can recall from an early age

sitting in a neighbor’s garage

during a 5-Day Club conducted

by Child Evangelism Fellowship

missionaries. As I heard the

adventurous stories of missionary

heroes like Hudson Taylor and Amy

Carmichael, I sensed God’s call into

the mission ﬁeld. I imagined myself

living in a mud hut somewhere along

the dark Amazon River.

As I grew, a dangerous and wrong

concept crept into my mind: to

truly serve and please God I had

to be either a pastor or a full-time

missionary in a foreign country.

I became very active in CEF, teaching

for many summers in the 5-Day Club

program. After high school I interned

in the Detroit area and then spent a

month serving in the ºingdom of

Tonga in the South Paciﬁc.

Though I was sure God was calling

me to missions, a nagging problem

kept bothering me. A police problem.

As excited as I was for missions, I was

double that for law enforcement. I

was the guy who would turn down

friends because I didn’t want to

miss an episode of “Cops.” I would

interrupt every

police ofﬁcer’s

lunch break so I

could shake hands

and hear about their

jobs. And I was the

frequent “ride-

along” kid who was

Corporal Matthew Gillmore is a 2006 graduate of Appalachian Bible College.

He and Kristen live near Martinsburg, WV with their three children: Anthony,

Carolyn, and Emma.

always at the police station. I would

tell people if God didn’t want me in

missions I would be a police ofﬁcer.

When it was time to attend college

I chose Appalachian Bible College

because it was given glowing reviews

by my grandfather. A missionary

himself, he would regularly travel to

ABC and speak to students. In 1999 I

enrolled with a focus on Missions.

At ABC I could feel God sharpening

me as iron through my professors and

roommates. I was right where God

wanted me, learning how to take the

gospel to the far reaches of the globe.

In the summer of my junior year

I was blessed to marry my wife

ºristen and return as a married

student. God had been blessing both

of us through our time at ABC—but

the question every Missions student

is asked was starting to concern me:

“What country do you feel called to?”

I wanted to answer with the same

conviction as my fellow students but

I felt there was no solid answer.

My wife was the ﬁrst to confront me

with the fact that I would get excited

when I heard police sirens or saw

State Police cars. I wanted to pursue

police work but felt guilty. Would I

be letting God down? Would it be a

selﬁsh pursuit?

I took my concerns to

my Missions instructor.

Using Scripture and

wisdom gained from

years serving in Brazil, he explained

that God was calling me to missions,

but not to foreign lands; to the men

and women in blue.

God had been preparing me for a

mission ﬁeld full of people who need

a personal saving relationship with

Christ; a group who are far too often

forgotten unless they are needed or

complained about; a people who suffer

the pains of sin and death on a daily

basis and need the hope that is found

in Christ.

After graduating from ABC I stepped

into the mission ﬁeld God had

prepared for me: I had the privilege of

joining the ranks as a West Virginia

State Trooper.

In 2010, I was ordained by Independent

Bible Church in Martinsburg and

became a full-time Chaplain reaching

men and women in law enforcement

with the gospel. Since then, God has

used me to develop relationships with

the Troopers that no "outsider" could

do. I have had the opportunity to

point them to Christ during some very

difﬁcult times.

God used my education at ABC to

focus on the plan He had for me. My

subsequent criminal justice degrees

were needed for police work—but it

was my training at ABC that really

stuck with me. My time there prepared

me to be a godly man and husband

and to serve the State Police, the

mission ﬁeld God called me to.