{"id":21806,"date":"2026-03-11T11:49:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/how-he-came-to-minister-to-hikers-on-the-appalachian-trail\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:12:58","slug":"how-he-came-to-minister-to-hikers-on-the-appalachian-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/addiction-and-recovery\/how-he-came-to-minister-to-hikers-on-the-appalachian-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"How He Came to Minister to Hikers on the Appalachian Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Approaching the summit of Mount Katahdin, the highest point in Maine, I couldn\u2019t believe my good fortune. Day One of my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail<\/a> and God was already blessing my hike with his powerful presence!<\/p>\n

The hair on my arms stood up. I felt an electric charge in the air. I could see the sign marking the summit. I was starting at the northern terminus of the storied trail, and this was my first day\u2019s goal. Was this what folks mean when they talk about \u201ctrail magic\u201d?<\/p>\n

Then I looked up and saw a massive thunderhead directly above the summit. The wind picked up, and the electricity in the air intensified.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t having a direct encounter with God! This wasn\u2019t trail magic! I was blundering into a thunderstorm<\/a> atop an exposed peak. A mistake only a rookie hiker would make.<\/p>\n

A rookie hiker like me.<\/p>\n

Next minute, I was engulfed. Hail pounded down. Stupidly, I ran to the summit, got a picture of myself with eyes closed against the elements and raced back down, nearly slipping on what had become an icy trail.<\/p>\n

The only encounter with God I had that day was divine mercy<\/a> shielding me from the lightning strike that my inexperience had exposed me to.<\/p>\n

I reached the base of the mountain, where the trail wends toward its southern terminus, Springer Mountain in Georgia, almost 2,200 miles away, and said a ragged prayer of thanks.<\/p>\n

I also thought, Matt, what have you gotten yourself into?<\/em><\/p>\n

It was June of 2017. Not only was I thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail<\/a> solo, but I was also doing so as an official United Methodist Church trail chaplain. Since 2013, the Holston Conference of the UMC has selected a member to travel the length of the trail, befriending hikers and bringing God\u2019s love to a place where many people are on a spiritual as well as physical journey.<\/p>\n

If you had met me four years earlier, you would never have predicted that one day I would embark on a challenging long-distance hike as a witness for Jesus. Not in your wildest dreams.<\/p>\n

I was sitting in jail in Virginia for selling methamphetamines<\/a>. I\u2019d sold the drugs to support my opioid addiction. I\u2019d been an alcoholic, drug addict and dealer for years.<\/p>\n

My dad had abandoned my mom when she was pregnant with me. Mom was 19. She dropped out of college. My stepfather struggled with meth addiction<\/a>, and there was lots of fighting and instability in our house.<\/p>\n

I experimented with drugs and alcohol in high school. Experimented<\/em>\u2014who was I kidding? By graduation, I was a full-blown addict<\/a>, the guy who got crazy drunk at parties to overcome shyness, then felt deeply ashamed the next day and drank more to blot it all out.<\/p>\n

I got booted out of the Army after failing a drug test. Lost jobs. Totaled a brand-new car and broke my neck. The accident introduced pain pills to my menu of substances.<\/p>\n

At last came the inevitable arrest and felony conviction. I detoxed in jail and, for the first time in years, experienced the world as a sober adult. I was 23.<\/p>\n

A preacher came into the jail periodically to read from the Bible<\/a> and deliver a sermon. Most of the inmates ignored him. I wasn\u2019t particularly interested in what he was selling, but his sincerity was hard to ignore. I realized he was the first apparently good person I had encountered in years.<\/p>\n

I wound up in a court-ordered treatment program, which was followed by a year of strict supervision. I took up running at the recommendation of a treatment counselor.<\/p>\n

One day, I jogged past a small Methodist church. Remembering the jailhouse preacher, I started attending. Church was one of the few places my restricted license allowed me to drive.<\/p>\n

Why did I keep going to that church? Why did I stay sober? The answer is simple. People welcomed me<\/a>\u2014a felon, a drug dealer, a guy who\u2019d wrecked his life. On some level, those jailhouse sermons had gotten through to me.<\/p>\n

I wanted more of that. Unlike alcohol or drugs, God actually filled my deep well of inner need. I wasn\u2019t waiting around for the next fix. His presence was a constant.<\/p>\n

I was baptized and started a 12-step program<\/a> at the church. People kept telling me I should consider a call to ministry. I attended some conferences and shared my testimony at other churches.<\/p>\n

At one conference, I saw a video about the Appalachian Trail chaplaincy. Poor guy, <\/em>I thought, figuring some unlucky pastor got tasked with that ministry each year.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d added occasional hikes to my workout routine, and some friends got the mistaken impression I loved being in nature. My main experience with the great outdoors had been passing out on my way home from parties.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt, you should apply for this trail chaplaincy<\/a>,\u201d a friend urged.<\/p>\n

You had to apply <\/em>to torture yourself like that?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll meet people in our conference doing the interviews. Think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I did want to meet more people in the church. I figured I was such a newbie, I\u2019d never get picked. I applied. A few months later, I was shaking hands with an enthusiastic interview panel and being told to start buying the gear I\u2019d need.<\/p>\n

