First Baptist Church Pearland

Church Staff

Senior Pastor

Sonny Foraker
sforaker@fbcpearland.org

Pastor Sonny Foraker has been at First Baptist since April 2000. He first served as Executive Pastor and Co-Pastor until October 2002 when he was called by the church as the Senior Pastor. He has served as a pastor in churches since 1986.

Pastor Sonny is a graduate of Charleston Southern University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Trinity Seminary. Pastor Sonny also retired from the U. S. Navy Submarine Service after 22 years.

He and his wife, Gilly, have 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren.

Worship Pastor

Mark McCurdy
mmccurdy@fbcpearland.org

Mark comes to us from Grace Family Church in Spring, Texas. He has served as worship leader in several other churches in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Mark also attended Oklahoma Baptist University.

Mark’s other professional accomplishments include: recording artist with Sparrow Records (Gaither Publishing) as the lead singer and keyboard player of a contemporary Christian touring band; Dove Award nominee as “Producer of the Year” in 1993; and producer for several #1 hits on the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) charts. He is also an accomplished composer, arranger, video editor, and audio & lighting designer.

Mark and his wife, Julie, have two children: Madison and Nathan.

Pastoral Care

Raymond (Ray) Cox
rcox@fbcpearland.org

Pastor Ray's passion is to connect hurting people with a healing Savior. As the Pastoral Care Pastor for First Baptist Pearland, he attempts to find every pocket of human need and take the Gospel of Christ with the resources of our church to meet those needs.

Pastor Ray received his Bachelor of Arts in Hammond, La., and his Master's Degree in Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. With over 40 years in the ministry, he and wife, Barbara have three children and three grandchildren.

Pastor of Students & Young Adults

Jason Crandall
jcrandall@fbcpearland.org

Jason Crandall was born and raised in the Detroit metropolitan area. Jason attended Bob Jones University where he received his B.A. in Bible in 2002. Jason received his M.A.R. from Liberty University in 2004. Jason completed his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina in May 2007.

Jason has served in Student Ministry for the last 5 years. He aided in the organization of statewide Student events for the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia for two years. Jason has spoken at camps and conferences in several states, sharing his passion for the cross of Jesus Christ.

Jason is passionate about students Knowing Christ, Growing In Christ, and Showing Christ to this world. His desire is to see Students EMERGE from Darkness to Light.

Jason started Kairos, a relevant worship gathering for an emerging generation, In January of 2008. He also directs the Young Adult and College Small groups at FBCP.

Jason married an Aggie (Class of '04) and resides with Allie (his Aggie wife) and Drew, his amazing son in Pearland, Texas.

EMERGE Student Ministry

Kairos Worship

Associate Pastor of Missions and Evangelism

Don Schwarz
dschwarz@fbcpearland.org

In 2001 the Pastors of Sagemont Baptist Church recognized the call of God on Don's life and licensed him to the gospel ministry. With the help of some Sagemont members, Don began New Birth Ministries and has served as its Executive Director since then. Don has also authored a book titled Identity Crisis Israel and the Church.

The three key objectives of his ministry are getting the gospel to the lost, equipping the Church to be who we are in these end times, and teaching the Church how and why to be a Ruth (a friend) to Israel. These God given goals so match the mission-minded direction of First Baptist Church Pearland that it became clear to Don, his wife Suzanne, and FBCP that Don should join the staff as the Evangelism and Missions Pastor.

Director of Education

Mike Mathews
mmathews@fbcpearland.org

Mike serves as Director of Education. He has been serving churches for almost 30 years. He has been the pastor of 5 churches and served in staff positions in 3 others. Mike graduated from Troy University with a double major in Business Administration and Marketing. He received his Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mike and his wife, Patti, have a married son and a married daughter.

Pastor of Children's Ministry

Travis Duke
tduke@fbcpearland.org

Travis Duke serves as our Pastor of Children’s Ministries. He and his family come to us from Warner Robins, Georgia, where he began his calling into the ministry, working with both youth and children ministries. Travis met his beautiful wife, Keri at their home church and was married in 1999. They have two wonderful children, Haley(3), Brayden (17 months), and another little Duke boy due February 6th 2008!

Travis and his wife accepted the call into the ministry soon after they were married and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Travis obtained a B.S. in Christian Education and Church Leadership at Boyce College. While in Kentucky, Travis became the minister to children at the East Campus of Highview Baptist Church. This is where Travis found his love for children’s ministry. Seeing this campus grow in spirit and number from ground up was a great joy. Along the way Travis has served in both youth and college ministries, and has also spoken at several youth and children’s camps. He has also served on several mission trips overseas.

Travis has a passion to reach boys and girls for Christ and to see families become more involved in ministry together.

Kidz First Website