Matthew MacKenzie

Fr. Matthew MacKenzie is the kind of priest people say they knew was special from the moment they met him. Those who hear him preach talk about sermons that come straight from the heart, the kind that leave you proud to call him your priest. One parishioner called him a "super hero man of God," and another said simply, "I am so impressed by his sermons. God bless." What makes his story different is that Fr. Matthew did not come to Christ the King Anglican Church from somewhere else. He grew up here. An Ocala native, he is a graduate of Grace Christian School, the church's own primary outreach ministry, which means the very community that formed him is the one he now leads. After graduating from the University of South Florida in 2010, he came right back and joined the staff as the Youth Minister. He stayed in that role for thirteen years, walking alongside young people as they grew up in the faith, before graduating from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2023 and being ordained a priest. There is something rare about a person who grows up in a place, leaves to be educated, and then chooses to come back and give everything to the community that raised him. That is who Fr. Matthew is. He has a heart for people and loves nothing more than seeing the body of Christ work together in unity and grow together in their love of Jesus. Thirteen years of youth ministry gave him a deep understanding of what it means to meet people where they are, and that same instinct carries into everything he does as rector. He is not just the leader of Christ the King Anglican Church. He is one of its own, a kid from Ocala who found his calling in the same pews where he once sat, and who now speaks from that same place with a warmth and sincerity that his people feel every Sunday.