With help from the church, I had almost eight months to prepare. By the time I blundered into that hail-storm on Katahdin<\/a>, I was physically fit but still very inexperienced in the wilderness\u2014and in ministry.<\/p>\n

It was one thing to share my story in a 12-step group or at a church service. I couldn\u2019t picture going up to a stranger and saying, \u201cHi, want to talk to an ex-junkie about Jesus?\u201d I\u2019d received training in practicing the ministry of presence<\/a>\u2014getting to know hikers and helping people in need. I planned to lean on that training and share the Gospels when asked.<\/p>\n

The day after Katahdin, I set out through Maine\u2019s 100-Mile Wilderness. I vowed to be more careful. And I realized that, no matter how nervous you feel, when you\u2019re hiking, you have no choice but to put one foot in front of the other, a little like sobriety. Life becomes very simple when it\u2019s one step at a time.<\/p>\n

Everyone on the A.T. adopts a trail name\u2014a nickname expressing something about you. Mine was Trigger, the name Willie Nelson gave his old, beat-up guitar. I\u2019d beaten myself up pretty good as an addict. I prayed I had what it took to meet this responsibility.<\/p>\n

In July, I pulled off the trail to resupply in Stratton, Maine. I ended up eating with other hikers at a hostel. A burly guy struck up a conversation. He was a retired Marine<\/a>, hiking the trail north with his wife. Because of their early start, they were nearing the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I didn\u2019t know why I was out here,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the Smoky Mountains, I realized: I\u2019m looking for a purpose<\/a>. The military was always my purpose. Now I think I need something spiritual.\u201d He eyed me.<\/p>\n

\u201cCool,\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m a United Methodist trail chaplain. The church sends one each year to meet hikers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He brightened. \u201cYou mean a church cares enough to send a minister to meet someone like me?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what Jesus did,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

He blinked back tears. \u201cThank you, man. I think I just found my answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was better than any electric charge in the air. This was more than trail magic. For the rest of the hike, I would stumble into many such conversations.<\/p>\n

I met people grieving a loved one or wrestling with a big life transition<\/a>. Many had endured struggles with addiction. They were encouraged to learn that a chaplain had shared that struggle. What I\u2019d always thought of as my weakness turned out to be a ministerial strength.<\/p>\n

Not everyone was happy when they learned I was a chaplain. One woman in New Hampshire pushed back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Jewish,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not here to convert anyone,\u201d I told her. \u201cJust meet people where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

She relaxed, and we discovered a shared love of the musician John Prine. We ended up singing a duet of his song \u201cAngel from Montgomery.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hiked through bugs, rain, stifling heat, freezing cold. I got blisters and muscle aches. I was always dirty.<\/p>\n

Many days I hiked alone. Each night, I crowded into a lean-to with other hikers to share food, sleeping space and stories.<\/p>\n

I wended through New Hampshire\u2019s granite peaks, the old hills of Massachusetts, the mid-Atlantic\u2019s gentle landscapes (notorious for rocks, roots and mud) and the wooded heights of the Great Smoky Mountains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The trail became its own world. The farther I hiked, the more I felt God was beside me, step by step, guiding my way as he had since I got sober.<\/p>\n

Growing up in a chaotic household, I\u2019d always assumed there was something wrong with me. I\u2019d wasted years hiding my insecurities behind a fog of addiction. On the A.T., all I had was myself, the stuff in my pack and God. Life was reduced to its essence.<\/p>\n

It was fall as I entered Georgia. The leaves were gone, and nights were frosty. I approached the trail\u2019s end with mixed feelings. A crowd of church people, friends and family would be waiting. Thoughts of a warm bed and a burger were enticing.<\/p>\n

I would miss the simplicity of the trail and my daily conversations with strangers. Maybe everyone was right. Maybe I was called to be a minister. I loved talking about God. And for the first time in my life, I\u2019d achieved a big goal without messing up.<\/p>\n

I walked the last days with a group of hikers I\u2019d gotten to know. I reached Springer Mountain, surrounded by cheers and hugs. I signed the trail register, and that was it. I was done.<\/p>\n

It was hard to convey my feelings. I was glad God knew what I couldn\u2019t express. One foot in front of the other. God always at my side<\/a>. Those were lessons I would take with me long after the hike was over.<\/p>\n

I did go on to become a licensed Methodist minister. Now I help oversee the trail chaplaincy program. I\u2019d love to do another big hike someday, maybe the Pacific Crest Trail.<\/p>\n

For now, I minister on a more everyday trail. It\u2019s a different kind of adventure. And like everything else with God, that\u2019s more than enough.<\/p>\n

For more inspiring stories, subscribe to <\/em>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Approaching the summit of Mount Katahdin, the highest point in Maine, I couldn\u2019t believe my good fortune. Day One of my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail and God was already blessing my hike with his powerful presence! The hair on my arms stood up. I felt an electric charge in the air. 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Day One of my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail and God was already blessing my hike with his powerful presence! The hair on my arms stood up. I felt an electric charge in the air. 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