Meet Our Team

Daniel Sweet has served as the pastor of Matthew Road Baptist Church for over twenty years. Prior to receiving the call to the pastorate, Daniel worked as a consulting actuary with Watson Wyatt Worldwide, an international human resources consulting firm for ten years. Daniel holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Ouachita Baptist University, a masters degree in applied mathematics from Southern Methodist University, a Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Theological Seminary and a Masters of Historic Theology also from Southwestern and an enrolled actuary. He and his wife, Kim, have two children, Austin and Michael who have both been apart of MRA.

Having been with MRA since its inception, I have enjoyed watching God grow the academy and work through the lives of our students. My heart’s desire is to foster an environment where Christ is weaved throughout each course and students can be challenged and held accountable in their walk with Christ and in their academics. As an IEW instructor for over 10 years, I have also had the privilege of working with hundreds of students. It is truly my joy to instill a love for writing in each child, lifting them up and encouraging them along the way. I am a proud mom to Alyssa and Anabelle, MRA graduates, and Alex, who currently attends MRA.

God has written my story with many twists and turns, and I have been blessed to be led to MRA. I came on board with Matthew Road Academy in 2014. At that time I was blissfully unaware of how God was preparing me to take on a new role at this school. Esther 4:14 says it best “perhaps you have been brought here to this place for such a time as this.” During my time here I have been able to witness some amazing growth within the school and the students. When not at work I enjoy my time at home with my sweet husband, Nicholas, and two charming sons, Micheal and Eric, both boys have been apart of the MRA family. My greatest joy is getting to share God’s love & word.

My two sons have attended MRA for several years. We started as a part time family and now are full time because of the excellent education, loving Christian environment, and close knit community. The teachers, administration, and families have provided many blessings to our family. This year we were further blessed by an opportunity for me to work at the school as a study hall monitor and helper in the office as needed. I look forward to witnessing what God has in store for everyone at MRA!

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I moved to Texas over 25 years ago when I got married and began my education. I began at TCC South Campus and proceeded to UTA where I graduated. I have taught for over 24 years. I also am a co-chair of a non profit organization called TAME. I co-chair our local chapter. It stands for Texas Alliance Minorities Engineering (it is open to all students 6-12th grade). I have been a part of this for 8 years. During that time I have volunteered with various after school programs to mentor students and get them interested in the area of math and science, as TAME is a part of STEM (science technology engineering in math). In 2017 I received a community partnership award from TCC for my work with TAME.

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I am excited to be a part of the Matthew Road Academy family - both as a parent and teacher. I graduated from Florida Southern in the year 2000 with a B.A. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Spanish. I grew up in the Chicago area and have traveled for career, leisure, and mission work as well as resided in various places throughout the U.S. and Mexico. I moved to DFW and married my husband, David, in 2005. I was blessed to inherit two (now grown) children and gave birth to my son in 2008. We own a telecommunications company in Arlington and when not busy growing that, enjoy traveling, cooking, reading, exploring, camping, and learning. We homeschooled our son beginning his 5th grade year and never looked back! Pairing up with MRA has been a blessing both as parent and teacher. I love to impart my love of literature, travel, cultures and their customs and cuisines to others.

I obtained the Tarrant County College American Sign Language Basic Acquisition Certificate and the Tarrant County College American Sign Language Communicator Certificate in May of 2018 and the Associates of Applied Science American Sign Language Interpreting May of 2019 from the Tarrant County College (TCC) Interpreting Training Program. During my time there I learned a lot about ASL, Deaf Culture, and the skills of a Interpreting. I am blessed to have built lasting relationships with my deaf and hearing teachers during my time at TCC. When I have free time I spend time with my fantastic husband, Nathan, and interact with friends and family members. 1 Timothy 4:12

Trey is from College Station, TX, and is a lifelong Aggie. He married his wife, Julia, in May of 2022 and has been at Matthew Road leading the College & Young Adult Ministry since August of 2022. He graduated from Texas A&M in 2021 and is now pursuing his MDiv at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. When he isn't spending time with his wife or reading, Trey enjoys playing basketball and watching college sports.

I first joined the MRA family in 2013. I’ve enjoyed teaching a variety of subjects at all grade levels through the years, and currently teach high school World History, World Geography, English and SAT Prep. I was born and raised in Fort Worth and graduated from TCU with a degree in History. My husband Marty and I have been married thirty years, and we have two grown children. My greatest joy and achievement has been homeschooling K-12. While I miss those years, it brings me such happiness to see our kids, now college grads, thriving as young adults and pursuing their dreams. I appreciate the opportunity I have here at MRA to be involved in other young people’s lives, and to help them learn in such a supportive environment. When I’m not teaching, I enjoy being with my family, crocheting, tending my butterfly garden, and being outdoors.

I was first introduced to MRA when I was asked to be a guest speaker for a class in 2021. My family then joined MRA in 2022 with three of our five children enrolling. In 2023 I took the next step to teach here. I am a licensed paramedic and master firefighter. Currently I am a Battalion Chief with the Grand Prairie Fire Department. I started my EMS career in 2001 with Ft. Worth MedStar and began my fire career in 2004 with GPFD. I have also worked as a critical care flight paramedic for CareFlite. At GPFD I ran the department training division from 2018-2019 and conduct all the training for our public safety dive team. I will be teaching a safety course at MRA where I will be able to share safety tips and skills from over 20 years of experience as a first responder. Students will learn about fire safety, road safety, and even receive a first aid/CPR certification.

