Matthew L. Snowden, 33, who received his doctorate from the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University and has served as associate pastor of the First Baptist Church of Meridian, Miss., has been recommended to become the next pastor of the First Baptist Church of Waco.

He is the unanimous choice of the church’s pastor search committee and its deacons.

Snowden will preach at First Baptist Church of Waco on Aug. 8, and the congregation will vote on calling him as its pastor after the service. The search committee has worked about 18 months to find a successor to its previous pastor, Scott Walker, said Dick Jackson, who has chaired the search committee.

Snowden is married to Meredith Brady Snowden, and they have two children, 4-year-old Molly Katherine and 3-year-old Steven Wesley. Matthew Snowden was ordained as a minister in 2000 at Highland Baptist Church in Meridian, Miss. He later served as pastor of churches in Pearl and Monticello, Miss.

He received his master of divinity at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and his bachelor of arts with a major in religion at William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Miss.

He serves on the Baptist Student Union advisory committee in Meridian, Miss., where he also serves on the board of the Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity. He received his doctorate at Baylor in 2009.

If approved as First Baptist Church of Waco’s new pastor, he will assume his duties on Aug. 29.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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