Dr. Matt Akers serves as the Associate Dean of the Seminary; Chairman of the Old Testament Department; Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek, Old Testament and Hebrew, Missions, and Biblical Counseling. He is also the Director of the Hispanic Institute. Currently, Dr. Akers serves as the pastor of la Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida, a Hispanic church plant in Memphis. His personal travel includes Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Japan, El Salvador, Honduras, and Canada, as well as the Filipino islands of Luzon and Mindanao.
Dr. Akers and his lovely wife Glenda, who was born in the Central American country of El Salvador, have been blessed with three children: Josiah, Jenny, and Katie.
A little known fact is that Dr. Akers speaks fluent Spanish because his father-in-law required him to learn the language when he asked for Glenda’s hand in marriage!
Matthew R. Akers, PhD
Associate Dean of the Seminary
Chairman of the Department of Old Testament
Associate Professor of Biblical Counseling, Old Testament, Hebrew, New Testament, Greek, and Theology
Director of the Hispanic Institute
Education
MDiv, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary; PhD, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.
Teaching Experience
Instructor of Classics, University of Memphis; Assistant Professor, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary
Field Experience
Youth Intern, Kaley Hill Baptist Church, Quitman, AR; Summer Youth Intern, Breton Creek Baptist Church, Potosi, MO; Intern, Park Place Baptist Church, Little Rock, AR; Pastor, Fourth Street Baptist Church, West Helena, AR; Interim Youth Pastor, Kirby Woods Baptist Church, Memphis, TN; Pastor, La Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida en Kirby Woods, Memphis, TN; Executive Vice President, Agua Viva Children’s Home, Chimaltenango, Guatemala.
Other Experience
Director of E.S.L. Ministries, Kirby Woods Baptist Church; Kirby Woods Baptist Church Missions Committee Member; Strategy Coordinator for the Ayacucho Quechua People Group of Peru; Team Leader for Missions Trips to Guatemala and Peru.
Writings
“Key Sources of Conflict in Multiethnic Marriages.” Journal of Biblical Soul Care Vol. 1, no. 2 (Spring 2018): 73-102; “Multiethnic Marriage in the Old Testament.” Journal of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (2018): 11-23; “The Employment of Zeroa’ as a Messianic Motif with Particular Emphasis on the Origin of the Concept as Well as Its First Usage in Exodus 6:1–8.” PhD Dissertation; Co-author of A Hebrew Grammar for Students of the Bible; “My Word Will Not Return Void,” Journal of Evangelism and Missions; “Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind,” Messenger; “What’s in a Name? An Examination of the Usage of the Term ‘Hebrew’ in the Old Testament,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. “The Soteriological Development of the Arm of the Lord Motif,” Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament. “Equally Yoked: An Investigation of Multiethnic Marriage with an Application for Premarital Biblical Counseling” PhD Dissertation. “Nouthetic Confrontation in 1 Samuel: Two Case Studies,” The Journal: Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.
Scholarly Papers Read at Professional Societies
“An Exegetical Analysis of Hebrews 6:4–6,” E.T.S. Regional Meeting; “Who Are the Habiru of the Amarna Letters?” E.T.S. Regional Meeting; “The ‘Arm of the LORD’ as Messiah: A Survey of the Phrase Zeroa’ YHWH in Early Jewish and Christian Literature,” E.T.S. Regional Meeting; “The Arm of the Lord Motif: Its Origin and Importance in the Old Testament,” E.T.S. Regional Meeting; “What’s in a Name? An Examination of the Usage of the Term ‘Hebrew’ in the Old Testament,” E.T.S. National Meeting.
Professional Societies
Evangelical Theological Society, Society of Biblical Literature
Personal Travel
Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Japan, Philippines, El Salvador, Honduras, and Canada.