Matt was born and raised in suburban Chicago, Illinois. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at the age of 12 and received his calling to pastoral ministry during college. His vision for LCC is to make passionate disciples of Jesus Christ. He is an ordained minister through the Evangelical Church Alliance (ECA).
As for his education, he earned degrees from Carleton College (B.A.); Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.); and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland (Th.M. and Ph.D.). He is the author of Preaching to Second Generation Korean Americans: Towards a Possible Selves Contextual Homiletic (New York: Peter Lang, 2007) as well as various book chapters, journal articles, sermons, and reviews. Matt was recently invited to teach as the Sams Visiting Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary on the topic of Preaching in the Asian-American Context.
Matt and his wife Sarah are the parents of one child, Ryan. Prior to LCC, he worked in investment banking at Bank of America in New York City, served in two pastoral capacities at Boston-area churches, and taught as an adjunct faculty member at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the area of preaching. As for hobbies, he enjoys working out, reading, writing, playing basketball, and watching sports and movies.
Youth Pastor: Clifton Smith
Clifton was born on April 6, 1979. He was adopted
by his uncle and aunt and moved to inner-city
Seattle where he made many friends and enjoyed
his youth. He took up drawing at young age and
was featured in school art shows for his portraits
and renderings of athletes.
In 1994 he moved to suburban Aurora. The change of scene was unsettling but he got through it by making friends and playing on the high school football and basketball teams. He also ran track and was one of the schools top art and literature students.
He moved out from his parents home at age 18 and lived in down town Denver where he attended college. It was at this time that he also began attending LCC. He felt well-received at the church and grew in his knowledge of God and the Scriptures. He experienced God working in his life through short-term mission trips, a messianic Bible study group, and playing an active role in campus ministry.
Now a full-time student at Denver Seminary he and his wife, Lan, lead the youth ministry at LCC. In the future he hopes to continue to work with youth and perhaps teach the Hebrew roots of Christian faith. He also hopes to travel to Israel and work to reconcile relationships between Christians and Jews.
