Worship band singer also is delegate


Key facts:

  • The Rev. Matt Rawle is a General Conference delegate and a singer in the main worship band at General Conference.
  • He was chosen by Raymond Trapp, director of worship and music for General Conference, who heard him sing during a sermon at the United Methodist Association of Communicators meeting last year.
  • Rawle will be a guest preacher in a Charlotte area church during General Conference and plans to sing during his sermon.

When the Rev. Matt Rawle isn’t in his plenary seat as a General Conference delegate, he’s probably up on stage singing in the worship band.

People notice.

“I’m not anonymous,” he said. “I’m 6’3” and bald and loud.”

Rawle, 45, is in his eighth year as lead pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Bossier City, Louisiana. For the first five years, he also led the worship band for contemporary worship.

He often sings during his sermons and did so when he preached at the United Methodist Association of Communicators meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, last October. He rehearsed with Raymond Trapp, who supervised music for that event and is worship and music director for the General Conference in Charlotte.

They hit it off, personally and musically.

“(Trapp) says, ‘Hey man, what are you doing for General Conference? I need you in the band,’” Rawle recalled.

Trapp has his own keen memory of first hearing Rawle sing.

“Phenomenal. I love his voice, but I think it’s also the level of ministry,” Trapp said. “He worships through his voice. And I think that’s what really speaks to everyone, and that’s what I experienced.”

Subscribe to our
e-newsletter

Like what you're reading and want to see more? Sign up for our free daily and weekly digests of important news and events in the life of The United Methodist Church.

Keep me informed!

A couple of weeks before General Conference, Trapp sent a set of PDFs with music for songs the band would perform during morning worship. On site, there was a little rehearsal — but not a lot.

That suited Rawle.

“I love improvisation,” he said. “I love the energy of not knowing what’s going to happen.”

Indeed, he considers music-making — especially following the lead of the spirit — to be a metaphor for Christian discipleship.

Rawle also considers it one of God’s ironies that he has spent so much time singing in contemporary worship bands.

He loves classical music and majored in opera at Louisiana State University. He spent two seasons singing tenor in opera productions in Natchez, Mississippi.

“Puccini is my favorite — just how big and romantic and layered the music is,” he said. “I’m a 7 on the Enneagram, so louder and faster is always better.”

Rawle was working as a youth director when he felt a call to full-time Christian ministry.

Along with leading churches, he has become a popular author for Abingdon Press, writing such titles as “The Faith of a Mockingbird” and “Hollywood Jesus.” His 13th book, “The Final Days” — comparing the passion account in the Gospels — is due out later this year.

At General Conference, he serves on the Church and Society 2 Committee. And on Sunday, April 26, he’ll be guest preaching at Harrison United Methodist Church, near Charlotte.

Rawle plans to sing a little during that sermon.

“I can’t imagine a day without singing,” he said. “It’s living water to me.”

Hodges is a Dallas-based writer for United Methodist News. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.

United Methodist Bishops bless the elements of Holy Communion during a world-wide worship service at First United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C., in the lead-up to the 2024 United Methodist General Conference. From left are Bishops Israel Maestrado Painit of the Philippines, John Wesley Yohanna of Nigeria and Rodolfo A. Juan of the Philippines. The gathering was coordinated by the Love Your Neighbor Coalition and the National Association of Filipino-American United Methodists. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News. 

General Conference photos

UM News has photographers on the plenary floor of General Conference 2024 and at special events and meetings throughout the session. View photos from each day on Flickr.
See photos

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
Human Sexuality
The Rev. Izzy Alvaran (right) and others pray together on May 1 after the 2024 United Methodist General Conference, meeting in Charlotte, N.C., voted to remove the denomination's ban on the ordination of "self-avowed practicing” gay clergy — a prohibition that dated to 1984. Alvaran is on the staff of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which has unveiled a new strategic plan after success at last year’s General Conference. File photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

LGBTQ advocates aim to build on 2024 gains

Reconciling Ministries Network, after success at last year’s General Conference, hopes to help the emerging United Methodist Church live into a more inclusive future.
Theology and Education
Graphic by Taylor W Burton Edwards based on The 2020/2024 Book of Discipline, Copyright 2024, United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.

Ask The UMC: Part 1, Local churches, annual conferences, and general agencies

Some are smaller, and some are bigger, but changes have come in the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline for local churches, annual conferences, and general agencies.
General Church
The United Methodist Church’s Committee on Faith and Order met alongside the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. The Faith and Order Committee, whose members include United Methodist scholars and ecumenical leaders, is responsible for guiding the denomination in informed theological reflection and discernment. It also is helping the standing committee in developing a General Book of Discipline that includes the essentials for the denomination. Photo by Heather Hahn, UM News.

Committee begins theological work

United Methodist leaders are evaluating what parts of the Book of Discipline can be adapted in different geographic areas and which apply worldwide. The work is heading to General Conference regardless of whether regionalization is ratified.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2025 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved