Matt Shada joins us for an episode of the 4:18 Podcast for a conversation about his father, the late Doug Shada, and his life of faith. Doug was a catalyst for growth as Possibilities Africa began in the early 2000s until the day he went home to be with Jesus. This is his story. 

Transcription

00:07

Emily: Welcome back to the 4:18 Podcast. Today, we have a special episode with Matt Shada. Over the years, many have played a key role in the impact of Possibilities Africa, and we often hear about the late Doug Shada as one of those people. Doug was an influential pastor in Nebraska who championed the mission and vision of Possibilities Africa, and today I have the pleasure of sitting down with Doug’s son, Matt Shada.

00:35

Matt currently serves as the lead pastor of Steadfast Bible Fellowship and has been an active, faithful, and committed board member for Possibilities Africa. Welcome to the podcast, Matt. Matt, for people who never got to meet your dad, would you share what he was like? How did he lead, whether in family, church, or ministry? 

Matt: Yeah, I mean, that’s a great question. I guess when I think about leadership, I think that leadership 101 is to live a life worth following. And that starts when no one is looking.  And I think the best way to just to give a picture of what dad’s leadership was like is it started early in the morning. And I remember even growing up as a little kid and through high school, I would wake up in the morning and his light would… 

01:31

unless he had a meeting, which was often, but when he didn’t have a meeting, his light would always be on in his office, and he was always spending time in the Word and in prayer. And his commitment to hiding God’s Word in his heart, to knowing the Word, and to… I would just not say prayer. I would say fervent prayer was where his leadership all began, hearing from the Lord and… 

01:59

You know, it’s interesting looking back on his life because dad, dad wasn’t perfect by any means. And I mean, nobody sees the imperfections of a person better than their kids. But I think that’s what makes dad’s life so remarkable in many ways is the impact he was able to have as just a child of God. In fact, he had a quote that was on a map,

02:28

on his desk that he would pray, and it was, “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.” 

Emily: My next question for you might have already been answered, but was there a phrase, prayer, or habit your dad was known for that encapsulated who he was? I would say, I mean, there were a lot of phrases. In fact, when I run into people now, they’re always telling me phrases that

02:56

they remember that He said. But I think maybe one that just encapsulates who He was, especially just His passion and His desire was, life is not about you, it’s not about me, it’s all about the glory of Christ. And that really, I think, described just even how He led as well. He was an example.

03:21

And one of the things when I think about his leadership was just that he stressed often was, and it was a big deal, was how you treated people. Because how you treated people in his eyes, and according to scripture, was that’s really how you were treating God. And so at the same time, when I think about his leadership too, just especially in the home, he was the same person inside the home as he was outside the home.

03:51

He was consistent, and he was fun. I mean, we had a lot of fun growing up. So I also would say just something that I appreciate about his spiritual leadership is he took God at his word. He was a very, very outgoing person. I mean, my mom is an introvert. He is an extreme extrovert, and he took God at his word and then obeyed him. And so, 

04:20

quotes like, life is not about you, it’s not about me, it’s all about the glory of Christ. Another question he would oftentimes ask people that I have in my head is, he would say, “Is the glory of Christ more important than your own selfish desires?” 

And another thing he would say that’s stuck in my head when we were growing up, he would remind us before we went to school or wherever, he would always say these words, “Remember who you represent.”

04:49

Emily: You mentioned how fun it was with him as a dad. Would you tell us more about that? What did that look like? 

Matt: He… I mean, growing up, we would play games, sports, ride our bikes to go get ice cream, go fishing. We would do whatever. It was, it was lighthearted. He would laugh. He would joke. He liked to have a good time. And we were able to participate in that with him.

05:18

When it was time to be serious, he was serious, too. So it was not just one thing. Life, I would just say even on a daily basis, was… let’s just say the joy of the Lord was present. 

Emily: So beautiful. You also mentioned his obedience to take God at His word. What did obedience to God look like for Doug Schada in real time? 

Matt: Well, when God asked him to do something, he did it.

