New staff members Matthew and Savannah Dal Porto spoke with Pastor Walton this week about their previous work at camp and with an apologetics team.
Listen to the Matthew and Savannah Dal Porto Harvest Time
Episode Transcript
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is Pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We have two services at Harvest Baptist Church every week. The first is at 08:45AM, the second at 10:45AM.
We have Japanese and Korean translation during that 10:45AM service, and that’s also when we livestream at hbcguam.org. Hbcguam.org. This week, encounters with Jesus from Mark ten 46 to 52, living by faith, five secrets from a blind man Who Saw Jesus. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, Pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey, hafa adai, Chris. We’re continuing in this fall series, looking at people and the encounters that they had with Jesus and, just bringing this back to our minds that, Jesus encountered many different people, a variety of different circumstances, and each one of those encounters tells us something that God wanted us to know about who Jesus was, who the Father is, and how He related to people. You know, we were talking about this last Sunday, but Jesus actually met many more people than we have recorded in the Gospels. The fact that these stories are specifically recorded is definitely intentional. And we’re not able to look at every one of the encounters with Jesus, but we’re picking out some key ones.
And this Sunday we’re going to be looking at a man named Bartimaeus who was blind and received his sight and just an interesting conversation that happens between the two of them. So we’d love to have you join us every Sunday. We have our normal church family that comes and fellowship together, and then every Sunday we have guests that come and join us. I know that you would feel welcomed and we’d like to invite you. If you don’t have a church home, come this Sunday and I think you’ll hear from God’s Word and be encouraged by people that love God and love His Word.
Well, we have the privilege today in Harvest Time to introduce you to a new family that has moved to Guam and joined our staff here at Harvest. I’m glad to have Matthew and Savannah Del Porto with us in studio. Welcome you guys to Harvest Time.
Matthew Dal Porto: Thank you very much. We’re excited to be here.
Gary Walton: And it’s really good to have you on Guam. You’re both new to Guam to Harvest. Tell us a little bit about what led you here, kind of how God opened the door for you to make this big move across the ocean.
Matthew Dal Porto: Sure. That I think is a long story. But we heard about Harvest, in college. We both went to Bob Jones University. We both heard about it from recruiters that came out there.
I think pastor Keith came out there, and we, heard about it from him. We both had a desire to come out here, but the Lord didn’t open that door. That was before we were married. Then after we got married, we worked, for a couple years in South Carolina. And then, just through several different things, the Lord brought us here.
So very, very short story and we can go more in-depth with that.
Gary Walton: Yeah, it’s always interesting to know the things that God uses to direct us. Savannah, for you, was it an easy move, a hard move? Tell us about the challenge.
Savannah Dal Porto: I feel like it was kind of a mix. We moved a lot growing up, so the moving part wasn’t hard. But maybe moving our family with the kids and everything was a little more difficult. Willing to go, but a little bit harder just with kids and everything to move over here.
Gary Walton: Yeah, no, that’s helpful. Actually, you have a family. Tell us about your family.
Savannah Dal Porto: Yep. So we have two kids. We have a daughter and we have a son. Our daughter’s gonna be two this month and our son just turned six months. So our son was born with some health issues, so I think that was the hardest thing moving over here, just not knowing what the healthcare system was like here.
But he’s doing well now.
Gary Walton: Yeah, he’s doing great. I remember the conversations that we were having as you were trying to determine what God was doing and thinking through how you care for your family, all those things together. So we’re glad that God opened up the door and directed you here. You seem like just such a natural fit together and glad for all of that. Tell us a little bit about maybe I’ll ask you both individually, just the story of spiritual journey.
Not necessarily your salvation. I think both of you were saved young, both came from Christian homes, but maybe more about how God has worked in your life. What’s spiritual growth, what’s your spiritual journey look like for you? Matthew, Matthew we’ll start with you.
Matthew Dal Porto: Yes. As you mentioned, grew up in a family that we heard about the Gospel constantly. My parents both worked at a Christian camp, so around preaching, teaching of the Word. So saved at a young age, six years old. And then throughout that time, really from six years old, maybe until high school even, definitely some spiritual growth, but probably not super committed to Christ, really, until high school.
