Matthew Stephen Brown

Matthew Stephen Brown is the founding and lead pastor of Sandals Church in Riverside, California. Sandals Church began in 1997 when Pastor Matt and his wife, Tammy, set out to create a church where people could be real with themselves, God, and others. From its first meeting with eight people in the Browns' living room, Sandals Church has since grown to reach more than 12,000 people each weekend at eleven locations across Southern and Central California. Around the world, Sandals Church’s digital content is viewed by close to 30,000 people every week.

Today, he continues to lead Sandals Church as the primary teaching pastor. In 2016, he launched The Debrief podcast, an opportunity for people to get real answers to tough questions about the Bible and Christianity. And last year, Pastor Matt and Sandals Church launched the ROGO Foundation, which exists to help save and replant dying churches and invest in up-and-coming leaders through hands-on leadership training programs at Sandals Church.

Matt is the author of A Book Called YOU: Understanding the Enneagram from a Grace-Filled, Biblical Perspective, and he is passionate about the vision of authenticity and raising up the next generation of leaders for the local church. He and Tammy have three children and reside in Riverside, California.