MATTHEW ASTON9725 W. 3rd St. N. Wichita, KS 67212

972-658-7736 lastnameaston@gmail.com

 PERSONALBorn: December 23, 1985, in McKinney, TXBorn Again: Fall 1996

Ordained: August 23, 2009, at FBC FarmersvilleMarried: August 11, 2007, to Courtney Michelle Daniel Children: Anteneh, born October 13, 2010; Ezri (not pictured), born May 24, 2014; Amos, born July 13, 2014Hobbies & Interests: spending time with family and friends, meeting new people, reading, drinking coffee, playing sports, and being outdoors

 EDUCATION

Master of Divinity: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, May 2013 Bachelor of Science: University of Oklahoma, May 2008; Elementary Education

MINISTRY EXPERIENCEFirst Baptist Church, Farmersville, TX: Pastor of Missions & Evangelism; June 2009 – August 2013

I led the people of FBC Farmersville to embrace a global vision of missions that began with Farmersville and reached to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). My duties included: general vision casting in the area of missions/evangelism, working with the missions committee to direct our church’s missions involvement, overseeing the missions and evangelism budget, preparing short-term mission teams, training the membership in the area of personal evangelism, teaching/leading small groups (i.e. Sunday School, discipleship classes, etc.), and preaching in the lead pastor’s absence.

Olivet Baptist Church, Wichita, KS: Student Minister; September 2013 – present

I oversee all aspects of ministry to students (7th – 12th grade), student workers, and parents. My mission has been to assist our parents in developing their children into faithful followers of Christ. My duties have included: planning and implementing all youth events (i.e. Wednesday night gatherings, Sunday morning bible study, summer camp, spring retreat, high school community group, etc.), teaching and preaching the Word of God, training students how to study the Bible and share their faith, leading a team of student workers, personally discipling students, building close relationships with parents, and sharing the Sunday morning preaching load with the lead pastor.

PREACHING EXPERIENCEI have an insatiable desire to preach God’s Word. Serving at FBC Farmersville afforded me several opportunities to preach. While there I preached more than 25 sermons in various contexts including the morning/evening services, community-wide worship services, youth rallies, weddings, and funerals. Serving at Olivet has given me even more opportunities to preach. In the span of a year I have been able to preach more than ten times.

SMALL GROUPS EXPERIENCE

I have a passion for seeing individuals intentionally join together in small groups for the purpose of making disciples. My past involvement with small groups includes designing format and curriculum, advertising/recruiting, facilitating, and teaching. Through these experiences I have only become more convinced that small groups provide fertile ground for discipleship.

MISSIONS EXPERIENCEWhile at FBC Farmersville, I was involved in the planning, training, and leading of local outreach initiatives, family mission trips, men’s mission trips, and international mission trips. The lead pastor and I also had the privilege of leading our church’s effort to adopt an unreached, unengaged people group (Jola-Bayot) in the southern region of Senegal. I have continued to be a part of local and global missions while at Olivet Baptist Church. For example, I recently led a team of 14 from our church on a short-term mission trip to Guatemala.

PERSONAL TESTIMONYGod blessed me with the opportunity to grow up in the home of two faithful followers of Jesus Christ. My parents poured themselves, as well as their faith, into my life from a young age. I personally repented of my sins and placed my faith in Christ, making him my Lord, in the fifth grade. My life since becoming a believer has been one characterized by continued spiritual growth and service unto Christ.

STATEMENT OF CALLDuring my final years of college, while preparing for a career in education, I sensed that the Lord was transforming my desires and priorities toward the ministry. First and foremost, I noticed an increasing desire to know and make known the Word of God. I also recognized a growing love for the local church, a deeper desire to see it built up, and a yearning to see the gospel spread to the ends of the earth. By the end of college, it was clear that God was leading me to devote my life to the ministry.

