Leadership

Pastors & Staff

byron potter

Lead Pastor

Byron grew up in Dalhart, TX, and graduated high school in 2001. He attended Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, TX where he met his wife Moriah. Byron and Moriah have two daughters, Ellie(13) and Lucy(10), and a son, Lincoln(6).

Byron graduated from Wayland in May of 2005 with a degree in history and a minor in religion.  After graduation, he became a youth intern with Zack Randles at Monterey Baptist Church in Lubbock, TX. In January of 2006, he became the interim youth pastor at Monterey Baptist until May when he became the full-time youth pastor at First Baptist Church Olton, TX.
Byron was in Olton until January of 2012, and from there became the youth pastor at First Baptist Church Plains, TX.  Byron remained in Plains for three years until he felt the Lord call him to be a pastor. Byron became pastor at First Baptist Spearman in March of 2015.

Byron enjoys yard work, music, reading, working out, and spending time with his family.

braiden vernor

Youth Pastor

Braiden grew up in Perryton, TX, and graduated high school in 2011. He attended Emporia State University in Emporia, KS. Braiden graduated from Emporia State in May of 2016 with a degree in health promotion. Braiden completed college in 2017 and married his highschool sweetheart, Lacey.

He went on to complete two semesters of seminary through Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. After seminary, he began his career as a farmer, but God drew him back to ministry by being a youth interim at FBC Perryton in the school year of 2017-2018. He then took another youth interim position at FBC Spearman in 2019.
In October 2022, Braiden accepted a full time position with the NRCS as a Soil Conservation Technician. Also, in October 2022, he accepted the position at FBC Spearman as part time youth pastor.

Braiden and Lacey have two daughters, Rowan (3), and Goldie (1). Braiden enjoys soccer, yard work, riding his motorcycle, and spending time with his family.

MELISSA LAYMAN

Administrative Assistant

Melissa was born in Ketchikan, Alaska, but moved to Odessa, TX when she was 3. She was raised in Odessa, until her family relocated to Canyon in 1994 for her dad’s job. She graduated from Canyon High School in 1996.

In 2000, she began working at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch where she met her husband, James. They married in 2003 and have two boys, Landon and Ethan. They raised their boys at Boys Ranch while working in several different capacities through the years while they there. In 2017, Landon graduated high school and enlisted in the US Navy.
In 2021, they left Boys Ranch when James became the Principal at Spearman High School. Melissa worked as a Secretary at Gus Birdwell Elementary until she was able to join the church as the Administrative Assistant.  In May of 2022, Ethan graduated from SHS and is now attending SWOSU in Oklahoma.

In May of 2023, Melissa will graduate from Wayland Baptist University with a degree in Human Services. In their free time, James and Melissa love spending time with their boys, traveling, and quiet evenings at home.