OUR STAFF
Zach Vaughn joined us in January 2021 as the senior pastor of Machias Valley Baptist Church. Zach previously served as the Associate Pastor of Students & Education at First Baptist Church of Lovington, New Mexico. He received his M.A. in Christian Studies from Criswell College.
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​Zach and his wife Mari (pronounced Mah-dee) are both from New Mexico and have been married since 2014. They met in college and have served in ministry together ever since. They have a passion for making disciples of Jesus through one-on-one mentoring. They have three children, Jeremiah, Amelia and Julia.
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Zach loves reading, baseball (Boston Red Sox fans!), fishing, hunting, ultimate frisbee, and disc golf. Mari enjoys tennis, crafting, thrifting, baking, photography, and Christmas movies.
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Zach and Mari have sensed the Lord calling them to New England for some time now, and He has sovereignly brought our paths together.
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JENNIFER SMITH
Secretary
Jennifer is a lifelong member of Machias Valley Baptist Church and has served as our church secretary for over 10 years. She attended Machias Valley Christian School and has lived and worked in the Machias area all her life. She and her husband Matthew and daughter Dana are dedicated servants and friendly, familiar faces of our church. Jennifer is the queen of organization and her favorite store is The Container Store.
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ANDREA LYFORD
Director, Education & Communications
Andrea grew up in Downeast Maine and spent her elementary school years at Machias Valley Christian School. She attended Liberty University for two years then finished her B.S. in Business Administration at University of Maine, Machias.
She has been married to Chris for over 25 years and has two daughters, Chloe and Kara, and one energetic border collie named Chase. She enjoys digging into the Scriptures and is passionate about helping the church grow and thrive. She is an avid reader, enjoys listening to podcasts, and spending time on the lake with her family.
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ELDERS
Rob Wood, Chair
David Burns
David Hopkins
Micah Perkins
Zach Vaughn
We believe the New Testament teaches that the church is led by a plurality of elders. An elder is a male, active member of MVBC that meets the qualifications as set forth in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9.
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The duties of an elder are to carry out the spiritual responsibilities which are:
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preaching and teaching (1 Timothy 5:17)
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labor, lead, and admonish in the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:12)
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keep watch/give an account over your souls (Hebrews 13:17
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guard and shepherd God's flock (Acts 20:28-31)
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be living examples of holiness (1 Peter 5:1-4)
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hold to and encourage with sound doctrine, refute and silence heresy (Titus 1:9-11)
DEACONS
Chuck Vose, Chair
Jeff Currier
The New Testament also teaches that deacons were appointed in the local church to aid in the physical needs of the members. The term simply means "servant," implemented first in Acts 6:3-6. They are male, active members of MVBC that meet the scriptural qualifications set forth in 1 Timothy 3:8-13.
The duties of the deacon are:
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to give of themselves in the physical service to the church
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to be servants of the local gatherings of the church
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to be servants of the temporal and physical needs of the member of MVBC