The journey of a Christian man who became a teacher in his 40s.

“Ever since I was a kid, my head’s been in the clouds in a sense.”

It’s no wonder that Matthew Speidel initially pursued an aviation career. But today, years later, you will find him teaching in a WELS elementary school classroom and not piloting an airplane full time. His story is one of divine guidance and human introspection.

Ground training

“I am a Minnesota guy through and through, as you can tell probably by my accent,” Speidel reveals with a smile.

Speidel attended Good Shepherd Lutheran School in Burnsville, Minn., from kindergarten through eighth grade. He split his high school years between St. Croix Lutheran High School, West Saint Paul, Minn., and a public high school (sophomore year).

Looking back on those days, Speidel can see how his sophomore year pushed him outside his comfort zone. “I knew two people [in the school], and one of them happened to be one of my younger brothers,” he says. “So I had speech class and had to go up in front of people I didn’t know whatsoever.”

Preparing for takeoff

When high school ended, “part of me thought, Maybe [I should] be a teacher. But then I wanted to fly,” Speidel explains. There were teachers in his extended family, so teaching was not an unknown profession, but flying was a passion calling out to him.

That passion led Speidel back to the classroom, where he attended college as he worked toward a degree in aviation.

He put in a couple of semesters, but then working won out in the battle between being an employee and being a student. The part-time job at a grocery store that began in his senior year of high school turned into a full-time job. “I ended up working there 20 years,” Speidel says. “A lot longer than I ever planned on.”

In a holding pattern

While Speidel concentrated on work, there was room in his schedule for service opportunities at his church. After participating in Lutheran Pioneers as a youth, he became the leader of the program—a position he held for 15 years.

“Then I ended up teaching seventh- and eighth-grade Sunday school for a few years,” Speidel adds.

He continues, “I was also working with our youth group. I chaperoned for youth rallies. We went on a mission trip to Texas. I chaperoned the youth group and taught vacation Bible school there.”

Then another service opportunity came along that Speidel seized. “They asked if I’d serve on our school board at church, so I served on our board. I got my taste of the [school] administration stuff,” he says.

Teaching experiences, youth work, and involvement in the administrative side of a school were silently laying the foundation for a different direction in Speidel’s life.

Change of course

“I was really burned out on the retail [ job],” Speidel divulges. “So then I basically started thinking about going back and finishing my degree in aviation as a pilot.”

Those plans evaporated when a loan for financial aid to cover expenses to acquire his pilot’s license fell through. “That is when I think I finally realized that God had other plans for me other than flying—as much as I love flying,” Speidel says. “I sat down and thought to myself, How am I gifted, and what are my strengths? How am I gifted—and not just what would I like to do.

“It took me a while before I finally figured out what it was that God was leading me to do. I couldn’t see it at the time, but all of a sudden, I [saw] how God was preparing me for this.”

This was studying to become a teacher.

“At first, I was thinking of going back [to college] to be a public school teacher,” Speidel says. “I’d already started with college at the public school. I was thinking, Well, people my age go back to school, but they don’t go back to school at Martin Luther College [MLC]. Maybe if they were [preparing to be a] pastor, but they don’t do that for a teacher.

So I didn’t think of MLC right away at first.”

He continues, “Then I started talking with some people. I guess there are older people who go to MLC. I guess I could do that, and so I looked into it and prayed on it.”

As a result, he made sure that the courses he was taking at a local community college would transfer to MLC. Then, it was off to New Ulm—becoming a student at MLC at age 40.

Navigating college again

MLC’s curriculum enabled Speidel to embrace another one of his passions: history. Because teaching history to upper-grade or high school students would be a dream come true, Speidel took on a middle/secondary education major.

But that was not enough. He added an elementary education major. “I wanted to teach the other subjects well besides social studies,” he says. “So I’m a crazy guy who not only went to school when he was 39 but also decided to double major too.”