Went to, camp as a camper. They called it CIT. Just more intensive training, training, but also diving into scripture. You know, what does the Bible say? What does a servant leader look like?
How can we become more like Christ? And really from that time on, had more of a burden to serve Christ. And then went to Bob Jones, again, a little bit more, training, knowledge, learning about who God is, and then just trying to get involved with ministry through that even. My major was biblical counseling, so studying the Word, taking lots of classes on how to counsel people. But that begins by knowing the Word first.
So, you know, just continually going back to who is God, what has he done for us. And then after we were married, just realizing how important the church is. I think that’s one of those things that we heard a lot growing up in college, but realizing that after we were married really on our own, just realizing how important the church is for us individually, but also our spiritual walk. And then, yeah, even coming out here, just the relationships that we built that helped build our walk with Christ. I don’t know if that completely answers your question on what my spiritual journey has been.
Gary Walton: No Matthew, it’s really great. I love several key parts of that, but the church’s influence through your life. And then I do think for most people, you don’t really get that until you’re figuring things out, you know, kind of in your own part of the journey, like, Oh yeah. I mean, I kind of know this in my mind, the criticalness of the Church, but actually when it’s being lived out, this is so essential to my spiritual growth and to our mission together. Savannah,
let’s back you up a little bit, too.
Tell us about your journey and spiritual journey.
Savannah Dal Porto: Very similar to Matthew. Was raised in a Christian family. Was at church our whole life since day one, basically. When I I got saved when I was 11 at camp, but didn’t really grow in my Christian walk. I knew I was saved, but didn’t really grow.
And then went actually to CIT like Matthew did at camp. And that’s when I really realized how important it is to be in the word of God. Like, it’s not just something you can do, pick up every now and then. Need an intentional plan to be in the word of God and to be growing in Christ. So after that, I knew that.
So I went to CIT and then I actually went to work at another camp where I was told, You’ll be in housekeeping. And I got at that camp and they were like, actually, you’re gonna counsel. Uh-huh. And I felt like it was a really cool situation because I went from being poured into learning, like, you need to be in God’s word, you need to be growing in Christ, to having to tell other kids that. Mhmm.
I felt like that was really impactful for me because it made me realize, like, I can’t do this without Christ. I can’t counsel other people in my own strength. I have to be relying on Christ and know him to tell people about him. So that was when I was in high school and then kinda same as Matthew, went to Bob Jones. Once you’re on your own, you kind of start figuring out like, I need like I need to know what I believe for myself.
So I’d say that’s when I really intentionally started reading the bible and getting to know Christ more was kind of once I was on my own kind of figuring things out. And then we got married in kind of the same situation. God reminded me again, hey, you can’t you can’t do this by yourself. Have to know who I am. And once again, when we had kids, you can’t you can’t be a parent without me.
You have to be in God’s word. And so it was a continual thing of just God reminding me, Hey, you need to know who I am in every situation, not just for this situation, but for everything in your life, whether that’s marriage, parenting, for yourself, all those things.
Gary Walton: Wow, such important lessons. And by the way, God just keeps teaching that through life. You know, you kind of have gone to each of the big events of life so far and God just keeps reiterating, You’d think we’d learn it along No, I don’t mean it in that way. Mean that’s how God grows our faith.
I mean there’s another level and it’s reminded again how much I need him and his Word and the people around us. I didn’t ask. You guys meet in college?
Savannah Dal Porto: Kind of. We met the summer before college at camp.
Gary Walton: Well, camp’s a big part of your story. It is. Both of you together. You grew up at a camp
Matthew Dal Porto: up at a camp.
Gary Walton: Yes. And then Savannah went to camps. Your parents have been involved in service for camps. Let me combine that with you two as a couple then after graduation or after college, you traveled with a recruiting team, an apologetics team, right? From Bob Jones going to high schools.