05:48

If he sensed the Holy Spirit tugging on his heart, he wouldn’t delay, if you will. And it didn’t matter if he sensed the Holy Spirit telling him to share something with a waiter or waitress at a restaurant. In fact, I was sitting with somebody just this last year who was telling me they were having lunch with him. And dad, at the end of the lunch…

06:18

He leaves this whole note on the receipt with a verse and had talked to the waitress just about faith and things like that to such an extent that the person he was with, this guy I was meeting with, he said, I was embarrassed almost. He was like, just leave this lady alone, let her do her job. And he said, we got done with our lunch and we’re walking out to the parking lot. And the waitress ran out

06:47

to catch them and say how much she’d been going through and how much she needed this in her life. I remember a story, just even when he was serving as a pastor, I remember him telling, he said he was driving home, but he sensed the Lord telling him to go back to church, and he didn’t know why. But he turned around and went back to church, and there was somebody waiting

07:17

in the parking lot who didn’t know Jesus as their Savior and he met them and shared the gospel with them, and they came to know Christ. I think another example of this is really, this was shortly before he passed away, and he was not in good shape physically, but he had an appointment that I was taking him to at the Med Center here in Omaha.

07:44

And he had a good friend that he served with who was from the North Platte area, who was actually in the ICU at the Med Center, and he wasn’t in good shape at all. Dad said before we went, he wanted to go see his friend Royce, and so I’m thinking, how are we going to do this, because he was just physically struggling and

08:12

It turns out we went there and his appointment where he was having an MRI done did not go well. They had to sedate him because he couldn’t get comfortable. So we get done with all that and he’s hungry. So I take him to the cafeteria to get something to eat. And I’m thinking, let’s just get in the car and go home. And he was like, we’re not leaving here until we go see Royce.

08:40

I will never forget that day because somehow, and I’m holding him, he wasn’t in a wheelchair or anything, but he was very unstable. We get up to the ICU, we get into Royce’s room, and I don’t know another way to say it except for the Holy Spirit just took over. He leaned up against Royce’s bed, talked to Royce’s wife, and then it was… God just gave him the strength and  just

09:09

prayer to pray over that time that was again, it was just an example of the Lord was telling him even though he felt terrible, this is what he needed to do and so you know ah multiple times if God told him to change a message the night before or even that morning of, he would do it. So, so this is just again, as dad grew his heart for the world grew.

09:39

And there were even things there where he just sensed like God is asking me to have a bigger vision and he followed through, he obeyed. 

Emily: Man, this is so good. I have tears in my eyes as we talk about this. As we go back to the beginning of his life, how did God grab hold of his heart? 

Matt: I mean, to understand Dad, you have to understand how he grew up. I mean dad went through some

10:07

incredibly hard things, him and his siblings. In June of 1961, his dad went into the hospital, and they didn’t even know his dad was sick. A lot of what was going on with his dad, they didn’t tell the kids. His dad ended up dying when he was 12, and he’s the oldest of four, so he was 12.

10:33

He had a brother who was 10, another brother who was eight at the time, and a sister who was six. And so they didn’t even let the kids go to the funeral, which I know was something that he has lamented. And I know his siblings have lamented for years, but it left him with a lot of questions. And he was scared. Him and his brother, they were scared of dying.

11:03

That… one of those first nights after his dad died, him and his brother Jim, they got a Bible out, no idea why other than God’s direction, and they started reading a chapter a night in Matthew, and they started in Matthew chapter one, and they were scared, and they wanted to know was there an answer to life after death.

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And fast forward a few years to when he was 18, again the oldest of four, his mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, and she ends up passing away. And they had nothing. They didn’t have… it wasn’t like they were sitting on a pile of resources by any stretch. They had, thank God, some

12:00

great aunts or their aunts and uncles and family, who surrounded them and loved them. But you know, when you have those kind of things happen in your life when you’re that young,  you’re asking some big questions like what is life all about? And it was… actually just he ended up going to a meeting at one point in time. I think it was a

12:30

businessmen’s meeting, which is funny because he was a teacher at first. But the man there who was speaking shared the Gospel, and it all made sense to him. And that’s how he came to know Jesus as his Savior. And when he did, he was all in. Because I think of all that he’d been through and all the questions he knew, even of all the passages that they’d read,

12:59

that salvation was not based on works, but salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone.  And that began a journey where I would just say of Him learning to surrender His life to Jesus and then wanting to be used by Jesus in the lives of others.

13:22

Emily: What I’m reminded of is this book by Dan Allender called Redeeming Heartache. It’s one of my favorite books, and the concept of the book that it addresses is the orphan, the stranger, and the widow. So it talks about how each of those painful parts of a person’s story becomes a key part of God’s redemption story. So, for example, the orphan becomes a key part of God’s redemption story in seeing the suffering in the lives of others, and that seems really accurate to what you’ve described about your dad.

13:52

and the stories that you’ve shared about him.  

