Matt Woodcock was a newspaper journalist, very happy in his dream job until he had what he calls a ‘Road to Selby’ experience! Driving to cover a court case in the Yorkshire town, he felt the presence of God more powerfully than he ever had before, so much so that he had to pull over. And very soon realised God was calling him to be a priest.
Which made his editor laugh…a lot. His wife Anna, not so much…not relishing the thought of their settled life being turned upside down.
Matt’s path to ordination, and beyond is charted, in diary form, in Becoming Reverend, and Being Reverend. They’re frank, engaging, properly funny books in which he absolutely doesn’t hold back - honest about his triumphs and failings, about he and Anna’s IVF journey, about his views on the Church of England and its need for a major shake up.
He says he’s a bad fit for it really with his ‘boredom threshold too low, and excitement threshold too high’, but I’d say, with his infectious energy, humour, and passion for people and for Jesus, that he’s in exactly the right place.