Double majoring meant devoting two semesters to two different student teaching experiences. Carpooling with another student one day to one of those schools reminded Speidel that he was a second-career student.

Speidel explains, “She was talking about planning her wedding and also planning her mom’s 40th birthday party. At the time, I was 41. I just had to look over and think, I’m driving my daughter home from school. I’m old enough to be your parent.”

Despite the age difference from most other students at MLC, Speidel described his college experience as positive. On campus, being surrounded by 20-somethings made him feel younger, and off campus, a great-aunt and uncle who lived nearby provided family support.

Landing in Michigan

As Speidel’s last semester was on final approach, his thoughts increasingly turned to a potential assignment into the public ministry. And he was ready.

Speidel explains, “The harvest . . . asking for more workers—I was reading through that [in the Bible], and it wasn’t even something I was specifically looking for. But when I read it, it was one of those things where the Lord spoke, speaking through his Word. And so for me, when call day came, I said, ‘I have no restrictions. You can send me wherever the Lord wants me to go.’ ”

Wherever turned out to be Warren, Mich. Crown of Life Lutheran School. Grades 5-8. Principal training program.

While at MLC, Speidel attended presentations on the principal training program (see sidebar below). He became more aware of the need for principals and envisioned how he could train to become one. He now has finished the first year of that three-year program.

So after his first year of teaching, what grade does Speidel give himself? There is no letter grade, just an honest evaluation. “Even though I had experience with kids before, [teaching] is still not exactly the same thing,” he acknowledges. “And so I still do make some of those first-year teacher, rookie mistakes and make a note to myself: Don’t do that, or do that differently next time. But I’m enjoying myself.”

And what would he say to those who are looking at their lives, considering how God has gifted them, and contemplating becoming a second-career teacher? “Don’t think that you can’t do it. The Lord will help you. He helped me more than I could ever, ever imagine.”

Reviewing the flight plan

As Speidel reminisces about his youth, he recalls, “In the middle of a baseball game I was playing, I’d also be watching the plane, not the ball getting hit toward me. I wanted to be a pilot ever since I was a kid.”

Mission accomplished. Despite the busyness of life, Speidel acquired his pilot’s license and became an instrument-rated pilot. But, he says, “It’s basically turned into a really expensive hobby that I don’t get to do . . . because, well, it’s expensive.”

By the grace and strength of God, Speidel has also seen another accomplishment—becoming a teacher.

That happened later in life, but he recognizes it happened at the right time. When Speidel tries to imagine becoming a teacher 20 years earlier, he says, “I would not have been ready. I did not have a lot of confidence when I was younger. I’ve matured, and that maturity has helped. I may not have the youth that I once had, but I make up for that in experience.”

While flying still keeps his head in the clouds, it is apparent Matthew Speidel’s feet are planted firmly on the ground.

Author: James Pope
Volume 112, Number 07
Issue: July 2025

Training principals

Due to growing ministry opportunities, retirements, and resignations, one in seven Lutheran elementary schools began the 2024–25 school year with a principal vacancy or interim plan in place.

To meet better the current and future need for more principals, WELS established the principal training program.

Candidates at Martin Luther College (MLC) for the principal training program

• express a willingness prior to graduation to be assigned into the program,
• receive recommendation from MLC to be considered, and
• are assigned to a ministry approved by WELS to train a future leader.

Participants in the program

• begin by honing their teaching skills while being mentored by an onsite high performing host principal;
• attend leadership training events, including a national leadership conference;
• receive experiential training plus enrollment in MLC’s master’s in education administration program and receive up to 15 credits funded completely by a grant; and
• are eligible for a divine call into school leadership during their third year of service in ministry.

Over the last three years, an average of five men who have completed the principal training program have accepted principal calls, helping to reduce the overall number of principal vacancies.

Learn more about the principal training program by contacting WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools, [email protected]. For more information on coursework to prepare to serve as a teacher and principal, visit mlc-wels.edu.