Graduate Profile: Matthew Oliver

God is good. He has blessed us in so many ways over the years. Jane and I married in 1982 while attending Biola University. After my graduation, we moved back to Northern California. I went to work in sales and support for a telecommunications company who made Easylink, one of the very first email programs. Next, I went to work for Borland International, who made computer programming compilers and database software. Five years later I started at Sun Microsystems. In twelve years at Sun, I did customer service, tech support, software engineering, and world-wide support operations. Jane worked in marketing for the computer aided design company, Autodesk, in San Rafael.

In 2004, tired of the rat race, we moved to Nevada. We found Brian Borgman’s church, Grace Community, in Minden. We loved it there, learned so much, and we were introduced to the Reformed faith. Already fans of John Bunyan and the puritans, we did not know the five solas or the difference between Calvinists and Arminians. We both loved to read and took advantage of the Church’s Reformed/Puritan bookstore.

In 2005, the church started Grace Christian Academy (GCA). Jane and I both became teachers in the K-8 school. Eventually I became the 7th and 8th grade teacher, teaching math, science, history, and english, based on homeschool materials and four trips to Logos School in Moscow Idaho for Classical Christian school training. For the last three plus years at GCA, I served as Headmaster. We learned so much at Grace Community Church and GCA, especially that God provides and that so much can be done by diving in and praying.

In 2012, life brought us back to the SF East Bay Area, to help care for aging parents. Unable to retire just yet, I took an operations manager job for an optometric buying group servicing thousands of optometrists. Five years later I was laid off, which is unnerving in your sixties. By God’s providence I began teaching again at another Classical Christian School, in Livermore. I served as interim Headmaster for a year or so as the school sought to fill this post.

When the pandemic hit in 2019, I was teaching a life science class, studying bacteria and viruses. We followed the news closely as therapeutics and vaccines were investigated. It was hard to watch the crazy conclusions and mandates brought forward by medical and political leaders. We can all relate, I am sure. When the school hired a new Headmaster, Jane and I semi-retired and moved to Sonora, CA, in the woods.

With lockdowns still happening and more time to reflect, I decided to take some online classes. I knew I loved history and searched for history programs all over the USA and the UK. I decided what I loved best was Reformation and Church history. I contacted Brian Borgman to see if he had any suggestions. He pointed me to my own backyard and Reformed Baptist Seminary. I signed up for Historical Theology within the Marrow Program. What a blessing. I became painfully aware what little I knew about God and the Bible and Church history. I also realized that I wanted to share these wonderful learnings from great teachers and by the Holy Spirit who continues to open my eyes.

We became members at Oak Hill Presbyterian Church, of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Our pastor, Dave Bush, had taken classes along the way with Brian Borgman, and is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary. This past month I became an elder. With the Lord’s continued blessing I will have the opportunity and privilege to teach and share together with brothers and sisters in our area.

Matthew Oliver