Former SWBTS Prof. Matthew Queen Finishes Sentence, Returns to Pastoral Ministry

 A year after pleading guilty to one charge of making false statements to the FBI and six months after being sentenced to house arrest, former pastor, professor, and interim provost at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), Matthew Queen, has returned to ministry.

In March of this year, Queen was sentenced to six months of home confinement after the Department of Justice indicted him on charges of obstructing justice, with FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith explaining that he “failed to inform the FBI of a conspiracy to destroy evidence related to the ongoing investigation of sexual misconduct and instead produced falsified notes to investigators.”

Though facing five years in prison, the judge in the case seemed to be moved by Queen’s testimony of repentance over what he had done, along with nearly 60 letters from friends and colleagues vouching for him and pleading on his behalf.

Before his sentencing, Queen expressed remorse for his actions, which he attributes to heightened stress and anxiety working at a seminary with “dysfunctional dynamics,” lamenting, “(I) did something quite out of character for me—I lied to two colleagues to make myself more credible by claiming I had made notes that I had not written.”

Queen has joined the pastoral care team at Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving, Texas.

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