BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
REV DARRYL MARK MATTHEWS
Rev Darryl Mark Matthews was born Saturday, March 11, 1961 to the late Rev. 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 (through 1999).
Rev Matthews graduated from Neptune Sr. High School in June of 1979. Following graduation, Rev 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, Rev 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, Rev 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 Rev 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, Rev Matthews had the opportunity to teach Sunday School for two quarters & was the primary minister for their prison ministry.
Rev 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, Rev Matthews served as Assistant to the Pastor and Director of Christian Education at the St. Paul Baptist Church in Red Bank under the pastorate of Rev. Frank W. Lawson. He also chaired the committee to review and rewrite the church’s constitution & by-laws. Rev Matthews was ordained in March, 1989 while serving at St. Paul. Rev 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, Rev 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, Rev 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 (4.0 gpa) in December, 1997.
Rev Matthews was called to Pastor, 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, Rev Matthews launched a weekly TV broadcast entitled, Be Faithful. In the community, Rev 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. In July 2002, Rev Matthews visited mainland China on a two-week missionary trip.
Rev Matthews has served as the associate minister at the First Baptist Church in Ardmore, OK where his high school classmate, Rev. Wayne A. Lawson pastored (2000-2005). He has been teaching Sunday School and the Women’s Missionary Union as well as assisting with Sunday Morning worship and the weekly church newsletter, First Baptist Trumpet. He was also the webmaster for the church’s website. While residing in Ardmore, Rev 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, Rev Matthews relocated to Melbourne, FL and attended the Crossroads Community Church (UCC) where the Rev Anne Shedden-Willis is the pastor. He served on the church council as church clerk during 2007 as well as the AV Tech Ministry 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, he is currently serving on the ministerial staff and working with the New Membership Ministry as well as coordinating the creation of a Financial Peace University class.
In January, 2009, a call was extended to Pastor Matthews from the St Mark Missionary Baptist Church to be their new pastor. Under his leadership, new Men’s (Iron Sharpens Iron) and Women’s (Women of Worship) ministries were created, the church by-laws were revamped and a new missional outreach to Malawi, Africa culminated with multiple trips to Africa from 2010-2014. In association with St Mark, Pastor Matthews has served as Bible Expositor and webmaster for the West Coast Baptist Association.
Following Rev Matthews tenure at St Mark, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Elbon-Solutions College of Ministry in October, 2014. As an outgrowth of his Africa mission work, Dr Matthews along with his wife, Jowancia, founded Africa Vital Living Inc. AVL is a 501(c)3 approved non-profit that provides educational assistance, agricultural support and water well digging and repair services to local communities on the African continent.
In February 2015, Rev Matthews returned to the First Baptist Church of College under the pastorate of Dr Evan S. Burrows where he has been working to enhance the church’s technology ministry through the audio/visual components during the main sanctuary service as well as through the church’s website and live streaming service. He has also lead members in short-term missionary trips to Lilongwe, Malawi.
Rev Matthews is the father to four children: Crystalyne Louise born in January, 1986, Jonathan Mark in December, 1986, Christopher Lawrence in January, 1991 and Luke Mark in May, 2009; step-dad to Thomas Hines IV and is the grandfather to nine grandchildren. He is married to a fantastic woman of God named Jowancia of Tampa, FL. She is a constant source of support and encouragement to his ministry.
Rev Matthews’ passions in ministry involve teaching and preaching God’s word along with the blending of ministry with technology. He has developed his own website (www.pastordarryl.com) as well as a daily online broadcast ministry to increase the spread of the gospel and to share his preaching & teaching ministry with the world.