Biographical Sketch Of Pastor Darryl Matthews

Pastor Darryl Mark Matthews was born Saturday, March 11, 1961 to the late Dr. Verner R. and Emily L. Matthews in Mt. Kisco, NY. His early schooling took place in Poughkeepsie, NY before his father was called to pastor the Second Baptist Church in Asbury Park, NJ in 1968.

Pastor Matthews graduated from Neptune Sr. High School in June of 1979. Following graduation, Pastor Matthews moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a Bachelors degree in Computer Science at the University of Southern California.

While a student in Los Angeles, Pastor Matthews joined the Mount Moriah Baptist Church pastored by Rev. Melvin V. Wade, Sr. The Lord blessed him with many opportunities to teach in the Sunday School, the Baptist Training Union on Sunday afternoons and the Sunday School Teacher's Meeting on Wednesday night from time-to-time and every Saturday afternoon. He also served on the Tape Ministry staff.

On Sunday, March 19, 1983, Pastor Matthews announced his call to the gospel ministry. He proclaimed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time on Sunday, May 1, 1983 at the 6:30 p.m. service. His subject was "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" with the text taken from John 15:13, Matthew 28:20, and I John 2:1.

The Lord has blessed Pastor Matthews to serve under a number of other pastorates since his initial call. The first at the Marimount Baptist Church of Pontiac, Michigan where Rev. Marvin Buchholz was the pastor. While a member of Marimount, Pastor Matthews had the opportunity to teach Sunday School for two quarters and was the
primary minister for their prison ministry.

Pastor Matthews has also served the Union Baptist Church of Fort Wayne, Indiana under the pastorate of Rev. Clyde Adams. While an associate at Union he was given numerous opportunities to preach and to teach in such areas as Sunday School, Wednesday Bible Study and the Junior Matrons Meetings.

After returning to the Garden State of New Jersey in the spring of 1988, Pastor Matthews served as Assistant to the Pastor and Director of Christian Education at the St. Paul Baptist Church in Red Bank which was then pastored by his father-in-law, Rev. Frank W. Lawson. He also chaired the committee to review and rewrite the church's constitution & by-laws. Pastor Matthews was ordained in March, 1989 while serving at St. Paul. Pastor
Matthews later was an associate minister at the Second Baptist Church in Asbury Park pastored by his father where he helped to develop a young adult ministry.

From 1993 to 2001, Pastor Matthews has served as an associate minister at the Shiloh Baptist Church in York, PA under the pastorates of Dr. William H. Curtis and Dr. Carl L. Easley, Jr. He was involved in the Vacation Bible School, the monthly church newsletter and weekly Youth Bible Study. During his time in Pennsylvania, Pastor Matthews completed his Bachelors degree from the Thomas Edison State College (NJ) in July 1994 and his Master's of Divinity degree from the Divinity School at Howard University (Washington, D.C.) graduating with honors in December, 1997.

Pastor Matthews was called to the First Chinese Church of Christ in September, 2000 and served from May, 2001 to January 2004. During his tenure he revived the weekly Bible Study and instituted a monthly Young Adult Fellowship. As part of FCCC’s outreach, Pastor Matthews launched a weekly TV broadcast entitled, Be Faithful. In the community, Pastor Matthews served on the Steering Committee of the Jesus Hawaii Project and developed its website and served on the Pastoral Advisory Board of Hawaiian Islands Ministries.

Pastor Matthews served from 2004 to 2005 as the associate minister at the First Baptist Church in Ardmore, OK where his brother-in-law and high school classmate, Rev. Wayne A. Lawson was the pastor. He was a teacher in the Sunday School and the Women’s Missionary Union as well as assisted with Sunday Morning worship and the weekly church newsletter, First Baptist Trumpet. While residing in Ardmore, Pastor Matthews also was a member of the Trinity Baptist Church where Rev Terry Tolbert is the pastor. He was a member of the praise band during his time there.

In June 2006, Pastor Matthews relocated to Melbourne, FL and has been attending the Crossroads Community Church (UCC) where the Rev Anne Shedden-Willis is the pastor. He served the church council as church clerk during 2007 as well as the AV Tech for the 10:30 Sunday worship service and webmaster for the church website.

He joined the First Baptist Church of College Hill in November, 2007 under the pastorate of Rev Abraham Brown and is serving as an associate minister at that fellowship under the direction of the current pastor, Rev Evan Burrows. He is working with the New Membership, Newsletter and Ministry Development areas.

Pastor Matthews is the father to three children: Crystalyne Louise born in January, 1986, Jonathan Mark in December, 1986 and Christopher Lawrence in January, 1991 and is the grandfather to Jonathan Mark, Jr born in March, 2005 and Nevaeh born in June, 2007. He is recently married to a fantastic woman of God in the person of Jowancia Mack (who has one son, Thomas) of Tampa, FL in February 2008.

With the help of the Lord, Pastor Matthews continues to teach and proclaim the Gospel remembering the words of Jesus in John 3:14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up..." and John 12:32, "...And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."