As long as I can remember, I have loved being with and working with children and feel so blessed to continue in that role at MRA! I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas Christian University in 2000 with a B.S. in Elementary Education. My husband, Brad, and I have five incredible daughters that all attend MRA: Ellie, Caroline, Sarah, Emma and Alison. I am passionate about students understanding they are loved, seen and smarter than they realize - that God has wired our brains in all kinds of ways, but always exactly as He planned! Besides my family and the Lord, my great loves are reading, coffee, college football (especially TCU and UT!), learning new things, and Blue Bell ice cream. What do I not love? Sharks. And cooking. But definitely sharks.

I have been teaching children in a variety of disciplines for over twenty-five years. I graduated from the University of Texas in Arlington with a BA in English and certification in teaching English and self-contained for grades Pre-K through 8th. Before starting a family, I taught first grade in public school and started The Dance Connection, which I continued directing for fourteen years. I am the wife of Joel and mother of Nick and Ethan, and we homeschooled from the beginning. I have been teaching at Matthew Road Academy since 2014. I currently enjoy teaching ballet, grammar, and English.

I am excited to be a part of the Matthew Road Academy family. I graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Physical Education in 1986 and taught the accredited course in Martial Arts at UTA for the next 25 years. In July of 2005 I married the love of my life. We are blessed with one son, Joshua, and awesome daughter in law, Lauren and one beautiful grandson, Grayson. Together, Becky and I own and operate the Texas Black Belt Academy in Arlington, TX. I have trained in Taekwondo since 1981 and strive to use the training learned through the martial arts such as discipline, respect and indomitable spirit, in my everyday life. We are members of South Park Baptist Church in Fort Worth. The three main priorities in my life; God, Family and Country. One of my favorite verses is Gal 5:23, 24. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

My husband, Shawn Money, and I have been married since 2000. We have seven beautiful children, Kaitlyn, Lauren, Caleb, Sophie, Bella, William, and Jacob. I have homeschooled from the time my eldest, Kaitlyn, was in Kindergarten in 2005. I work as a Realtor for Keller Williams, and I love i! I also love to teach! I love to teach! Stop Motion Animation is an elective that I have had the joy of teaching, and find the students enthusiasm contagious! Reading and writing short stories is also extremely exciting to share with teens, and there is no end to their imagination. Smart phone/device photography will also tap into students creativity, and I look forward to seeing the world through their eyes.

In 1991 I received a Bachelor of Music with teacher certification from UT Arlington. I have taught violin both traditional and Suzuki method since graduating college. I have taught beginning and intermediate orchestra in Arlington ISD and Ft Worth ISD. God made me a teacher and you can find me at church with the preschoolers telling stories of Jesus and singing. I am married to a wonderful man and have two great children. Our family was also privileged to foster children for five years. In addition to teaching I enjoy gardening and playing in the Pavane String Quartet for weddings and special occasions. Occasionally I play violin on the worship team at church.

Coming Soon...

I am so blessed to be a part of the MRA family both as teacher and parent. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Midwestern State University. I am a teacher at MRA and also a virtual tutor to many from my home. I love that God has led me to teaching History - which truly is HIS story. I am also blessed to talk about how the Lord made us so intricately special in Health class, hone your students creative skills in art class, and open amazing books in Literature. In all of these courses, I love that I can point your student to what the Lord has done as I teach here at MRA.

I am a graduate of Texas A&M with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish. After graduating from college, I taught for several years in the Texas public schools. Once my son was born, I knew it was time to stay home. I have home schooled my three children (Derek, Lauren, and Emma) from the start. In addition to MRA, I enjoy teaching on other platforms as well. My days are split between teaching and spending time with my family who maintains a busy schedule that keeps me on my toes.

Jennifer Sands will to be teaching Fitness classes at MRA. She has her degree in All-level Physical Education from University of Texas at Arlington. She has coached volleyball, softball, baseball, soccer, and basketball. She taught Stretch-N-Grow, which is fitness classes for pre-schoolers. Her favorite thing about P.E. growing up was the parachute, and it’s still her favorite.Jennifer has been married to her husband Chris for over 19 yrs. They have 4 boys. They lived in West Africa for almost a year doing missionary work. They have been homeschooling for more than 11 yrs now. She has a great love for teaching and exercise. Teaching fitness allows her to combine these two loves.

Hello, My name is Michelle Valenzuela and I am so excited to meet you! I have a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. I am married and have 3 children. My family loves to go to the beach, watch movies and travel to new and exciting places. For fun, I like to read books, play dominoes, and watch movies. I began my homeschool journey in 2010 and have taught kiddos Pre-K - 12 in various fun and exciting classrooms. It puts a smile on my face when I see a child learning something for the first time. I will look forward to seeing your child in my classroom.

Nina Wilhite attended Tarleton State University and Mountain View College, where she studied to be a teacher. She has been teaching since 2010. What we love most about Mrs Nina is her dedication to detail and willingness to raise the bar high, knowing her students can achieve academic excellence. When Nina is not teaching at MRA you can find her teaching kindergarten or with her husband. They have three amazing children, Michael, Amalie and Ethan. All 3 of them play competitive teamsports. Amalie dances ballet, tap & jazz! She looks forward to teaching her students about the world God created them.