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Matt is a Mid-Westerner by birth, born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. His experience with Christianity and the Church has been rather eclectic: he was confirmed in the Lutheran tradition as a teen and then wandered away searching for the God he hadn’t found there for the next 25 years. He finally came (back) to Jesus at the ripe old age of 38 in a Foursquare Gospel church (Faith Center) in Eugene, Oregon. Missing the sacrament of frequent communion (Foursquare observe it on a quarterly basis), Matt and his wife, Amy, (a lapsed Roman Catholic) found a home among American Baptists in Springfield, Oregon, from whom they received a call into pastoral ministry. While attending the American Baptist Seminary of the West (ABSW) at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, Matt sought to break out of his comfort zone, take a risk, and critique racism all in one stroke and apprenticed himself as a student pastor in an all-black African-American AB church from which he gained invaluable experience and a love for black preaching and gospel singing. Still later there, he became employed as an associate pastor at the Chinese Methodist Church in Chinatown, San Francisco that broadened his multi-ethnic and interdenominational background even more. There, he grew to appreciate the inward reflection of Asian-based spirituality. Both of these African- and Asian-American traditions continued to mold his personal experience of the gospel of Jesus Christ. After graduating valedictorian in 1999, Matt was called to an AB church back in Roseburg, Oregon, before eventually finding a new home (yet again!) with the United Methodist Church where he served for four years in Pendleton, Oregon before being called to serve at Whitney UMC in Boise. All of these flavors of Christian expression and church experiences have made him an excited preacher for the Gospel of Jesus, one who is not afraid of “doing church” in new and fresh ways in order to reach those who have given up or are suspicious of the institution of “church.” He has a deep passion and hunger for discipleship formation for Jesus Christ and he believes that “Compassion leads to Contact, Contact creates Connection, and Connection builds Community.” He consistently challenges himself and those around him to live this out to the best of their ability.
Matt is happily married to his wife and best friend of the last quarter century, Amy Pearson, who is also a pastor of the Collister United Methodist Church. They have three children, all under the age of four, all having feline tails and a love for crunchy dry food and the out of doors.
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