In his new role as minister of students for Brainerd Hills Baptist Church, Matthew Vandegriff isn’t likely to hear anything he hasn’t seen (or perhaps done).
As a youth involved in mischief, as a Chattanooga police officer, as a Hamilton County sheriff’s officer, as a school resource officer and as a school resource officer supervisor, he’s been around the block.
“Seeing that, having been in those situations, seeing people in desperate circumstances, you know there is redemption even from what seems like hopelessness,” said Vandegriff, who had been interim youth director at the church on two prior occasions.
The third-generation Chattanooga-area cop recently turned in his badge to work with some 60 students in grades seven through 12 at the East Brainerd Road congregation.
Vandegriff said when he graduated from college, he wanted to work in law enforcement or the ministry, two fields his friends told him were at the opposite ends of the spectrum.