Seven months after receiving a six-month sentence for lying to federal investigators looking into sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, Matthew Queen is now back in the pulpit as a pastor in Texas.
Church officials were not immediately available for comment when contacted by The Christian Post on Friday, but Queen is now listed as a member of the Plymouth Park Baptist Church’s Pastoral Care Team in Irving.
“Dr. Matt Queen serves as our associate pastor. He is the husband of Hope and the father of two daughters,” Queen’s bio reads on the church’s website in part. “Dr. Queen brings over three decades of experience in a variety of roles and contexts as a leading voice in evangelism.”
In March, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Lewis Kaplan sentenced Queen to six months of home confinement during which time he was not allowed to leave except to get medical care for himself or his wife or with permission from his probation officer. He was also required to wear an electronic monitor.
Prior to the sentencing, Queen was facing a penalty of up to five years in prison for lying to federal investigators but Kaplan appeared to have been moved by the 59 letters submitted in court and reviewed by The Christian Post from family, friends, former students, and colleagues, testifying to his moral character and the unfortunate circumstances that led him to betray himself and almost made him take his life.
“Dr. Queen recognizes that the Southern Baptist Convention, including SWBTS, has had a history of covering up and minimizing sexual abuse allegations. He opposes such cover-ups and has always supported victims of such abuse,” Queen’s attorney, Sam A. Schmidt, wrote in a March 2 letter to Kaplan just three days before his client was sentenced.
“When the opportunity has arisen, he has acted on behalf of those who were abused. The most recent time was this past fall while on administrative leave from Friendly Avenue Baptist church. A woman told his wife and him about her experience. Both Dr. Queen and his wife explained to the woman how important it was to report the abuse both for herself and the community,” Schmidt added.
Queen’s charges stemmed from a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into “multiple SBC entities” following a Guidepost Solutions report detailing how some leaders mishandled allegations of abuse and mistreated victims of abuse.
Last year, the DOJ decided not to file any charges against the Protestant denomination but did pursue charges against Queen, a former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary evangelism professor, provost and church pastor, for falsifying records connected to its investigation.
The case against Queen, 49, was opened following a November 2022 report of alleged sexual abuse committed by a Texas Baptist College student, according to a statement by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Seminary officials later said they helped facilitate the arrest of the student who withdrew from the college.
Before the sexual abuse allegation in November 2022, the Justice Department issued a grand jury subpoena to the seminary in October 2022, which required the seminary to produce all documents in its possession related to allegations of sexual abuse against anyone employed by or associated with the seminary, among other things.
Investigators said Queen “attempted to interfere with a federal grand jury investigation by creating false notes in an attempt to corroborate his own lies.” He pleaded guilty in October 2024.
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