Change of Plans
Matthew had written all the songs for his new album and had even decided on the title.

“I had it all planned out; I had all the songs written, and my record label was excited. Studio time was booked, a producer was picked and several concerts were booked,” he explains.

But a routine visit for a checkup on his vocal cords (something all singers have to do) resulted in a scary diagnosis: complete vocal rest and possible surgery. “In one doctor’s appointment, all my plans got shot down. To be honest, it was quite devastating.”

With surgery being a last resort because of the possibility that his voice wouldn’t return to normal, the doctor put Matthew on complete vocal rest for several weeks. No singing, no talking, no making any sounds at all. Matthew carried around a dry-erase board as his only way to communicate. Three weeks ended up being two months, and then Matthew found out he would have to have surgery.

“My wife calls that the greatest two months of our marriage! But in all seriousness, I couldn’t sing to my daughter at night. This was a very challenging time in my life. For a singer to have his voice taken away and his future become that uncertain, I really found myself in a place I’d never been.”

Matthew immediately thought about his album title, Something to Say, and knew it wasn’t a coincidence that he was experiencing this setback. “It felt like God was putting on my heart to use this season of my life to be quiet and be still and have Him do the talking before I could completely understand what that season of my life was going to be.”

New Meaning
Fast-forward several months. The surgery was a success, and after months of physical therapy, relearning how to speak properly and how to sing the right way, Matthew was finally able to record his new album.

“I was hit in the face with losing something I love and having to come to grips with, ‘What if I couldn’t provide for my family?’ God was reminding me, ‘Hey, you don’t provide for your family, I do.’ I learned that God’s going to use me, even if this dream goes away. He’s big enough to bring another dream.”

Matthew says he wasn’t sure how his voice would perform when he went back into the studio to record the album. “I was nervous about my voice, but I’m actually singing higher notes than I’ve ever sung in my career! So that’s a pretty awesome blessing.”

The song “You Are Everything” is the first song Matthew recorded after his surgery. “I didn’t really understand the lyrics until I went through this experience, and now the song means a whole lot more to me. This song discovers how human we are. Sometimes we have to risk losing everything to realize that it isn’t everything; Jesus is our everything.”

A lot of Matthew’s songs are inspired by his own life. The story of a young teenage couple inspired the song “Life Inside You.” It’s about a couple who barely knew each other but were facing an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy.

“I sat down and was thinking about these two young kids; he’s battling drug addiction, and she’s contemplating abortion. I saw the signs of life just fading from them.”

The message he hopes the song conveys is that we’ve all made mistakes, and we all need “a life inside of us that’s greater than our own. And that’s the life Jesus offers.”

Even when Matthew didn’t have a singing voice, God still used him. Matthew has written songs for other artists, including Point of Grace, Natalie Grant, Jump5 and, most recently, Mandisa.

“I wrote a song for her, and I couldn’t speak, and I was totally bummed out. I turn on “Live With Regis and Kelly,” and Mandisa’s singing my song. I thought, You know what? Someone’s being encouraged today by something God did in my life, and she’s singing that song a lot better than I ever could.”

Matthew also felt the Lord impress upon his heart to make a film about his journey through silence and surgery. “I had this idea that maybe we should film this season of my life. So I called up this young filmmaker and dry-erased some of my ideas. I wrote, ’This might be crazy, but I think we’re supposed to film this. Can you come with me to the hospital? Can you come with me while I’m being silent?’ It turned into this film called Nothing to Say. It’s a film that journeys through my surgery and my season of silence, which might sound like a silent movie! But when I can’t speak, there’s commentary from other people.

I wanted to be open with my trial and let people know that I’m not just a singer who has no problems. But I have problems and setbacks just like everybody else. I’m praying that the story behind this music can encourage anybody to say, ‘Even with the setbacks I face, even with the mistakes I’ve made, even with the things I’ve lost that I love in this life, God still has something to say through my life.’ ”