Tell us about that. Tell us about that, then I’ll ask a follow-up question Yeah. From
Matthew Dal Porto: No, that’s really good. We went to just under 100 different Christian schools all the way up from Maine all the way down to Florida, South Florida, really. So all throughout the country. So it was Apologetics Team. We talked about
Gary Walton: What do you mean by apologizing? Apologetics, sure.
Matthew Dal Porto: Not apologizing. Really giving a defense, a reason, knowing a reason for why you believe what you believe and being able to tell others of the hope that is in you, of Christ. You know, as as a believer, we we have a hope that Christ came for Christ came. Jesus came to Earth, died for our sins, rose again, and the hope is that we we can know him, have a relationship with him, but also, have eternal life through him. It’s it’s not something we can work at.
It’s because of Jesus Christ and our faith in him.
Gary Walton: So you would go to Christian schools, have conversations, do a presentation, interact
Matthew Dal Porto: Yes. A little Sweet. We had two different workshops we did. One was on the resurrection. Why is the resurrection so important to our faith?
If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, what what would have happened? Why is that important to, our faith? And then the other one was, it was called Discovering God, just kind of a biblical worldview, understanding what the Bible says, and then kind of comparing, different religions and then always going back to what does the Bible say? Why can we base our foundation of what we believe off of what the Bible says? So that’s kind of what we did for the most part.
We did interact with a lot of students. So that’s just a quick summary of What what we did.
Gary Walton: what do you think were the big lessons for you? Maybe a little bit on your camp experience, because you guys both all counseled at camps too. What was God teaching you at that time and then that year traveling together?
Savannah Dal Porto: A lot of different things,
I feel like. That was our first year married, so a lot of things in marriage. But also, in a way, it was really sad to go into these schools and see how these kids, like, they were raised in Christians’ homes, but they didn’t know what they believed. Mhmm. And it was honestly convicting for us to be like, do we know what we believe?
Like, we’re going to talk to these kids they should know what they believe but do we know? And it was a good reminder like for us to be in the word of God, like to be growing in Christ because we can’t go tell other people, hey, you need to know what you believe. And even the kids we would talk to could be very convicting because they would ask us questions and we would be like, we have to get back to you. Like, don’t know the answer to that ourselves. So I feel like it was very convicting for us to learn, like, we don’t have all the answers, but we do have a God who has all the answers and we can go to his word.
So we would tell kids sometimes, Hey, we don’t know the answer, but we’ll get back to you. We will come back to you and get the answer.
Gary Walton: Let Me ask a follow-up a little deeper, not deeper, just in a little different perspective, because I know there will be some people listening that might be interested in this. You mentioned, Savannah, this is the first year of your marriage, too, which there’s a lot of adjustments that are taking place. Maybe I’ll go to you, Matthew. Sure.
That traveling helped you to see how much we’re gonna open up here. Sorry.
Matthew Dal Porto: Yeah. No. No. No. That’s really good.
I feel like we could go we could talk a lot about that. I’m gonna back up just a little bit. Yeah. So we got married, and then a week later, two weeks later, we went to camp. We served at a Christian camp that first summer of marriage.
Then came back to South Carolina, and a couple weeks later left to So we hit
Gary Walton: you hit the ground running literally.
Matthew Dal Porto: Yeah. So traveling, man, we were technically the team leads of that team. So just in that, for both of us, I think learning what servant leadership looks like, And that, I mean, goes right into marriage. You know, how can we serve one another? Picturing what Jesus Christ did for the church.
So that’s one of those things that I even still go back to. We had two other guys that traveled with us on that team. So serving them, helping them. And I think another thing was, kind of, having the ability to think ahead. You know, what what’s next?
Maybe foresight, just thinking ahead. What’s going on? How can I communicate this to our guys, that we have on our team? And then same with our marriage. You know, how can we think ahead?
Mhmm. Plan for the future even with the kids? You know, how can we intentionally think about training them, what they’re going to face, what we’re going to face, how can we think ahead?
Gary Walton: That’s so good. Savannah, anything to add to that?
