The Rev. 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").

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

In addition to his duties as minister and Executive Director 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. He also serves as the Treasurer of the Conference of Baptist Ministers in Massachusetts.

In his spare time, Rev. Matt loves to cook with his wife, and they are both avid fans of early and Baroque music, particularly the harpsichord. 

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 first book on priesthood in the Old Testament is under revision and slated for publication in 2020 with Fortress Academic. He is currently preparing an article on the history of alphabetic writing for a special issue of the Journal of Chinese Writing Systems, published by East China Normal University. He is researching his 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.