PHILOSOPHYI believe that the Bible is God’s Word. Furthermore, I believe that every word of the Bible is inerrant (Psalm 19:7; Prov. 30:5). As the inspired Word of God, the Bible is the authoritative word on what should be believed and practiced in the church (2 Tim. 3:16-17). I believe that a pastor is to be above reproach in all regards (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). He is to exemplify his ability to love and nourish the local church well by first demonstrating his ability to do so in his own family. I believe that the pastor’s primary responsibility is to equip his members for the work of ministry, building them up into Christian maturity through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word (Eph. 4:11-12). I believe that this is best accomplished through expository (“text-driven”) preaching. The pastor also has the responsibility of serving as the shepherd of his congregation, personally caring for and protecting his flock (1 Pet. 5:1-4). As the servant-leader of his congregation, the pastor is also to be the primary catalyst in helping his church to obey the Great Commandment and fulfill the Great Commission, making disciples of Christ both in its local setting and around the world (Matt. 22:36-40; 28:18-20). Regarding matters of biblical doctrine, I wholeheartedly affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.  

REFERENCES Rev. Ron Pracht: Senior Pastor; Olivet Baptist ChurchDr. Bart Barber: Senior Pastor; First Baptist Church

Dr. Jeff Lethco: Senior Pastor; North Side Baptist ChurchDr. Tommy Kiker: Chair of Preaching and Pastoral Studies; SWBTS

QUESTIONS FOR LEAD PASTOR CANDIDATES

Matthew Aston

1. Why are you considering this ministry position?

Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:1 and said, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” I have had the aspiration to become a lead pastor (or “overseer”) dating back to my time as an associate pastor in Farmersville. The main question in my mind was always one of timing. When was God going to open the door for this to take place?

During my time at Olivet, especially during “The Merge” phase, my desire to become a lead pastor has only grown. Indeed, this desire has grown at a rate and an intensity that even I could not have forecasted. So much has happened over the past year and, as a result, what I thought would develop over a span of multiple years has done so over a span of just a few months.

In addition to an intensifying desire, I have also received confirmation that I should pursue this opportunity from Olivet members, family members, and godly mentors.

2. In 1 Timothy 3 Paul lists the qualifications for an Elder. Which of these characteristics do you consider strengths and which would you consider your greatest challenge?

Strengths: • “above reproach” - By God’s grace I do not have a tainted testimony, bad reputation, or questionable character. • “respectable” - I feel that people generally have a healthy level of respect towards me, my family, ministry, etc. Preserving this aspect of being a pastor is very important to me. • “able to teach” -I have a passion for preaching and teaching the Word of God. Fellow church members, mentors, and family have consistently affirmed my giftedness and calling.

Weaknesses/Challenges: • “Not quarrelsome”-I am certainly not quarrelsome in the physical sense. However, from time to time, I can have the urge to become verbally quarrelsome when it comes to matters of false teaching, apologetics, and doctrine. In other words, I love to debate!

3. Describe your relationship with your spouse and children (if applicable). How do you make them priority in your life and ministry schedule? How do you shepherd them in spiritual matters. Please be specific.

Courtney and I have a very close relationship. Probably the best aspect of our relationship is our openness in communication. We talk about anything and everything. We generally always know how the other is feeling and what the other is thinking in any given situation. I consider Courtney the backbone of what I do. She is a faithful and loving partner in ministry. She is also a wonderful, nurturing mother to our three children.

I make my wife and children a priority in my life and ministry by making sure that I am present and intentional as much as I can be while still being faithful to my role in the church. If ministry happens to cut into my family time one week I am very careful to make it cut the other way the next week. As with most things, balance is key.

Other ways I make them a priority include: turning my phone on silent once I get home, encouraging Courtney to get out on her own for refreshment while I keep the kids, and planning fun family activities on the weekends.

I shepherd them in spiritual matters through nightly family devotions wherein we read a Bible story, practice a memory verse, sing a hymn, and pray. Also, I am intentional with my family in the “everyday life” moments as well. We will often tell and talk about Bible stories in the car, at the dinner table, and elsewhere. I try to make talking about spiritual things a common, natural occurrence around our household.

4. Give specific examples of how you have seen God work in your life in the last year.

The Summer of Sanctification This summer was an emotional rollercoaster for our family. We experienced the failed adoption of Ezri, the surprising adoption of Amos, and then again, the adoption of Ezri. God took us through dark valleys of depression, discouragement, and grief. He also elevated us to peaks of joy and jubilation. Through it all he taught us what it looks like to trust in his sovereignty and goodness, both in the good times and the bad.

Evolving as a Leader Through the Merge Process

Personally, God used the whole merge process to further develop my leadership skills and refine my convictions about what it means to be a shepherd in the local church. It is hard for me to even quantify how much he taught me in this area of my life.

