ARKADELPHIA, Ark. (KTHV) -- If a man is measured by the lives he touched--then surely Matt Turner's reach spanned an entire state. That reach became visible at 3rd Street Baptist Church Tuesday evening.

"I don't have a memory of this church without Matthew. I don't. Matthew was the greatest role model. My son looked up to Matthew. My younger son looked up to Andy," says Sheri Shepherd.

"If you looked at the scene here tonight, it's unbelievable that a 32 year old man could mean at this point in his life to this many people and I think what it tells you is that everyone he met, he had a profound impact on," says Bo Mattingly.

"It seemed like Matt was always in the middle of everything. We always had a big volleyball game or a football game or something like that and Matt was always the one that could talk everybody into playing," says his uncle, David Turner.

The stories were endless, the memories priceless.

"There was a young man that got a job at the UATV and the first question Matt asked him was what are you going to wear? He worked as an assistant at KNWA in Northwest Arkansas and he said well I don't have any suits or ties. Matt brought him in suits and ties the next day of his own," says Mattingly.

"He was genuine. He really cared for everybody and that he was really trying to make a difference," says David Turner.

Matt's father, Gary Turner was also very well respected as the former pastor of 3rd Street Baptist Church. He passed away in 2005 and Matt's friends tell us every weekend after that, for two years, Matt made the drive from Fayetteville to Arkadelphia to be with his mother Lisa and brother Andy, just another testament to his great love for his family.