After more than 20 years serving on the grounds of Gladstone Park, Grounds Manager Matt Ballard has retired. “I started here a few years before Matt,” Kevin Smith, Oregon Conference Facilities Manager shared recently. “When he came in he added so much to our team. He came with a ton of experience and a really good heart for ministry.” In the years working together, Kevin developed a strong respect for his coworker and friend, a sentiment shared across the grounds and facilities teams. “I’ve learned a lot of stuff from Matt,” continued Kevin. “He had so much to offer and he was willing to share it – not just with me but with all kinds of people. With anyone he was working with. He’s had an effect on so many young people’s lives because of how he was willing to share and teach them. He was patient with them on their first times doing all kinds of stuff; using tools, learning how to drive things, all kinds of things you really need someone there with you to learn. He’s been a great mentor and someone to bounce ideas off of and get advice from. With Matt retiring officially, we’re just really gonna miss him. There were so many times Matt prayed with me. When my kids were born or other times when we were going through struggles and troubles or he was going through them, we’d pray together. He was there for so many of those big moments, and he was thinking about me. Matt thinks a lot about others. He’s all about making life better for people. It’s why he builds things the way he does, it’s not because it’s fun or cool, it’s because he’s thinking about how everything affects people and how to make life better for them.”
“I really got to know Matt back in early 2012,” said Athena Gray, Oregon Conference events coordinator. “It was a really hard time to come in because there had been a major downsizing of the maintenance crew. I had been a primary teacher, and he was working with high schoolers and college kids as summer workers. It was a new age group for me. The compassion he showed the kids was amazing. In the past it had been mostly college boys working with our team, but as the years went by, we started working with a wider range of ages and more and more girls started to work with us. We started having kids come back and work with us for three, four, five years – my daughter was one of them. Matt has impacted so many lives. I can’t even tell you how many kids he’s taught to drive – and to drive stick! Overall, I think my daughter was with us for seven years, and four of those were year-round. He taught her every tool and every way to use it. She even helped build his garage. He was always very nurturing. He never expected perfection but always encouraged her to strive for more. He’s a great teacher and a spiritual leader. He always taught the kids to look for object lessons in the work they did, even cleaning the bathrooms.” Athena shared how appreciated she felt working with Matt, and that his influence even led to her daughter becoming an electrician. “From trimming the trees to carpentry to welding and making all the fence rails uniform to plumbing and electrical – Matt has done that for this campus. His mark is on everything here.”
“I think I’ve worked for six different treasurers,” Matt shared as we sat together outside on the Gladstone Park campus. “Work is work – it just keeps coming. But it’s the people that make the difference. I’ve really enjoyed working with the summer staff that’s been here, working with the kids. That’s the fun part.” Over the years, Matt has innovated dozens of new systems for operations on the grounds, including cutting down on the amount of labor it takes to set up for big events like camp meeting and implementing better ways to care for the equipment and materials we use. “There are so many little things you can do to make things more efficient and more user-friendly,” he explained. “It’s easy to get so accustomed to how things are that you forget to see it with a visitor’s eyes. You have to learn and teach your kids and your staff to see things with new eyes every time you drive in here – to try to be aware of what people see and what the community experiences as it relates to us.”
Beyond his work on the grounds, Matt has been a Sabbath school teacher, a speaker at many other churches, and a contributing writer for several Adventist publications. He loves the outdoors and observing local wildlife, and has participated in numerous mission trips, as well. “I guess my wish is like many other people’s,” he confided, “and that’s to leave something better for the people behind you. You want to leave a place better than when you got there. The recognition isn’t important; you just want to be able to know that you made a difference and made things better – that you made an impact and weren’t just spinning your wheels.”
As for advice for those picking up the mantle, Matt shared a few thoughts, “You’ve just gotta be flexible. Flexibility, patience, and the willingness to adapt are so important. Don’t get hung up on things, you kind of just have to go with the flow of it and keep moving forward. I don’t know how many times I’ve started something and then gotten a phone call about something else. And you’ve gotta know and understand people. There are always some folks that are not as easy to get along with. We’ve all got different personalities, but that’s just people. And you have to know how to work together.”
We are so grateful for the years of service and care that Matt Ballard has invested into this church family. Though he has officially retired as Grounds Manager, you’ll still catch him working around Gladstone Park a few days a week. Say hi and thank him for the difference he’s made!