Savannah Dal Porto: I think a big thing we learned was communication, how to communicate. It’s interesting going to work. You know, in camp ministry, it’s pretty busy. So honestly, we didn’t see each other a ton that first summer, which is kind of unusual for the first, you know, year of your marriage. So I think that was a big thing we learned is how to communicate correctly with each other when you don’t have a lot of time to be intentional together, spending time together, learning about Christ, but also just growing together as a couple.
Gary Walton: That’s good. Yeah. I appreciate honesty and transparency and just those lessons together. That’s helpful to see a little bit of your journey encouraging for others because that communication piece, you know, that’s pretty universal for almost every situation. Well, you’ve been here for a little while, Guam well, just a few months, Guam and Harvest.
What have your first impressions been of island life and the Harvest family? Any fun surprises?
Savannah Dal Porto: I would say for me, I knew we kind of talked to this already, but the healthcare was different. But I feel like it reminds me of when I was a kid, some of the things. Like even back in The States, they would send you reminders for your doctor’s appointments. How many times here have I not gotten a reminder so I’ve forgotten things? I’m like, Oh, we had an appointment today.
I know that’s kind of silly, but it’s just things that I didn’t expect coming here. I told Matthew, said, I feel like we’re kind of spoiled in The States. We kind of just expect people to do things for you. So that was kind of a big change for me. I just didn’t expect that.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Okay. That’s good.
Matthew Dal Porto: This is kind of funny. I was just thinking about this yesterday with the rain. Maybe a fun surprise. In The States, almost everybody likes, you know, the sunshine, the the sunny bluebird days. But here, yesterday, with the rain, somebody I was talking to, they were just saying, we kind of like it when it’s a little bit rainy, when it’s cloudy outside.
Maybe the the wind is blowing a little bit. Very different from most places in The States. And I hadn’t thought about it. It’s a little bit cooler. A little cooler.
That’s right. So and I was like even for me, I I was thinking, I kind of like it when it’s a little bit cooler, when the rain is coming in, when there’s wind.
Gary Walton: Well, everybody’s a little bit different on that, but multiple days of rain for me is a little bit hard. And we had a little bit of that earlier. Not this time of year now, we’re kind of in, it’s raining, we have a little squall coming through now. But man, the winter breezes are starting to flow again, those island breezes. I was when was that?
Oh, well last week actually I was sitting out at the soccer field watching a game out in the Lanai with a couple of guys and we were all sitting there and thinking, normally watching a game in this spot, we’re sweltering and sweating. And it was very comfortable. The sun was going down, really good game, guys played great. And I was just like, Man, this is perfect right now. So we’re coming to that season when it’s really great.
What else? What about other lessons? What are you learning as you’re here?
Matthew Dal Porto: Still continue with that communication. Busy. Busy. Just different things going on. Trying to, with the ministry specifically, just keep going back to that communication is important.
I mean, she mentioned that just a few minutes ago. So that’s been one of those things that we’re always learning.
Gary Walton: Savannah, what about your connections at Harvest? How’s that been? Yeah.
Savannah Dal Porto: It’s been really neat just being close to church and being able to meet people. It’s been really cool. I feel like even in The States we didn’t have that connection, but being here, like, close with everybody and, like, getting to see everybody almost every day has been really neat to just develop friendships and relationships. I’ve had the opportunity to do a discipleship group with some of the girls and that’s been really neat and just really cool to get to know them. People on staff have been really great and welcoming and just honestly, we feel like we’ve have already found a really good community of people.
There’s a lot of kids for my kids to play with, which is really cool and they’ve enjoyed getting to know people. So it’s been really sweet. The people here are so kind and we’ve really enjoyed getting to know everybody and building a community.
Gary Walton: I love that. I was going to ask about that. You guys are serving in a couple different areas. Matthew, you’re an assistant to the pastor role, doing a bunch of different stuff. What does that look like for you kind of day to day?
Matthew Dal Porto: Sure. I am still learning what that looks like. Really helping out a couple different people in the office. Well, I’ll go through a couple different things. One of those is the Heart for Christ ministry, the teen ministry, Wednesday night specifically, just jumping in to see where we can help with that.
