Lenna Kottke, Chair of our church’s Staff-Parish Relations Committee, gave this introduction of Rev. Mike Mather during his first worship service with us on Sunday, July 5, 2020.
Our new Senior Pastor, the Rev. Michael “Mike” Mather, comes to us from the Indiana Conference, where, for the past 34 years, he has served two churches, both named Broadway!
Mike was born in Brooklyn, NY, the son of a preacher who served churches in small towns in southern Indiana as Mike was growing up. He attended the University of Evansville in Indiana before obtaining his Master of Divinity from Drew University Theological School in Madison, NJ. He began his pastorate at Asbury UMC in Evansville, the beginning of his journey in ministry to inner city congregations.In 1986, he became Pastor of Broadway UMC in Indianapolis, where he served until being appointed to Broadway UMC in South Bend in 1992. He returned to Indianapolis in 2003 as Senior Pastor to the Broadway church, where he has served for the past 17 years.
Mike is the author of Having Nothing, Possessing Everything: Finding Abundant Communities in Unexpected Places. He is also on the faculty of the Asset Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University. He has been a frequent guest preacher and speaker on the subject of community development in churches and conference events across the country, most recently as a featured speaker at the The Princeton Theological Seminary Lectures on Youth, Church, and Culture.
Mike is married to Kathy Licht, whom he met and married when they were both students at the University of Evansville. They have been married for 40 years and have two sons, Conor, a software engineer living in Denver, and Jordan, a stand-up comedian currently staying with Mike and Kathy in Longmont while they look for permanent housing.
Mike has enjoyed two sabbaticals during his ministry, spending time in India in 2000, and later in South Africa in 2007. He is a voracious reader (evidenced by the 227 boxes of books that currently reside in our Youth Room!), and he and Kathy enjoy hiking. They are happy to be here, not least because they can be close to their first grandchild, Alexandra or “Xan,” born in March to Conor and Deidre in Denver.
We welcome Mike and Kathy to the First Church family!