Matt: I think too, I mean, just something to add is, he didn’t go to seminary. He was in the school of hard knocks  in many ways, and I would say it was God’s seminary for him but it included a lot of hard things and you know, he had cancer four times. When I was two they gave him six months to live, and he lived

14:20

40 more years. 

Emily: That is crazy.  

Matt: And so, just even too, just even in his leadership, there were things that he had to walk through, kind of going along your point just about that God used these things to shape him for his good and also for His glory to impact others.

14:47

Emily: In light of that, what would you want people to remember most about your dad? Not just what he did, but who he was. I think about how he’d want that question answered. think just what we mentioned earlier is probably the most appropriate thing to say. And that is just that the glory of Christ and loving other people with the love of Christ should be our ultimate pursuit.

15:15

When I think of my father, I think of 2 Corinthians 3. In the first few verses, Paul says, are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need, as some letters of commendation to you or from you? And then he says, you are our letter written on our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God,

15:45

not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. And the reason I think of those verses is, you know, back then they would carry around letters of commendation, basically approving of this minister, that minister. And Paul is challenging the Corinthians. And what he’s saying is, I don’t need any letters. You are my letter.

16:15

You are… your life… The fact that God has transformed your life through the power of the Gospel, that is the letter, and I think of that verse often when I think about my father because most people he knew a ton of people, but he not only knew them, God used them in his life to make a difference, and you know…

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The reality is, that one day, when we get to heaven, what’s going to really matter? There’s only a couple things. The Word of God and people. And what do we do to impact people, and to think we won’t ever know until we get there? But I was thinking about that with him. I told my mother after he passed away, we don’t need to set up any memorials or anything because the lives that were impacted, that’s the memorial.

17:14

Emily: If someone listening is a parent, grandparent, or mentor, what can Doug Shada’s story teach us about living a life that echoes beyond us? 

Matt: Well, first of all, I would just say live intentionally, live purposefully for the glory of Christ, and intentionally love others, trust God to make a difference in and through you, and leave the results with Him. And then I would say to, just… my dad was a huge encourager of people.

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Be the biggest encourager of people that you can be. Not in a fake way. Be a real encourager of people. And I think those are a few things that I think his life imparts to other parents or grandparents.

17:59

Emily: Doug was an early adopter of this ministry. One of our donors said in another podcast episode that in the infancy of Possibilities Africa, Doug Shada said, it’s going to go. What started with one man in one village in 2004 is now reaching over 1.3 million lives in 2025. So, as we think about that, how did your dad’s heart for Martin and this ministry play a role in transforming lives? First of all, when Dad believed in something, he wasn’t going to be quiet.

18:29

Emily: Yeah.  

Matt: So I had already been to Africa, and I took him with me in 2009, I believe was his first trip. And when he saw… he had been exposed to a lot of different missionaries and mission organizations. When he saw who Martin was and what the model of ministry,

18:56

he had developed was, he would often say there’s nothing like it. And so dad got excited about it. Dad mobilized people. And the thing about him was just he knew a lot of people, and most of them he knew because he’d sat across the table with them and he’d walked through a lot of hard times with a lot of people. And so people trusted him, and they knew it wasn’t his first rodeo either. He knew…

19:23

He’d been exposed to a lot of their ministries. So what he said, they knew mattered. And so he got a lot of people to Africa, but also exposed them to the ministry, not just… and this wasn’t in his mind, not just for Africa’s benefit, but also for theirs. I mean, it’s a privilege to participate in the activity of God.

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And so when dad saw that he could participate in what God was doing in a major way, it was never just even about like, these are going to be the sacrifices I’m going to make. It was never… he never talked about things that way. It was about reaching people for the glory of Christ.  

Emily: My next question was going to be about what sacrifices Doug made to help Possibilities Africa get off the ground. A lot of people likely don’t know what was happening behind the scenes, so if you have anything else to share, we’d love to hear your response. 

Matt: Well, there was a great investment of time and energy. But again, I want to be careful how I even talk about this because I want to talk about this in a way that accurately describes how he lived. He didn’t think about things like,

20:46

in terms of “I’m making this sacrifice.” It was, “God is at work here. I have the privilege of being a part of it. So I’m gonna give of my time, talents, and treasures the best I can to see this ministry become all that God created it to become.” And he knew it was a work of God. And I mean, some of the ways, and Martin will even tell you this, he would challenge Martin and

21:15

and push him and ask him hard questions. And I think that’s a beautiful thing, just dad’s life is an example that our hearts grow for Jesus. If our hearts are growing, our hearts for people, our heart for people will grow and not just the people around us, but our heart for the world.