Pastor Ken kind of leading that, how we can help him with all the different things he, helps oversee, and then kind of helping, with the calendar, you know, if anything needs to be adjusted on the calendar side or anything, on the office side, I guess, that would be. And then, you know, being able to be a part of a couple different things that the pastors are in just really for for training sake. For for me, learning has been really cool. For for both Savannah and I, we hope and plan towards missions or ministry, long term, wherever the Lord has us, really. But it’s been really, really good for me to sit in in some meetings, be able to talk to different pastors, jump right into the welcome team, helping out with that.
So just being able to make those connections with several different pastors. You know, what is their philosophy of ministry? How are they viewing this part of their ministry? How can I build our own philosophy of ministry as a family even?
Gary Walton: That’s great. You both clearly have heart for students, your background in camp and youth ministry. What do you love most about working with Heart for Christ, working with our young people? Savannah, you talked about, you know, a small group that you’re leading already. What do you hope to see God do in their lives?
Savannah Dal Porto: So many things. It’s been cool here that even the girls that I’m, you know, having a small group with, they asked to have a small group which I feel like is very unusual. They already have a heart to want to learn more about Christ which is really cool. And just for them to continue that out of high school, to continue to have a heart for Christ once they leave Harvest, to continue to develop that now so in the future, you know, they don’t just go to college and forget. They can continue growing in Christ after high school, after they’re here.
I think helping them even learn to defend their faith while they’re here so they can go out and they’re not shocked by what they hear, but they know, hey, I can go back to the Bible for answers for whatever.
Gary Walton: You know, I have these little snapshots in my mind of ministry taking place, through Harvest, and I mean, I could come up with a 100 of them right now. But I actually, I do remember the first time I walked through the Jetway and saw you sitting with some girls, some high school girls, and I just assumed, hanging out, talking about the Bible, talking about Jesus, And, man, I was just so blessed by that, your investment in their lives, your burden for them. And I think you might have told me they asked, you know, they asked for this, which I was so encouraged by. I mean, that really communicates a friendliness that you’ve given to them that, you know, they’re looking for that. So I love those little snapshots of this is ministry.
I mean, there’s a lot of things that are ministry, but this is a real picture of it and I appreciated that from you guys, from you both. Matthew, what are you praying for or most excited about in this new season of life and ministry for for you, for you, Savannah?
Matthew Dal Porto: I think our our continual prayer is just, you know, learning what ministry looks like, how can we grow spiritually, as a couple together, but also just learning what ministry looks like. There are so many people here who are are have experience past us what they have done. So just taking that and how can we learn from what they are doing, what they have done. So that’s one of those things that before we came here even, that was our prayer. And and even looking and talking to different people, before coming here, that was one of those things we kept going back to.
How can we grow to become more like Christ and also share the Gospel through that? Not just for us, but how can we point others to the Gospel because of what we’ve learned.
Gary Walton: Yeah, I love it. I’ve had the chance, because Matthew actually offices, right, kind of in the central area, had a chance from early on to see there’s been a theme in this conversation of servant hearted, you know, how do we minister to people. And, Matthew, right from the very beginning it was very evident of commitment to the ministry, willingness to look proactively, how can I help? Where are the areas that I can come along? What can I solve for others so that they can serve and not have to worry about that?
I don’t know if it’s a natural thing, trained from parents and ministry together, but it’s not always true. And so I’m thankful for that. And so I’ve seen these little snapshots from both of you in different areas that make me excited for your future and for your ministry here, already taking root, growing. I love the community conversation, Savannah, because I think Harvest has that. It’s going to be that for you.
And then in turn then, you guys just pour yourself out, as Jesus calls us to do, and, care for people and walking in, you know, in fellowship with them and serving him. I’m very confident God’s gonna bless you here. I’m glad, I know you’ve been introduced to many people, but I’m glad to kinda introduce you guys to people in this forum, and we’re praying for God’s blessing on your life. Thank you guys for joining us today.
Matthew Dal Porto: Yeah. Thank you very much. We appreciate thankful for you. So appreciate you.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you again to services at harvest Baptist Church. Two services on Sunday, 08:45AM, 10:45AM. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service. We also bring you that service live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org.
We hope to see you this Sunday. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.