From across the globe
Asst. Speech Director grew up in Germany, lived in China
Betsy Woodruff
Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Your News
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"We knew we wanted to do something different during our first year of marriage to get out of the rat race," he said.
"If we're going to get married, it's ridiculous to live this chaotic lifestyle," they decided.
Some young couples go to marriage counseling; Matthew and Beth went to China.
Warner was born to American parents in the United Kingdom and grew up in Germany. His father worked as a contractor for the U.S. Army and he went to an American school.
He loved playing soccer and decided to attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, because he wanted to play in college at an NCAA Division I school.
He played soccer during his freshman year at Liberty and wasn't very good, so he stopped. By his junior year, he had married and decided to major in rhetoric.
At that point, though, he and his wife were both leading busy lives that were straining their relationship.
His father-in-law knew someone who ran a private school in China and was looking for English teachers. Two weeks after hearing about the opportunity, he had signed a contract to work at the school for a year.
He taught 120 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students while he was there, and decided he wanted a career in teaching undergraduates.
"The most difficult part was that I had students who were Canadian who spoke perfect English, and Chinese students who spoke three words of English," he said.
He also ran an after-school soccer club and played basketball every day with the bus drivers and other teachers.
"A lot of people that are now my best friends I met there," he said.
While he and Beth were in China, they attended two churches: one which was endorsed by the government, and an underground house church.
They went to the state church for the first six months of their stay, but were uncomfortable there.
"To preach in this church, you had to go to a government-sponsored seminary run by the department of religion," he said. "One particular Sunday, the sermon was: The reason there are so many Christians in the world is people are inspired by the good life Jesus led while he was on earth."
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