First Baptist pastor begins new journey in Charles City

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

It was a leap of faith that brought the Rev. Matt Howlett to Charles City.

The rest he said, has been left up to God.

Howlett’s journey in life has carved a path some five hours east from his home state of South Dakota and landed him here in northeast Iowa.

It’s a decision that has allowed the congregation at the First Baptist Church in Charles City the opportunity to worship under a full-time pastor.

“It’s all about the position in this church and the calling I felt I received from God,” said Howlett. “A lot of it was just stepping out on faith, just taking that first step.”

Howlett took over last week as the full-time ordained minister at First Baptist. He takes over for interim pastor Dennis Bachman, who filled in to lead the church after longtime pastor Ruth Yeaton retired on New Year’s Eve 2017.

“My wife and I decided to put it out there and to go wherever we felt called — whether it was a couple hours from home or you know, China,” said Howlett.

Howlett interviewed for pastoral positions in New York, Texas and Oregon, seeing if he was the right fit for their church. He made three trips to Charles City before he accepted the position to lead the First Baptist congregation.

He said through that discernment process — in which God guided him to make a decision as to what’s best for his life and his family — he came to understand that Charles City felt like home.

“I was struck by just the beauty of the town and how friendly everybody has been. It’s just been extremely welcoming on all sides,” said Howlett.

This is the first full-time pastor position for Howlett, who graduated from Sioux Falls Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree in May 2018.  He also said he has done interim and intern work at churches in his hometown of Watertown, South Dakota, and nearby Mitchell.

Howlett’s background is diverse and his resume is not run-of-the-mill by any stretch.

The 41-year-old remembers small sacrifices made every morning that would bring in a little extra cash for his family — like the countless days of delivering donuts before dawn at Daylight Donuts in Mitchell.

“I would get up at 5 o’clock in the morning and deliver donuts for a couple hours and go home, get the kids ready for school and kind of do whatever else my day entailed,” Howlett said.

Some 20 years ago, Howlett began training in taekwondo. He eventually opened up his own dojo – Ultimate Kicks in Fort Thompson, South Dakota. Fort Thompson is located in the Crow Creek Indian Reservation.

“I have an interesting background. I’m not somebody on paper that you would say, ‘yeah, this guy is destined to be a pastor,’” laughed Howlett.

He still travels back to his native South Dakota to work with his taekwondo students and is under contract until April. He travels makes the 10-hour round trip once a week to help train his proteges. He wasn’t able to make it back this Tuesday because of the arctic blast that slammed into the upper Midwest.

Howlett says he finds many parallels between taekwondo and his spiritual faith. He said through the discipline of the sport, all things can become possible — working in much the same way as his Christian faith.

 “I’m talking a little bit about how some of the things a person learns in taekwondo allows them to do things they never thought they could,” said Howlett. “It’s the same way when we put our faith in God.”

Through hard work, dedication and prayer, Howlett has realized his dreams and they have become reality.

“God allows us to do things we never thought we could do. I never thought eight years ago when I had a call to ministry that it was really something I could do. It didn’t make sense. But God’s equipped me to be here for this time,” said Howlett.

Howlett believes one of most powerful forces that First Baptist Church possesses is its tight-knit bond and togetherness.

“The strongest thing I feel this congregation has is how close they are together,” said Howlett.

“In this last year of interim period, being without a full-time pastor, you see a lot of congregations fall apart and people slip away and come and go. This is a congregation that’s really stayed together and is stronger for that last year.”

Howlett said 60 to 70 people attend service on Sundays at First Baptist. Howlett isn’t looking to make monumental changes within the church, but will take a steady approach to help lead the church in the right direction.

“I don’t want to change a ton of stuff right away. One of the things I stressed to this church is they have a strong foundation. I want to build on that foundation and enhance that foundation and make it stronger and not destroy it and start over,” said Howlett.

Howlett has been married to his wife, Kari, for 16 years. They have three sons, Brayce, 14, Thane, 11, and Ryker, who is 5.

Howlett received his undergraduate degree from Dakota Wesleyan University, located in Mitchell. He was able to attain a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Leadership: World Missions. Howlett also was a direct support coordinator, where he ran group homes for mentally disabled people for more than 10 years at the Human Service Agency.

Howlett has a message for anybody who has gone down a difficult path in life or has been struggling and trying to cope with life’s stresses.

“To those hurting people, I’d say there are hurts in life and I’ve been hurt in life. I still hurt in life like we all do, but God will see us through those things and remain faithful. We can rely on him. We can come to him at any time.

“No matter how far you’ve fallen, he can pick you up and dust you off and bring you back to health. Not just to health, but a greater health and success in life than anything we could dream,” said Howlett.