Matt Vaughan loves college basketball, mountaintops, and fresh-baked cookies. He also loves youth ministry, serving as a longtime youth minister at four Presbyterian churches ranging from 350 to 5,000 members. He was raised and baptized at First United Methodist Church in Lawrence, Kansas. His mom is a retired United Methodist pastor, and her parishioners often hired Matt to work on their farms when he was a teenager.

Matt wrote the business plan for Youth Ministry Institute Midwest (YMIM) on Groundhog Day in 2013. Today, YMIM is operated by Ministry Leadership Initiative, a non-profit organization founded by Matt and a strong and gifted board of directors. Matt spent the majority of his ministry career at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, serving for twelve years as its youth minister. Fun fact: 18 of Matt's former students and interns have responded to a call to ministry by going on to seminary to become pastors, and many are now ordained.

Matt and Amy have been married for 22 years, and they have two boys in 7th and 11th grades. Matt has an architecture degree from the University of Kansas (go Jayhawks!), taught in urban Kansas City with Teach for America, and served two decades in youth ministry. He earned his master's degree in youth ministry from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. Matt barely passes as a guitar player, but he can ski expert slopes and enjoys tinkering with cars.