The Reverend Matthew R. Rasure, Ph.D.

The Reverend Doctor Matthew R. Rasure is the 26th minister of the First Baptist Church of Medford. He is married to the Reverend Rachael Pettengill-Rasure, who is pastor at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Milton, MA. Together they are the parents of John ("Jack") and Magdalena ("Maggie").

Matt is a jack-of-all-trades, passionate about community involvement, environmental consciousness, deep learning, and helping people and institutions to live fully into their vocations.

In addition to his duties as minister of the First Baptist Church of Medford, he serves as President of the Board for the Center for Career Development and Ministry, an ecumenical non-profit dedicated to helping clergy in the Mainline traditions to thrive throughout their entire careers, from ordination to retirement. In his spare time, Matt loves to cook with his wife, and they are both avid fans of early and Baroque music, particularly the harpsichord.

With undergraduate training as a mathematician, Rev. Matt is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Harvard University (A.M. & Ph.D.). His graduate work was in the Harvard department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Rev. Matt's book on priesthood in the Hebrew Bible, Holy Brothers, is available wherever books are sold. He is currently researching as second book exploring the intersections of rationality, violence, mental illness, and priesthood in ancient Israel.

You can reach him via minister@firstbaptistchurchmedford.org or friend him on FACEBOOK.

Pastor Greg Sakal, M.Div., Assisting Minister

Pastor Gregory Sakal is a native of New Jersey. He holds a BA degree in Music History, and a Masters of Library Science Degree, both from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. After a career in and around academic libraries and information systems that took him to Wisconsin and later California, Greg moved to Cambridge in 1992 to attend Episcopal Divinity School. He obtained his Masters of Divinity degree in 1995.

In September 2009, Greg accepted an invitation from Hill Memorial Baptist Church in Allston as “Bridge” pastor and then as settled pastor in March 2010. Pastor Greg retired from The Hill in May 2019, and is now serving as an Affiliate pastor here at FB Medford. On a denominational level, Greg served on the board of the Boston Southwest Association from 2015 through his retirement in 2019.

Dr. Carolyn Brett, Interim Director of Music

Carolyn holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano from St Olaf College in Minnesota, where she was harpsichordist for the St. Olaf Chamber Orchestra. She also received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from University of Miami, where she resided with her husband for five years.

Being a die-hard New Englander, she returned to the Boston area and church music, where she became the Director of Music at Gate of Heaven Church in South Boston, and remained for almost 25 years. During her free time Carolyn is often spotted walking her Westie, Oliver around Topsfield, and is involved in several community groups .

She is very excited to begin working at the First Baptist Church in Medford, and hopes you will join the choir!

Gina Picerno, Director of Choral Fellows & Scholars

Ms. Picerno studied at New England Conservatory in Boston receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She has been involved in performing sacred music in churches throughout Rhode Island and Massachesetts from a young age, working with many renowned directors and organists. She was a member of the Rhode Island Civic Chorale, and as also appeared in opera performances with Artist’s Internationale in Rhode Island and in musical theatre productions at Giordano’s Dinner Theatre in Massachesetts.

Ms. Picerno has attended the McClosky Institute for Voice and continues to study vocal technique. She has been singing and coaching the choir in vocal technique at First Baptist Church for over 20 years as well as teaching piano and voice privately. Ms. Picerno also holds a Masters of Education in Early Childhood from Lesley University and teaches at The Centre School in Milton, where she has implemented a music curriculum for toddler and preschool age children.

She has studied voice with Susan Clickner and Bonnie Pomfret. She has sung under the direction of and in collaboration with Lorna Cooke DeVaron, Donald Polumbo, Ronald Morris, and Alexander Peloquin.

The Rev. Dr. Rand Peabody, Affiliate Pastor

The Rev. Dr. A. Rand Peabody and his wife, Sally, have been Chestnut Street neighbors of First Baptist Church since the 1990's. Though members act Old South Church in Boston (UCC), they have been attending services at First Baptist quite regularly during the past few years, enjoying the warm personal fellowship of the congregation, the worship leadership of the the Rev. Matthew Rasure, and the excellent series of concerts that the church has been hosting, and hopefully will soon be able to offer again.

Rand had a long career in pastoral ministry, beginning with an ecumenical ministry-at-large focused on the youth culture of a town in New Jersey, continuing with a Pastorate in Flushing, Queens, and followed by a new-church start in Connecticut. After completing graduate work in pastoral counseling, Rand embarked on a career as a specialized Interim Pastor, serving with fifteen different United-Church-of-Christ congregations in Maine and Massachusetts. He focused on the spiritual, systemic, and structural dynamics of churches passing through times of pastoral transition.