'A good friend to Marietta': Meet Brandon Owen, the new pastor of First Baptist Church Marietta

MARIETTA — There aren’t just changes happening on the outside of First Baptist Church Marietta.

Along with a brand new bell tower, the church has welcomed its new pastor, Brandon Owen, from Nashville, Tennessee.

“I can tell that being the pastor of this church, people in the community care who that is, and I think that’s neat,” Owen said.

Owen is the most recent leader of a church that has been around since before the Civil War: It opened its doors in 1835, occupying different locations until settling at 148 Church St. in 1897.

From the hardwood to the pulpit

The ministry was not Owen’s first calling. A skilled basketball player in high school, he attended Belmont University in Nashville with hopes of walking on to the team.

Longtime Belmont men’s basketball coach Rick Byrd informed Owen upon his arrival at the school he would not be able to help the team as a player.

However, Byrd offered him the role of team manager and a full-ride scholarship for his service to the team.

After graduating with degrees in business and education, Owen taught Bible classes and coached basketball and golf at Brentwood Academy, a private Christian school in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood.

He was not certified to teach any core subjects, but he was well-versed in the Bible. Brentwood Academy agreed, and the school sponsored his education at Central Baptist Theological Seminary.

While he loved coaching basketball and was good at it, thanks to his experience at Belmont, Owen said he grew into teaching Scripture.

To be fair, he also grew up in it: his grandfather and father were both ministers, and his brother is also a pastor.

“I kind of knew deep down that might be what I’m not only good at, geared toward, but would really love it, too, and I grew to understand that, teaching the Bible at Brentwood Academy,” he said.

The shift from the court to the pulpit also made things easier in a sense for him and his wife Lesley Ann as they juggled raising two children, busy careers — she, a trained nurse practitioner, teaches at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing — and an active role in their church.

“In a strange way, me giving up basketball coaching and going into ministry took one of those four quadrants away and so we just had my wife’s work, my work became at the church. It simplified our lives,” he said.

‘A good friend to Marietta’

Owen’s role as senior pastor at First Baptist is his third in a church and his first as lead pastor.

Right now, he’s still getting familiar with the lay of the land and splitting time between Nashville and Atlanta as his kids and wife finish the school year there.

He said he wants First Baptist Marietta to be under his leadership what it was before he arrived: “a good friend to Marietta.”

“I want to have a good reputation in the community, and I want us to be a place the community recognizes as being a good friend, a helpful church, a church that wants to see our city thrive,” he said.

Owen said he is listening to the community right now as he determines his priorities for the start of his tenure. While specifics are still in the works, he is looking toward making more consistent use of the church’s buildings, beyond Sunday worship and occasional events on the weekdays.

Ultimately, Owen feels blessed to be leading a church that is healthy.

“I did not inherit a position or a church that is in trouble,” Owen said, something he credited Bill Ross, his predecessor, with ensuring.

The transition has been smooth for Owen in large part because Ross informed the church about a year prior of his plan to retire at the end of 2022. That gave the congregation plenty of time to conduct the search for his successor.

After three congregational meetings without Ross, the church’s goals for a new pastor came into focus, and it decided Owen was the man for the job.

“They found Brandon, and of course, this is a religious organization, I think God brought Brandon to the forefront for them,” Ross said.

Ross is glad the church did not have to wait long for its new pastor after his retirement, and the transition has been smooth because of it.

He and his wife, Penny, are still members of First Baptist Marietta, though they have enjoyed taking the time to visit other churches since he left in November.

“We are Brandon and Lesley Ann’s biggest cheerleaders, we’re wearing their jersey, and we are big cheerleaders for First Baptist Marietta,” Ross said.

‘The life of the community’

Cooter Swanson, one of the members of First Baptist’s Pastor Search Committee that selected Owen, said it became clear he was the right person for the job based on feedback from the congregation.

“He’s a very relational person,” Swanson said. “I think he relates to all ages … He sort of has a feel for a broad spectrum of people and ages and where they are differently.”

Justin O’Dell, the immediate past chair of the church’s board of deacons, said the church community is “overwhelmingly thrilled and so excited to have him coming.”

Owen’s experience in the youth ministry resonated with O’Dell, as it did with Swanson, and O’Dell also looks forward to what Owen’s energy will do for First Baptist.

While Owen is not playing basketball competitively after he tore his ACL about five years ago, he is excited for Braves baseball — he and his family are huge fans — as well as exploring different golf courses in the area.

Owen also stays active through running and has enjoyed Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park’s trails, even on rainy mornings.

Owen’s enthusiasm is not limited to the church. He is excited for his family to join him in Marietta and come to love the city he is already finding himself enamored with, especially because of its tight-knit feel.

“The work of the pastor is to be a part of the life of the community, and to, yes, preach and teach and help people imagine what God is like,” he said.

It is also about being there for and with people, whether at weddings, funerals or any other significant moment in their lives, “wonderful and tragic and anywhere in between.”

Owen plans on sending his children to Marietta City Schools, which he was impressed with at prospective parents’ meetings. From enjoying Rocket Fizz on Marietta Square to exploring baseball and basketball leagues in the area, Owen is confident this is a great transition for his family.

O’Dell can understand why Owen is enthusiastic about Marietta. He said it’s the same way he felt when he moved here, and he feels great about his church’s new pastor adding to the Gem City community.

“Marietta is a small town in a big place, and I think his background is going to mesh with that perfectly, and we’re thrilled, couldn’t be happier to have found him, and that he agreed to come and serve, felt called and led to come and serve,” O’Dell said.