5. Describe any personal suffering/hardship/tragedy in your life and how God has used that for your own spiritual growth and to minister to others.

As my previous answer stated, going through the initial months of the failed

adoption was a time of intense hardship for our family. It felt as if we had lost a child. It taught me how to relate to and trust God in the times of trouble; times where I didn’t particularly feel all that close to him.

Before this experience, Courtney and I had not faced much hardship or tragedy. As a result of our adoption experiences, I believe that we are now able to resonate more closely with people who have gone through hard times and have questions for God.

6. When was the last time you shared your faith? Describe the context in which it occurred. I shared my faith with a guy just last week. He was the guy who painted most of The Cave. We got into a discussion about him seeking to clean up his life, start doing good, and live for a greater cause. This led into a discussion about works-based salvation versus biblical salvation (i.e. by grace through faith in Christ). He was stuck on his works. I explained to him that our works will never be enough. The only work that was enough was the work of Jesus on the cross. I ended the discussion by challenging him to read the Gospel of John while he served a few days in prison (long story J•).

7. When was the last time you led someone to Christ? Who are you currently praying for, building a relationship with, to come to Christ?

I led a student to Christ this past summer while at Super Summer. There are a few non-believing students that come on Wednesday nights that I have been trying to invest in with the hopes that they would come to Christ.

8. Describe the types of situations and/or relationships that cause you the greatest spiritual struggle.

I have an intense desire to see the local church healthy and thriving. Therefore, from a situational standpoint, I get pretty worked up when I see things (i.e. communication, preaching, design, etc.) done poorly, incorrectly, or half-heartedly within the local church. I also get frustrated in situations where there exists a vast disconnect between the way things are perceived in people’s minds and the way things actually are in reality. This type of situation becomes especially challenging for me if I get the vibe that these people are knowingly looking past reality.

From a relationship standpoint, it grieves me to watch professing believers make destructive decisions, especially when those decisions have direct or indirect effects on their family, friends, and fellow Christians (i.e. local church).

Finally, it almost goes without saying that the relationships I have with lost people cause me to struggle spiritually. Like Paul said in Romans 9:2-3, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were

accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.”

9. What are your spiritual gifts? Describe recent specific instances of how you used your gifts.

• Preaching & Teaching Ever since I started to preach and teach on a consistent basis back at FBC Farmersville I have continued to receive affirmation from fellow believers in this area of my life. With words of encouragement, both spoken and written, people at Olivet have confirmed this gifting as well. I seek to employ this gift of preaching and teaching whenever I can, whether on Sunday mornings in our corporate service or on Wednesday nights with the students.

• DiscernmentI feel that I was able to use this gift quite a bit during the merge process. At several points in the process, whether in one-on-one conversations or the joint elder meetings, I was able to highlight areas of concern, raise pertinent questions, issue caution at appropriate times, and bring to light helpful ideas.

10. How do you regularly pursue holiness and communion with God? I commune with God chiefly through regular bible intake and prayer. These two spiritual disciplines form the bedrock for a sturdy and growing relationship with the Lord. When I fail to spend time doing these two things I notice that my relationship

with the Lord tends to feel strained and distant. Therefore, my typical morning routine is to read three chapters of Old Testament, two chapters of New Testament, and at least one chapter from a book on Christian living. I will normally end my time of reading with prayer.

Regarding personal holiness, I make it one of my main objectives to obey what I read in the Word. In addition to this, I consistently ask the Lord to make my heart sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit so that I would not cherish sin within my heart but, rather, confess it and repent of it.

11. What is the Gospel?

I find it helpful to break the gospel message into four parts. GOD God is our holy and righteous creator who created us to know him, glorify him, and enjoy him forever. He is our ultimate authority. MAN Rather than submit to God as our ultimate authority, we have rebelled against him. The bible calls our disobedience sin. Because of our sins there has become a separation between us and God.

CHRIST Because of his great love for us, God, did not leave us hopelessly in our sins. Instead, he sent Christ into the world to live a perfect life, die on a cross, and rise again on the third day all so that we might be reconciled to him. RESPONSE Now God calls upon people everywhere to respond to this good news by repenting of their sin and placing their faith in Christ.

