Pastor Matt was born in Madison, Wisconsin on August 2, 1957. At the age of four his family moved to the small rural
community of Lodi, Wisconsin, population 1492. His father, Louis (deceased in 1985), was the publisher of the local
weekly newspaper, The Lodi Enterprise. Being raised in the Presbyterian Church Pastor Matt was unaware of his need
for Jesus Christ as personal savior until senior high school. As a sophomore, Steve Foemmel, his history teacher,
shared The Four Spiritual Laws with him. In Steve's high school office, Matthew prayed to receive Jesus Christ as Savior
and put Christ on the Throne of his life as Lord.
Changes happened to him quickly. Soon Lucho Zuzunaga, the high school Spanish teacher, asked for help to begin a
teen Bible study. 40-50 teens soon met for study each week. Matthew began attending Steve's church, the Lake
Wisconsin Community Evangelical Free Church in Lodi and became a member. While at the church, Pastor Myron Higby
challenged him to consider full-time Christian service. After a trip to the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, Illinois and
Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, he began to pray over God's will for his life. God called Matthew to Moody. It was at
Moody that he surrendered to the call of God for ministry in a chapel service.
Marrying the joy of his eyes, Melodee Joy, the new couple moved to Southern California where he served as a volunteer
youth pastor, as a part-time youth pastor and as a missionary pastor where they served for many years.
God brought about a life-changing step in Matthew and Melodee's life when the couple accepted the call to East Los
Angeles County. This was a time of great growth and development from a leadership standpoint for them. Turning
around a dying church in an Hispanic community, the next 11 years allowed them to teach and train countless leaders in
the Southwest and Mexico through leadership conferences and consulting opportunities. While there, Matthew earned
his Masters of Arts in Ministry in Chicago and his Doctor of Philosophy in Christian Theology in Southern California.
Dr. Smith has since pastored churches in Iowa and Florida. These opportunities allowed them to expand God's
Kingdom and reach out with mission teams throughout the United States, Mexico and France.
Matthew's habit of rising early to read the Bible and prayer has been a source of great strength and understanding when
it comes to leadership development. He reads the Bible at least once per year cover to cover. He enjoys an intimate,
spiritual walk with God, enjoying hundreds of answers to prayer every quarter, and hundreds of new insights monthly
from God's Word (having read it cover-to-cover some 22 times since 1993). It is his habit to label and file each insight
topically for future retrieval for messages. Currently he has some 10,000 plus topical observations from the Bible that are
a direct result of God's intimate work during his devotional time.
community of Lodi, Wisconsin, population 1492. His father, Louis (deceased in 1985), was the publisher of the local
weekly newspaper, The Lodi Enterprise. Being raised in the Presbyterian Church Pastor Matt was unaware of his need
for Jesus Christ as personal savior until senior high school. As a sophomore, Steve Foemmel, his history teacher,
shared The Four Spiritual Laws with him. In Steve's high school office, Matthew prayed to receive Jesus Christ as Savior
and put Christ on the Throne of his life as Lord.
Changes happened to him quickly. Soon Lucho Zuzunaga, the high school Spanish teacher, asked for help to begin a
teen Bible study. 40-50 teens soon met for study each week. Matthew began attending Steve's church, the Lake
Wisconsin Community Evangelical Free Church in Lodi and became a member. While at the church, Pastor Myron Higby
challenged him to consider full-time Christian service. After a trip to the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, Illinois and
Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, he began to pray over God's will for his life. God called Matthew to Moody. It was at
Moody that he surrendered to the call of God for ministry in a chapel service.
Marrying the joy of his eyes, Melodee Joy, the new couple moved to Southern California where he served as a volunteer
youth pastor, as a part-time youth pastor and as a missionary pastor where they served for many years.
God brought about a life-changing step in Matthew and Melodee's life when the couple accepted the call to East Los
Angeles County. This was a time of great growth and development from a leadership standpoint for them. Turning
around a dying church in an Hispanic community, the next 11 years allowed them to teach and train countless leaders in
the Southwest and Mexico through leadership conferences and consulting opportunities. While there, Matthew earned
his Masters of Arts in Ministry in Chicago and his Doctor of Philosophy in Christian Theology in Southern California.
Dr. Smith has since pastored churches in Iowa and Florida. These opportunities allowed them to expand God's
Kingdom and reach out with mission teams throughout the United States, Mexico and France.
Matthew's habit of rising early to read the Bible and prayer has been a source of great strength and understanding when
it comes to leadership development. He reads the Bible at least once per year cover to cover. He enjoys an intimate,
spiritual walk with God, enjoying hundreds of answers to prayer every quarter, and hundreds of new insights monthly
from God's Word (having read it cover-to-cover some 22 times since 1993). It is his habit to label and file each insight
topically for future retrieval for messages. Currently he has some 10,000 plus topical observations from the Bible that are
a direct result of God's intimate work during his devotional time.
As a result our Wyldlife junior high group is growing. We meet at the church youth room every Friday night and average around 30-35 teens each week.
Our campaigner discipleship group which started a couple years ago has been really successful reaching around 15-20 teens each Sunday morning. This is a time for
them to go deeper into God’s word.
Our newest addition to the youth program is the Young Life high school group which now meets at the church youth room every Thursday night. This group averages
around 30-40 teens each week.
We are so thankful for the care and support the church has shown to the teens in the community and look forward to seeing God’s plans for the youth in the future.
In Christ,
Pastor Tom & Kelly Nguyen
Our campaigner discipleship group which started a couple years ago has been really successful reaching around 15-20 teens each Sunday morning. This is a time for
them to go deeper into God’s word.
Our newest addition to the youth program is the Young Life high school group which now meets at the church youth room every Thursday night. This group averages
around 30-40 teens each week.
We are so thankful for the care and support the church has shown to the teens in the community and look forward to seeing God’s plans for the youth in the future.
In Christ,
Pastor Tom & Kelly Nguyen
| Pastoral Staff |
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| First Baptist Church |
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Our vision is to see that every young person we encounter know the truth about Jesus Christ and make a choice to follow Him.
We apply this vision by introducing young people to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith.
We accomplish our mission by…
We apply this vision by introducing young people to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith.
We accomplish our mission by…
- Praying for young people
- Building personal relationships with them
- Providing experiences that are fun, adventurous and life changing
- Sharing our lives and the Good News of Jesus Christ with adolescents
- Loving them regardless of their response
- Helping young people develop the skills, assets and attitudes to reach their full God-given potential.
| Pastor Tom Nguyen & Kelly Nguyen |
