Rev. Leon Edward Matthews
Senior Pastor
Warren Memorial UMC

Rev. Matthews received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion and Philosophy from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama and a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology, Emory University in 1986.   He acquired additional training in Clinical Pastoral Education from the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama.

He served the St. Paul/Brown Grove U.M.C. Parish of the Troy District in the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference during his matriculation in undergraduate school.  Upon entering seminary, he was appointed to the West Point Parish in West Point, Georgia in 1983.  In 1985, he was ordained a deacon and was appointed pastor of the St. Paul United Methodist Church in Gainesville, Georgia in which he supervised the construction of a new educational wing and renovation of the sanctuary. In 1988, Rev. Matthews was ordained an elder in the North Georgia Conference.   He was appointed as an associate pastor at Ben Hill United Methodist Church, one of the largest African-American congregations in Methodism, in Atlanta, Georgia in 1990. During his tenure at Ben Hill, his area of ministry was pastoral care and he later moved into the Office of Administration and Evangelism.  In June 1996, Rev. Matthews was appointed pastor of the Faith United Methodist Church in Griffin, Georgia. In 1999, he was appointed as pastor of the Bowen United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. After his tenure at Bowen, he served as the Senior Pastor of Lithonia First United Methodist Church in Lithonia, Georgia. Moreover, he is an adjunct professor of Contextual Education at Candler School of Theology of Emory University since 2008.  In June of 2018 he was appointed Senior Pastor of Warren Memorial.

He is an active participant in the North Georgia Annual Conference. He has provided leadership at the local church, district and annual conference levels. Currently, he is a member of the ADOX District Broad of Ordained Ministry, a District Coach/Mentor, and the Statistician. He is a member of the following committees of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry: The Culture of Call Committee, the Committee of Investigation and the Conference Crisis Response Team. Moreover, he has led training events in Evangelism, History and Structure of the United Methodist Church, The Book of Discipline, Officer’s Training, and Conflict Resolution in the local church.  In 2001 and 2011, he was selected as a delegate to the World Methodist Conference in Brighton, England and Durban, South Africa.  In 2007, 2011 and 2015, he was elected as a delegate to the Jurisdictional Conference of the North Georgia Annual Conference.

He is married to Pamela, and they will celebrate 36 years of matrimony this year. They are the proud parents of a 25-year-old son, Mackenzie, he is a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina A&T University.