12. What are your thoughts about personal discipleship? With whom are you currently involved in personal disciplemaking right now? What does that look like on a regular basis?

Personal discipleship ought to be one of the top priorities of every pastor. In fact, if I were to list my top three priorities as a pastor it would be preaching, praying, and personally discipling. Jesus taught it, modeled it, and commanded it.

I have been in personal discipleship relationships consistently since my years in college. Here recently I have intentionally invested in the lives of a few Olivet students.

13. Apart from your spouse, to whom do you make yourself personally accountable?

In a formal sense, I have an accountability relationship with Sean McCoskey. In an informal sense, Ron, as the head of staff, is someone who I am accountable to as well.

14. What has been the greatest challenge you have faced in ministry? What was the outcome of that challenge?

I would probably have to say moving up to Wichita from Texas to take this position at Olivet. Coming to a new position at a new church in a new city where we knew no one was quite daunting upon us in the beginning. We spent several nights in tears on the couch wondering if we had made the right decision.

Added to all of this was the fact that I was inheriting a student ministry that had been in decline for the last couple of years. The morale was low and the attendance was even lower.

Thankfully, God has used this past year and a half to grow me leaps and bounds in so many areas including leadership, confidence, patience, contentment, and faithfulness.

15. What has brought you the greatest satisfaction in ministry?

While at FBC Farmersville, my lead pastor and I had the opportunity to lead our church to embrace an unengaged, unreached people group in southern Senegal. The people group is the Jola-Bayot. It took many hours of research, brainstorming, persuading, and building consensus to get us there, but we finally did and the results have been so encouraging. We have seen multiple people come to Christ, Bible studies started, and much more. We hope to see a healthy and self-sustaining church form in the near future.

16. Describe your leadership style.

I seek to model my leadership style after that of Jesus. Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” I desire to be a servant-leader like Jesus. That being said, I have no problem being the “point man.” It should be clarified that by point man I do not mean “lone ranger.” I desire to have a team of qualified, quality individuals with whom I can partner, brainstorm, pray, and seek counsel.

17. How would you characterize your understanding of Biblical church leadership?

I believe that churches should be elder led and congregationally governed. The New Testament pattern is a plurality of elders leading each congregation.Authority rests in the hands of both the elders the congregation (see Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5).The two offices of the church are elder/pastor/overseer and deacon. The elders primarily handle the spiritual issues of the church (preaching/teaching and prayer as seen in Acts 6). The deacons primarily handle the practical, physical matters of the church (see Acts 6).

18. Have you ever served in a church that used the "elder-led" model? If so, please describe your relationship with the Elders. If not, what questions are raised in your mind?

Yes, I have served at Olivet. In addition to this, I have seen, and even been a part of, multiple churches that have been elder-led. While at FBC Farmersville, I was an elder. While at Olivet, I have had a very close relationship with the elders.

20. Describe your ability/willingness to serve as an Elder in cooperation with several other godly men?

I have no qualms about this whatsoever. I fully support working among aplurality of elders. However, I would add that I believe all the elders should be viewed as equal (i.e. each guy has one vote), with the lead pastor/elder being seen as “the first among equals.” He is the one who sets the pace, casts the

vision, etc.

21.The new Lead Pastor/Elder at Olivet will be asked to serve with a man who has served our church body for over forty years (Minister of Music, Student Minister, Associate Pastor and Lead Pastor), as he enthusiastically, with the support of the Elders moves into a new phase of ministry opportunity. Describe your ability to not only work with a man like this but lead him, work with the Elders and lead the rest of the pastoral staff?

Ron and I have a good relationship. We get along and I don’t see anything in the foreseeable future changing this. I have worked with him well for the past year and would have no reason to doubt that I could work with him in the next few years. I also have a great relationship with all of the elders. I have no concerns about leading them and laboring for the Lord alongside them.

22. What kind of books do you enjoy reading? What are you currently reading? Who are your favorite authors?

I enjoy reading books on ecclesiology (i.e. study of the church), Christian living, leadership, personal disciple-making, and systematic theology.I just finished reading What is a Healthy Church? by Mark Dever. I am currently reading Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever and Sticky Church by Larry Osborne.

My favorite authors include Mark Dever, John Piper, Tim Keller, Wayne Grudem, David Platt, Kevin DeYoung, Jerry Bridges, and anything published by 9Marks.