SENIOR PASTOR

Passionate about God’s Word and endlessly learning about God’s amazing faithfulness, Pastor Matt Brown has devoted his life to helping people know and grow closer to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. He embraces the discipleship process of loving God through weekly worship service, loving people through weekly Sunday School Small Group Bible Study, and making disciples by spreading the message of Christ through others. With favorites like his loving church family, OU football and basketball, spicy foods, and reading and laughing with his children, Pastor Matt is most thankful for his family, especially his wife of 22 years who is “a blessing to me far greater than I deserve.” 

His extensive education includes graduating college in 1996 from Oklahoma Baptist University with a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Ministry and History, in addition to earning both a Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages in 2002 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Church History in 2015 from Southwestern Seminary. 

During his time in school, Pastor Matt learned two important things. 

• First, he came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior after college. Before that time, he had focused on fulfilling his duties to the Lord and making sure he had accomplished all the right things to get God to save him. However, as he came to learn, all these actions were still imperfect and riddled with sin and had done nothing to remove his guilt or draw him closer to Christ and genuine obedience. Through the study of Scripture, especially Romans, he came to see that salvation was not something that we earn from God by our obedience but a gift we receive from the Lord...a gift that leads to obedience to Him. He came to understand that salvation comes by God’s grace given to us in the sacrificial, atoning death of His Son, Jesus, and we receive this gift through faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
    

• Second, he learned during his “most recent degree that God is faithful to equip us and empower us for the work He has called us to do. So often we either give in to pride (I can do this all on my own) or despair (I can’t do this) and neither of these are Christ-honoring responses. When we recognize our own insufficiency, we can trust Christ to make us sufficient for the work He has called us to do, even work that goes beyond what we feel capable of. He is sufficient, and His strength and abilities are enough.”

Recently rediscovering the joy of reading after years of post-secondary study, Pastor Matt is inspired by the Bible “because it is the Word of God through which the Holy Spirit makes one wise unto salvation (2 Timothy 3:15).” He also enjoys books on theology and practical ministry.  

With a vision for God to use him and Bethel Baptist Church for a ministry upon which the sun never sets for His Name and Glory, Pastor Matt is eternally thankful for mercy and grace from God in Christ as gifts, not things to be earned but things to be received. 

The one sentence he believes can change someone’s life is, “Jesus Christ is ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ and is the merciful, compassionate Savior you need to rescue you from your own sin.”

Contact Pastor Matt Brown

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM at 405-329-3749 or any time by EMAIL.

Life Verses

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus"
  - Romans 3:23-24

"yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform."
  - Romans 4:20-21

"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."
  - 2 Timothy 2:2