Dr. Matt Henslee

Plymouth Park Baptist Church called Dr. Matt Henslee as their Lead Pastor on January 7, 2024. Plymouth Park is quickly becoming a multi-generational, multi-ethnic church in a vibrant city in the heart of the DFW Metroplex. Founded in 1954 by Rev. Oral Bowman and pastored by the likes of Don Dyer, BO Baker, and Ken Branam, PPBC gathers for worship in south Irving along Highway 183 and N. Story Road. Henslee leads a staff of incredible pastors as they seek to revitalize Plymouth Park Baptist and advance the Kingdom across Irving, the Metroplex, and beyond. In less than three years, PPBC has grown by over 100% with more baptisms than PPBC has seen in a decade.

Dr. Henslee is the husband of Rebecca (May, 2005), and they have the joy of raising daughters they adopted in 2015. In addition to his work with Plymouth Park Baptist Church, Matt is the chaplain for the Irving Police Department, the regional coordinator for the Church Ambassador Network, and is on the membership and annual meeting committees of the Dallas Baptist Association.

Dr. Henslee had previously revitalized a dying local association in Collin County as the Executive Director or Associational Missionary (formerly called Director of Missions) of Collin Baptist Association, and he also served as the Assistant Preaching Pastor of First Baptist Farmersville. In his work as AMS, the CBA planted or revitalized numerous churches, launched a church planting cohort, and he personally negotiated the sale of their property to lead a diverse staff to remote associational work. In his role at FBC Farmersville, he preached and taught regularly, and assisted Dr. Bart Barber in his role as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Before returning to Texas for his roles with CBA and FBCF, Henslee was the pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church in Mayhill, New Mexico, for almost five years and saw the church grow from a few dozen to over three times the town’s population, baptizing over 30 new believers along the way. His previous pastorate near San Antonio saw over 300% growth in just over two years, including the first baptisms the church had seen in several years. In addition to his ministry as a senior pastor, Henslee brings many years of experience as a student, children, education, or worship pastor in churches in various contexts (rural, suburban, urban/city center) and sizes (large or small). All told, his experiences range from young church plants to established churches, and everything in between in over 25 years.

Dr. Henslee graduated from Dallas Baptist University with his BA in 2006 and MDiv and DMin from SWBTS in 2015 and 2021, respectively. An author, Henslee authored Defining Our Faith, Coming into Focus, God Can Save Me?, Jonah Over Coffee, Text-Driven Invitation, Evangelize to Revitalize, Path for PEACE, and co-authored Replanting Rural Churches and The People Walking in Darkness with Dr. Kyle Bueermann. He is writing more books, including one on the history of Plymouth Park Baptist Church and the return of his Over Coffee devotional commentary series. He is a fixture at Lifeway Research and NAMB Replant blogs, but also has bylines at Religion News Service, Washington Post, Baptist Press, SWBTS’ Preaching Source, Biblical Recorder, SEBTS’ Pastor Center, Baptist New Mexican, Southern Baptist Texan, Baptist Courier, The Aquila Report, and more.

In addition to over two decades of ministry experience, Henslee has served Southern Baptists in several capacities. He previously led Mountain Valley Baptist Association’s church planting efforts, served the Baptist Convention of New Mexico as the 2nd vice president from 2018-2019, and then as 1st vice president from 2020-2021. With “Worship 4 Life Camp,” Henslee taught up-and-coming student leaders and also preached for Young Lives Ablaze, a youth conference in 2021, as well as multiple annual meetings for various associations. He served as the managing editor of LifeWay Pastors from 2018-2020 and on the Credentials Committee at the 2019 Annual Meeting in Birmingham. Dr. Henslee also served as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastors’ Conference in 2022 and on the Leadership Council of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. More recently, he served as the #2 for Dr. Bart Barber in his role as SBC President and on the SBC’s Cooperation Group Task Force. For many years, he co-hosted Not Another Baptist Podcast with Dr. Kyle Bueermann to help pastors and leaders across