Matt spent most of his youth in Chattanooga, TN. His family lived on a mountain west of town that afforded him a lot of opportunity to explore the outdoors and experience “adventures” with his brothers and all of their friends.

Matt went to The McCallie School from 7th-12th grade, a period that was formative academically, socially, and athletically. He became serious about tennis during his 8th grade year, having made the varsity practice team. Most of the years at McCallie were marked by a nominal faith and casual church life.

After attending Auburn to study Architecture, Matt returned to Chattanooga after his sophomore year. It was during the summer of 1989 that he realized he possessed mental assent about Christ, but had never surrendered his life to the Lordship of Jesus. It was at 20 years old that Matt confessed Jesus as Lord acknowledging that he was responsible for the burden that Jesus bore on the cross paying the penalty for his guilt and shame.

This began a new season of his life in which he was eventually called to full-time Christian service. At that point Matt thought he would become a life-time youth pastor and ended up attending Bryan College to major in Christian Education with an emphasis in Youth Ministry.

It was during his 5th semester at Bryan College that he and Katie (Payne) started dating. They would be engaged by the Fall and married in May of 1993. The two of them lived in Memphis where Katie worked and Matt attended Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary to earn his M.Div.

In 1998 Matt and Katie had their son Christian. In 1999 Rebecca was born. Then in 2005 Julianna came along to complete their family.

After only two moves in ministry, first from Walls, MS to Gray, TN, and then to Greenbrier, TN, Matt has served at The Grove Church since 2003.