Together We Go: Teaching Students to Live All of Life for Jesus

Matt, whose passion now is to teach students to live all of life for Jesus, did not grow up in a church culture with that mission or with sound biblical doctrine to fuel a life of faithful teaching and discipleship. Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Matt remembers growing up in a mainline denomination at a theologically liberal church.

Although he often heard that Jesus died for his sins, he was never challenged to respond to the gospel. However, when Matt was 14, the Holy Spirit gripped his heart during a concert, and he committed his life to Christ. In the months and years to follow, Matt was repeatedly drawn back to several basic convictions, two of which were the inerrancy of Scripture and the exclusivity of Christ for salvation.

“Once I had committed my life to Christ, a number of convictions came to light,” Emerson recounted. “First, that the Bible is God’s word and has no errors in it. I didn’t have the word inerrancy then, but my pastor at the time was clearly teaching contrary to that, which I knew wasn’t right. Second, that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Again, I didn’t have the language of exclusivity, but I knew what my pastor was preaching was clearly wrong.”

In those early years of walking with Christ, Matt was often bothered by the incongruity between his convictions and the teaching he was receiving. Along the way, Matt met Alicia, and as they began dating, Alicia would press Matt to reconsider what he had long assumed about church and about the Bible. God was using Alicia to draw him to the Scriptures — to ground his beliefs in God’s word.

When he was 17, Matt felt called to ministry, which began his quest for training. After graduating from Auburn University, Matt came across the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 while exploring his options for seminary. After reading the BF&M 2000, Matt recognized that it faithfully reflected what the Bible teaches about the Christian faith. In God’s providence, Matt and Alicia married in 2006, and Matt first heard about Southeastern from his brother-in-law, who had started attending Southeastern a couple years earlier.

Matt enrolled in Southeastern’s MDiv program in 2006, and when he graduated, Matt decided to continue at Southeastern and pursue a PhD in biblical theology. What impacted Matt the most during those days was Southeastern’s Great Commission culture and the willingness of the faculty to engage and mentor students personally.

“Some of my most formative moments at Southeastern happened outside the classroom as my professors took time to have conversations with me — to debate, to pray, and to listen,” Matt recalled. “That intentionality and openness to engage personally was and continues to be a strength of the Southeastern faculty.”

“It was through their teaching ministries and the culture at Southeastern that I learned every Christian is called to the mission field and that everything we do in ministry is a mission field,” commented Matt.

It was through their teaching ministries and the culture at Southeastern that I learned every Christian is called to the mission field and that everything we do in ministry is a mission field.

As God grew Matt and Alicia’s family, God was also preparing his heart for future service. As Matt neared the end of his PhD program, he was still unsure where God wanted him to serve. To Matt’s surprise God used a seemingly everyday moment of research to direct his heart toward academic teaching.

“At the time, I was working as a faculty secretary in Stephens Mackie on campus, and I was researching a topic that I thought I disagreed with Dr. McKinion about,” Matt recounted. “I had checked out like 50 books on the allegory in Galatians 4:21-31, and it was in that moment the Lord revealed to me that he was calling me to academic ministry. He showed me that I was interested in researching and writing for a reason. He showed me that this wasn’t an accident and that he wanted me to teach.”

Having called Matt to teach, God then called Matt and his family to California Baptist University where he taught from 2011-2015. During those days, God continued to refine Matt as a teacher and administrator, giving him opportunities to apply the formative training he had received at Southeastern. In the fall of 2015, Matt and his family moved to Oklahoma for Matt to join the faculty of Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU).

Since arriving at OBU, Matt has taught Old and New Testament, hermeneutics, and systematic theology classes and has served in various administrative positions. In his roles at OBU, Matt has a passion to engage and mentor students in ways that he learned firsthand from his professors at Southeastern. Matt is also committed to teaching as mission — a vision he learned during his time at Southeastern.

“Because of my training at Southeastern, I look at my job at OBU not only as ministry but also as mission,” noted Matt. “The missionary mindset of Southeastern is just a really solid fit with what I am doing now. At OBU, we want every student to learn how to live all of life all for Jesus. We are an authentically Christian liberal arts institution that’s committed to being biblically rooted, theologically faithful, and practically relevant.”

Because of my training at Southeastern, I look at my job at OBU not only as ministry but also as mission.

For Matt, this cooperative vision of life as mission and of God’s word as authoritative extends well beyond his teaching at OBU. As a member of the board of directors at the Center for Baptist Renewal, Matt aims to connect Baptists and Southern Baptists today with their unifying Christian heritage not only in the Reformation but also in the early church.

“At the Center for Baptist Renewal, we are helping Baptists understand Baptist catholicity — that is learning to see ourselves as Baptists and as part of the wider Christian tradition,” commented Matt. “By encouraging Baptists to retrieve their historic distinctives, we hope to enrich the belief, practice, and mission of Baptist churches.”

As he trains future leaders and seeks to strengthen the Baptist tradition, Matt carries with him a Great Commission vision for life that took shape during his time at Southeastern. Matt’s story represents the Great Commission impact Southeastern’s alumni are making around the world as they partner together on mission.