The new leader of one of Charleston's biggest congregations has a vision not only for his church, but also for the impact it can have on the city.
"My vision for Bible Center ... in my heart is for us to be a church that Charleston doesn't want to live without," said Matt Friend, the church's new pastor.
Friend, 35, grew up in St. Albans and served as Bible Center's pastor of outreach and student ministries from 2007 through 2010.
He and his wife, Sarah, have two daughters who are 10 and 13. While Friend got into town earlier this week, his family will move here after the school year is over and visit on weekends in the meantime.
After graduating from Cross Lanes Christian School and Ambassador Bible College in North Carolina, Friend's first ministry experience was traveling the country as an evangelist. He preached at youth rallies and events more than 40 weeks out of the year. He said he learned a lot about ministry from the pastors he met during those five years on the road.
"Sitting in a different pastor's office every week? You just can't get that in college," Friend said. "So it was mentorship week after week after week. Learning, hearing these men - some of them with a lot of years in ministry - saying 'Hey, don't make these mistakes. These are the mistakes I made.'"
When the time came to settle down, Friend said he sought a meeting with Bible Center's then-pastor Shawn Thornton, with whom he had struck up a friendship. Friend's father-in-law is a longtime member of the church, he said. He said he wanted advice from Thornton.
"I thought it was gonna be a half-hour lunch and it turned into three to four hours at O'Charley's," Friend said. "His philosophy and my philosophy were so similar. I felt like this is a guy 15 to 20 years older than me. I can learn a ton from him."
By the end of that week, Thornton had offered Friend a job as his executive assistant. He later became the church's outreach and youth pastor.
Friend served as pastor of Randolph Street Baptist Church from 2010 to 2011, while completing the prerequisites for seminary at West Virginia State University.
He's spent the past five years at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also was a pastor at the East Campus of Sojourn Community Church.
While Charleston and Louisville have a difference in size - Louisville's metro area has more than a million people - Friend said the people of Kentucky and West Virginia are similar.
"They'll throw on their tie for Monday and their dress shoes but then on Saturday they're fishing, riding their four-wheelers," Friend said. "It was a good experience for our family."
Friend, who traces his West Virginia roots back 10 generations, said he always knew he would come back to the Mountain State, he just didn't know it would be so soon. Friend said God has given him a vision of city renewal. The book of Jeremiah talks about praying for the peace of the people and city, he said.
"What city needs renewal more than Charleston? There's not many," he said.
Lee Walker, who's been the church's interim pastor since former pastor Eric Mounts left in September, said Friend's vision for the city was one of the things that drew church leaders to him. During an interview, someone asked him why he would want to come back to Charleston when the state of West Virginia is struggling economically.
Friend told church leaders he wanted to go to a needy area. If Charleston didn't work out, maybe Detroit would have, he said.
"That said to us, 'This is a guy that was gonna jump in and not be afraid of the issues and problems but wants to address them,'" Walker said.
The church has invited Mayor Danny Jones to the service Sunday when Friend is installed as pastor. He'll be at the church's first service.
"One of the questions I plan on asking the mayor is 'How can we be a church that you don't want to live without, that Charleston doesn't want to live without?'" Friend said.
Friend said church staff members would be praying and talking with church members about which ministries are effective and which aren't so much anymore in the hopes of finding three or four ministries that the church can get behind.
Friend said he thinks several of the ministries that work are already in place at the church.
Friend also wants Bible Center to be an encourager of area business owners and leaders.
The Bible talks a lot about helping the poor but people who are doing well financially need church, too, Walker said.
"We talk about the down and out but there's an up and in that also sometimes don't get churched," Walker said. "That can be a lonely spot for a CEO or business owner."
Friend wants to stay in Charleston for the long haul, he said.
"My plan, Lord willing, is to spend the next 30 years [here]," Friend said. "I'm 35, I'll be 65. I'd love to spend 30 years continuing, growing with Bible Center and impacting the city for Christ."
Reach Lori Kersey at lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow
@LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.