Emily: What do think your dad would say today about the ministry?

21:43

Matt: Well, he’d be excited about what God has done. He’d be thrilled by that. But I can assure you, he would be challenging us to do more. He would be saying things like, too much is at stake. We got to strike while the iron is hot. The opportunity is ripe. And so we have to keep pressing forward. So he’d be excited, but he would… I don’t think he’d be sitting around reflecting on everything. He’d be excited, but he would also be seeing more opportunity. 

Emily: Yeah. What values or convictions did your dad live by that still impact you personally or that you see in Possibilities Africa today?

22:29

Matt: I mean, honestly, just what convictions did he teach me to live by? That’s a really hard question to answer in some ways because there’s so many. Because in many ways my dad taught me how to live, and in many ways he taught me how to die. I learned so much watching him the last months of his life. It was…

22:59

It was incredible. And let me just give an example, know, the glory of Christ should be our primary pursuit, and loving other people. You know, Dad was always willing to see people and minister to people. Even when he was in the hospital, when he was receiving treatment, there would be people, including some of his doctors

23:29

that would come in, and he always had time, always would share, always would give his best. I remember a time we were sitting there, and he was receiving a chemo treatment, and the nurse could see everything on his chart, and the chart was saying, we got some serious problems here and he looked at the nurse and said, “I just want you to know I’m going to be okay.”

23:56

And the nurse is looking at his chart thing, and there is no shot you’re going to be okay. And then he went on to say, “I know where I’m going.” 

And that’s the most important thing. But it was fascinating to me because up until the time until he went back home to Kearney to die. I mean, he went back home. Up until that time, he had made his life available to others. And then when it was

24:25

time to go home. He knew he was going home today. He told my mom, “Okay, no more visitors.” And a few days later, he went to be with Jesus. But even then, there were some people that came. And so, convictions, the glory of Christ, and how you treat others matters immensely. 

Emily: Were you with him those final days?  

Matt: Mhm.

Emily: What do you remember about that? 

Matt: I remember…

24:55

Among many things, even as the cancer was taking over his body, he would break out into prayer. And he was a man of fervent prayer, and the prayers were amazing. I mean just even those last days up until he couldn’t talk anymore. I remember just fervent prayer…

25:27

things that would, it was a special, special time.

Emily: When you say fervent prayer, as you mentioned with him, what does that mean?

25:38

Matt: It’s been my experience that a lot of times Christians pray because they know they should. Fervent prayer is prayer, prayer of dependence, of passion, and zeal, believing God that He is who He is and that He will answer. It’s expectant prayer.

26:07

It’s knowing… a lot of times when we pray, we forget who we’re talking to. I didn’t care if he was praying for dinner. He understood we were approaching the throne of grace. In fact, you could screw around a lot around him, but if you screwed around there in prayer, he would stop you. He would not tolerate it because of who we were talking to. I equate it to… I’ve been around some farmers.

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I always love hearing farmers who love the Lord pray because farmers live a life of dependence. They are dependent on God for the weather and things that matter for their livelihood. And so their prayers are prayers of dependence on the Lord. They’re prayers of faith. When I think of fervent, expectant prayer, knowing and remembering who you’re talking to… You’re talking to the king of kings and the Lord.

27:05

Emily: So good. Reverence is the word that comes to mind as you’re sharing that. As things grow with Possibilities, Africa, do you find yourself thinking about him and how do you carry his legacy forward?

27:19

Matt: Well, I think about him a lot, so it is not just a…

27:24

And I’m not, and please hear this the right way, I’m not so concerned about carrying his legacy forward, and neither was he. I think you leave a legacy by investing in people. And I’m concerned about helping Martin and PA become all that God intends so that millions of lives can be saved and changed.

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And I think of the many things that dad’s taught others, is your legacy is your investment in people, and, how are you investing in people around you and in people around the world participating in God’s activity? That’s what I’m concerned about.

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Emily: Is there anything else you’d like to add about your dad, or is there anything else we didn’t cover? 

Matt: No, other than it was a privilege to be his son. 

Emily: That’s so cool. Thank you for being here. We appreciate your partnership in prayer and in giving. If you’re interested in partnering financially, be sure to head to usa.possibilitiesafrica.org and hit the donate button. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend so we can grow this podcast and share this good news. God bless you.