ST. MATT'S NORTH APPARENTLY A SUCESS

 As promised … this is Chip Off the Old Block II, more on United Methodist minister Chip Joseph, who we introduced in COtOB I for The Richmonder.com

… when he was featured after being asked to do the 

quintessential difficult, possibly impossible, task of 

starting a church at a time when people are more 

interested in material over spiritual pursuits.

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If you believe some things are just meant to be, then you 

would have no trouble understanding how Joseph got into 

the ministry … after all these years.

He turned 60 recently, for crying out loud. And, no, he 

didn’t hear a voice in the night, nor did he have a vision.

Actually, the idea grew slowly, almost subliminally, for

a long time … until he finally gave in.

Among the first to recognize his potential as a clergyman 

was BECKY TIGNOR, his secretary at Holladay 

Elementary when he was principal there.

“She watched the parents, mostly mothers, come into my 

office yelling and screaming. My philosophy was: ‘Let 

them go until they burned out, got tired … then I’d talk. 

And it always seemed to work,” Joseph said.

“She would tell me ‘I can’t believe you can calm them 

down. You know, God’s got a different plan for you. This 

is your training ground.’”

“And … I had a very evangelistic mother who was a 

speaker for the Christian Women’s Club … which was a 

whole bunch of women getting together, sharing their 

faith.

“I heard her speak a number of times … and she’s got a 

pretty incredible testimony. Just living with my dad, who 

was bi-polar, was testimony enough. It was tumultuous, at 

best, but she was extremely patient … and she went 

through a lot. She had postpartum depression, and back 

then they put her in an institution and gave her shock 

treatments to get her out of it.”

Joseph had three siblings, all girls. The oldest, 16 years 

his senior, and youngest (seven years older) are no longer 

with us.

“Nancy, the youngest of my older sisters, was the ‘oops 

baby.’ I was the ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ baby … 

but I was a boy, so my dad was very happy about that.”

“The way I look back at it … God was planting seeds 

along the way but nothing obvious. I was raised Lutheran 

… and I have so many memories of sitting in the pew 

between my parents. They both drank coffee … and what 

I remember most of church then was … I smelled coffee 

breath.”

Growing up there always was someone pointing him in 

the right direction. At St. Christopher’s School there was 

a PE teacher “who took me under his wing.”

Then, while attending Collegiate, Joseph was persuaded 

to join Young Life, “and that’s when I really felt there 

was some purpose under God that I needed to follow.”

In the meantime, he spent five years at William & Mary, 

playing baseball and lacrosse and majoring in elementary 

education … “where I was the only male in all my 

classes, so I couldn’t skip because it would be too easy to 

pick me out.”

On graduating, he applied “everywhere” and only South 

Anna Elementary School in Hanover County responded. 

After a year, he and bride KAREN JOSEPH moved 

from Henrico to Hanover and did what any young couple 

would do … They bought a Christmas tree farm, of 

course … and somehow overcame a culture shock to the 

system, going from city living, with all the prerequisite 

conveniences, to county living, and virtually none.

Now, 32 years later (and the tree farm a distant memory), 

they are richer for the experience. Karen is still teaching.

Good Old Chip spent 16 years teaching first, second and 

third graders at South Anna before spending two years at 

U.Va., getting a degree in administration … on the advice 

of people who knew he was meant to be a principal.

He began that phase of his life as assistant principal at

Hanover’s Washington Henry. After three years Joseph 

became principal at Holladay Elementary in Henrico

County, which was eye-opening, to say the least.

“There was a lot more diversity in Henrico than Hanover 

at the time. So that was a learning curve, which was good. 

There also were a lot of behavioral problems I didn’t see 

coming but I learned a lot,” Joseph said

“The teachers, for the most part, were some of the most 

dedicated I’ve seen … why? Because they stuck with it 

even though some of those kids were pretty rough.”

For example? “Well, I had kids bring marijuana to school 

for ‘show-and-tell.’ A first grader,” he said.

Did the young lad know what it was?

“No,” Joseph said. “I think his description was … ‘My 

mom and my brother smoke this … and sing and dance.’”

Pastor Chip and Karen have three children. Karen teaches 

English as a Second Language … “and she is forever 

going to her students’ homes because there are so many 

things they don’t understand,” Chip said.

For example? “Signing up for Little League.”

If ever there was a profession doomed for quick burnout 

… yet Mrs. Pastor apparently has the right stuff to keep 

on keeping on. An engaging personality certainly helps.

“It’s not really part of her job [description], but she goes 

and helps them do all those things,” Joseph said. “She’s in 

all those neighborhoods all the time, visiting folks and 

stuff … but they know she cares about them, so they are 

very welcoming.”

Now, the welcome mat is out at St. Matt’s North. He can 

only hope enough people will take him up on it.

For sure, Joseph has had a lot of guidance … from his 

early friend and coach, who became such an integral part 

of his life only to commit suicide.

“I know he counseled children and young adults who took 

their own lives,” Joseph said. “And you know, when 

you’re doing stuff like that, there’s always the risk … 

[pause] ...” Enough said.

By now you should have long-since realized there is a lot 

to like about Joseph … who also recognizes there can be 

a price to pay for good deeds, too,

It is not unusual for him to have migraine headaches in 

direct proportion to helping his fellow man … but 

slowing down is not an option … not when most recent 

data shows 45 percent (nearly half) of Christians in this 

country did not attend church in the last six months (and 

counting) … and 35 per cent of 18-to-29 year old 

Christians say they have no religious preference.

Several studies have shown that roughly one quarter to 

one-third of Americans do not attend church at all.

“The challenge, I think, is to figure out what will draw 

people towards God … and what will help sustain them to 

want to come back,” Joseph said.

So far. so good. St. Matt's North now meets on the third 

and fourth Sundays of the month (4 pm.) in Montpelier. 

Average attendance is about 75, Joseph said, but most 

come from the Montpelier area now (unlike early on 

when St. Matthews members comprised a majority of the 

turnout.)