Matt began his ministry here as Senior Pastor of Central Park Baptist Church in September of 2018. Prior to coming to CPBC, Matt has served churches in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. He has both a Masters of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Matt is married to Alison and they have four sons – Nathan, Andrew, John David, and Josh.

Matt’s ministry passion is to help people see the beauty of the gospel and how it applies, not only to their eternal salvation, but to their everyday life right now. His focus is on gospel-centered preaching, personal disciple-making, and local and global missions. His ministry theme verse is Colossians 1:28-29, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Outside of church work, Matt’s hobbies include playing golf, reading great biographies, and rooting for all things Mississippi State and the Boston Red Sox.

David Holmes serves as Minister of Music with additional responsibilities supervising buildings & grounds maintenance and operations. David joined the Central Park staff in October 1997 and previously served churches in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. David is married to Melanie, and they have two adult children. Drew is married to Ashley (Kwasigroh) and they are in pharmacy residency. Drew is employed by the Kansas University Hospital and Ashley is employed by the Saint Luke's Children's Hospital. Their daughter Ashley is serving as a church specialist for Lifeway.

David has music degrees from Samford University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. David also enjoys officiating high school football and basketball.

Jaime Early, Student Pastor

Jaime leads all aspects of CPStudents, along with pitching ideas for Sunday School and our new CPJoy ministry.
Jaime has a BS from Jacksonville State University, and MA from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and will receive his MDiv from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2025.
Jaime is married to Laura and they have two kiddos, Avery and Tai. When Jaime isn't hanging with his family or doing ministry stuff you can find him cheering on the Auburn Tigers, playing/watching hockey, and reading.

Steve joined the Central Park staff in February 2023 after retiring as the CFO of Decatur Utilities on January 1, 2023.  He has served as Church Treasurer for over twenty years and has served on the Missions Committee since its inception.  Steve is serving our Lord in retirement by volunteering his services to the church using his spiritual gift of administration and his passion for missions.  Steve has represented CPBC on mission trips to Panama, Tokyo, Guatemala, and Uganda as well as many domestic trips sponsored by the church.

Steve is an Austin High graduate and has the following degrees: A.S. in Music Education - Calhoun Community College; B.S. in Accounting and Music & Business Education, with a minor in Economics - the University of North Alabama; and M.B.A. in Accounting & Finance - Alabama A&M University.  He is married to Debbie Pirkle, the retired Minister to Preschool & Children at CPBC.  They have two sons and three granddaughters.  Danny is the Co-Pastor of H2O church at the University of Cincinnati.  His wife, Haingo, has degrees in architecture and works for a firm in Cincinnati.  They are the parents of Steve’s youngest granddaughter Eva Fitia Pirkle.  Timothy is the AP/AR Coordinator at Decatur Utilities.  His wife, Mallory, is the Director of the CPBC Child Care Center.  Their beautiful daughters are Lillie Beth and Addie Grace Pirkle.

Steve’s hobbies include playing disc golf, travelling, and attending sporting events.  ROAR LIONS AND ROLL TIDE!!

Whitley joined the CP staff in April of 2017 as Webmaster and Media Secretary after obtaining her A.A.S. and her B.A. in Graphic Design. She (finally) answered the Lord’s calling to kids ministry in 2022 and now serves full time as the kids minister to the cpkids (nursery through 6th grade).In her spare time she enjoys painting, spending time with her husband Ryan, cat Mochi, and dog Odin. She prays that the Lord will use her family to minister to the families that the Lord places on their path.

Teresa Smyser has been the financial administrator at Central Park since 2016. She lives in Athens, Alabama with her retired minister husband Keith. She has two married children, two grandsons, and two sweet granddaughters. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University. She is an adult Sunday School teacher at her home church. The rest of her time is divided between family, friends, church activities, and writing Christian fiction books.

Bio coming soon!

Katlyn joined the Central Park team in the fall of 2022 as the Custodian. She happily married Daniel on April 29th of 2017 and (finally) completed the adoption of Samantha on August 8th of 2024 after nearly two years of being her foster parents. She help serve in the children’s ministry as a volunteer teacher of the Pre-K class on Wednesday nights. She enjoy reading, watching movies, and doing anything crafty.