Reverend Verona Hagans Matthews Rev. Matthews is an Associate Pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church. She retired from full time ministry after being the senior pastor at St. Luke's United Methodist Church and Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church. During her tenure at Simpson Memorial she started a Love of Reading program to encourage children ages 5-12 to love to read; she has continued this program at Tabernacle BC. She is the wife of Frank Matthews; mother of three and grandmother of six. Her ministry has included speaking in many churches of varied denominations, hosting "Moments of Reflection" a spiritual and motivational radio program for twelve years, and co-hosting "Coffee Talk," a radio talk show where she and her co-host had open discussions on community concerns from a spiritual and secular view. She has authored an occasional community newsletter which was a call to society to pray for pressing community concerns. She has written for various publications and published Pray Without Ceasing Prayer Journal and Children and Violence, A Spiritual Look. Rev. Matthews has been spotlighted in the Palm Beach Post and the Sun Sentinel Newspapers. She is strongly committed to prayer. For five years, she and her husband owned and operated a preschool, which allowed her to concentrate her ministry's focus of assisting men, women, and children in reaching their full potential as individuals and children of God. During this time she taught a class on Day Care Management at Palm Beach State College. She has a BA degree from Barry University, a MA in Ministry from Palm Beach Atlantic University, and completed the 5 year ministerial course of study at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. When asked, "Who are you?" She answers simply, "A child of the living God."