Making his WAY
By Patti Smith | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Matt and Justine Hahn bought their first house in Columbus, Ohio, in 2003.
It was close to grandparents, school and Matt’s job at a local Christian radio station with the River Radio Network.
In 2004, Matt was recruited by WAY-FM, a contemporary Christian radio ministry, to help start a station in the Nashville, Tenn., area. All of Justine’s dreams of raising her
children in the home they had prayed for came crashing down.
“I remember running the vacuum and mumbling in my head, ‘We prayed so hard for this house, Lord. This is where I want to stay,’” she said. “I felt the Lord speak and say,
‘It’s just a house.’ It still brings me to tears. It was at that moment I surrendered and said, ‘You’re right.’”
She and Matt also were studying Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” at that time, which further led her to trust in God’s provision as He plucked her out of her comfort
zone.
“God showed me so clearly that it’s not about us and what we want. It’s about His will and what He wants for us,” she said.
It has a meant a great deal to Matt to have Justine’s support as God has called him into full-time radio ministry.
The Hahns went from Nashville, back to Columbus for three years and then to Southern Indiana, where Matt was asked to take on another WAY-FM launch, this time in the
Louisville radio market.
Justine was much more receptive to seeing what God had planned and embraced the idea of moving again.
“This time I was a little bit more trusting and willing,” she said. “I had been there and experienced His faithfulness. I knew if this is where He truly was calling us, then we
would go.”
Through the counsel of close Christian friends, Matt believes the Holy Spirit was saying, “Trust Me. I’ll take care of you.”
The Hahns wanted to be obedient, and through a lot of prayer, took that leap of faith again and put their house up for sale.
Matt lived at the Legacy Center on the campus of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville as a trade for advertising on WAY-FM.
For seven months, he commuted back home to Columbus on the weekends to be with his family until their house sold.
Justine and the couple’s children, Joy, Janna and Josh, moved to Sellersburg, Ind., in July of 2009.
With the grind of getting a radio station up and running, Matt sought encouragement and spiritual growth at Southeast’s Indiana Campus.
“I needed to be fed,” he said. “By the time Sunday came around, I was depleted.”
Matt met former Indiana Campus Pastor Rusty Russell, with whom he had great conversations. He formed a relationship with Southeast that has become a partnership in
the WAY-FM ministry. When his family settled that summer, they started attending worship services at the campus and joined in October 2009.
Whenever the Hahns go out of town on a weekend, Matt said his children always ask if they will be back by Sunday.
“Southeast became home to us,” Matt said. “We’re growing together, and when your kids are excited to go to church, that makes a big difference.”
Matt’s faith journey began by listening to Christian radio.
In the early 1980s he often tuned in to the Children’s Bible Hour Ministries’ "Uncle Charlie" devotional radio program. One day, when it was over, he walked into the kitchen
and told his mom that he wanted to know Jesus.
They prayed together, and Matt accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Years later during a youth conference, he knew he wanted to be involved in ministry somehow as an adult. He worked for his high school radio station and later broadcast
sports for Clear Channel Communications.
“I thought I’d work for ESPN one day,” he said, but soon after college, radio ministry became his career.
WAY-FM’s mission is to do life together with families and minister to them through music that mothers, fathers and children can agree upon. Matt wants the station to serve
as “church” in between church time; a resource that listeners can relate to as a family.
“We try to be real, relevant and challenge families to open that line of communication,” Matt said.
E-mails pour in from people who are not churchgoers or even believers.
“We’re opening doors for them,” he said. “They are beginning to look at life differently. It gives a new perspective to folks that are hungry. It’s a blessing to see lives changed.
It’s why we do what we do.”
One of his favorite parts of the job is partnering with other Christian radio stations to promote concerts, then seeing thousands of people coming together in one place to
raise their hands in praise.
WAY-FM staff prays for listeners who e-mail requests or post them at wayi.wayfm.com.
Matt said he is encouraged by the growth of the station, which is clear at pledge drive time. The first drive yielded about 200 callers, and the last one brought in more than
800 responses.
Matt is quick to give the credit for the success where it belongs.
“It’s not about what we’re doing,” Matt said. “It’s about what God is doing. It’s about lives being changed.”