Leadership

Pastor Matthew Walker

Pastor Matt was born into a Christian family and benefitted greatly from attending a Christian school. When he was four years old, he was led to the Lord by his mother after an evening of family devotions. Upon finishing high school in 1988, he entered the United States Marine Corps. Boot camp was at Parris Island, SC and he was trained at in ammunition supply at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. In November 1990 he was activated from reserve status as part of Operation Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia. During this time Pastor Walker believes that God burdened his heart to pastoral ministries. Returning home, he finished his undergraduate degree at Bob Jones University. While he was there, he met Becky Matzko during a local extension ministry. After a couple of years of dating, they married in Martinsville, IN on August 12, 1995.

On April 23, 1997 he was ordained at Heritage Bible Church in Greenville, SC. Following this ordination the young couple moved to Centre Hall, PA to join the pastoral staff at Calvary Bible Church. During their eighteen months in Pennsylvania they had their son, Aaron. Moving on to become a representative for BJU in the Mid-west, they relocated to Indianapolis. For three years Pastor and Becky were members of Colonial Hills Baptist Church. Pastor traveled throughout the Mid-west preaching in Christian schools, churches, and Christian camps. While in Indianapolis, God added Melanie to the Walker home in May of 2000. It was at a missions conference at CHBC in 2001 that Pastor became burdened to plant a church—what eventually became College Park. Pastor and Becky left Indianapolis for the Washington, D.C. area and a church planting internship at Fairfax Baptist Temple. After one year at FBT, Pastor and Becky relocated to Raleigh/Durham, NC and started College Park Baptist Church in February 2003.

Since the founding of College Park, Pastor Matt has completed his Master’s degree from Maranatha Baptist University and Ph.D. from Piedmont International University. The topic of his dissertation is “Third Wave Charismaticism’s Misinterpretation of the Battle Between Michael and Satan Has Resulted in the Excesses of the Spiritual Warfare Movement.”

Pastor Matt also is part of the adjunct faculty at Maranatha Baptist University. He has also taught at Great Lakes Bible Institute and at Haven of Grace Seminary in the Philippines.