tired of having around all of this junk. A few months ago, Pastor Doug asked me why he did not see me at the Men's Retreat. This was the beginning of my change. I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Doug, I chickened out. I did not go because I was a coward and afraid of what might be revealed."

I have been struggling with health problems for over a year now and am presently not working. I did not participate in the Holy Spirit Weekend, but I did stay on Sunday afternoon for the healing service. When it was my turn, I explained my physical problems and was asked if anything else was on my heart. I did confess that I was guilty of holding back, only giving 80 or 90% of myself to Jesus and that I could run my home with more love and not like a drill sergeant.

Everyone laid hands on me and there was powerful prayer. One voice, however, stood out to me. Elaine is on the prayer team and has been faithfully praying for my pain over the last year. I focused on her voice as she repeatedly said, "Surrender, surrender, surrender Matt."

When it was over, she came to me privately and asked me the question that changed my life. She said, "Matt, I feel that there is something else. Is there anything more you need to give to God?" Instantly, I said "Yes!" My cover was blown.

She asked me whom I trusted and would like to pray with. I chose my good friends Diego and Paul Skaff.

Privately, I poured out my heart to them. I told them everything I had been holding back. I confessed that alcohol has been a lifelong problem for me and had a power over me that only God should have. I had never admitted that to myself of anyone else. I told them how I struggle with lust and worshipping other women with my eyes - a worship that should be saved for God and God only. I confessed that as a Construction Foreman, I had shared a job trailer with many other foremen and inappropriate pictures had hung on the walls and pornography was readily available to look at. As a Christian, I should have objected, but I did not. In fact, I participated. These pleasures and desires belong to my wife and my wife only. I was disrespecting the Father and disrespecting my wife.

This was not as hard as I dreamed it would be. My Christian brothers responded with love, forgiveness, and prayer. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off me.

More importantly, I confessed the same to Melissa later that eveing and through tears and prayer, I vowed to resist Satan and all of these ugly things. We also made a pact to treat each other with more love and respect and to discipline the children with more love and respect, not humiliation.

My life and my household are full of peace and blessings unknown before that day. I used to stand in here and assume that everyone around me was somehow better than me. That was Satan's lie. I stand before you today to say that I am forgiven. I am clean before God and have left all of my sins at the cross. If any one of you is holding back from God, please don't wait as long as I did. Its just not worth it.