Sharon Y. Riley

Pastor Sharon Riley matriculated through the Orange County Public School System, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Divinity at the Grace School of Theology in The Woodlands, Texas. She received an honorary doctorate degree in Divinity from St. Thomas Christian College in Jacksonville, Fla.

In 1998, Riley began to carry out the call that God had placed on her life by leading a group of seven people in the establishment of the Agape Perfecting Praise and Worship Center, a non-denominational, cross-cultural, congregation in Orlando. She has served as the senior pastor at Agape since its inception and has led the congregation in the acquisition of properties in both Orange County and the City of Orlando.

Riley has served as a guest lecturer at Faith Christian University in Orlando, is a United Way Reading Pals volunteer, holds certificates in Biblical and Grief Counseling, is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, is the former managing editor of “GospelNOW Christian Lifestyle Magazine,” and is also an executive board member of Central Florida’s African American Council of Christian Clergy.

She is an Orange County Public Schools Leadership Orange graduate, an Orange County Citizens on Patrol Academy graduate, a Valencia College Peace and Justice Institute Teachers Academy participant, a two-term mayoral appointee to the Orange County Sheriff’s Citizens Advisory Board, a mayoral appointee to the City of Orlando’s Redistricting Advisory Board, and an advisory board member for the African American Women’s History Month Project.

Riley is the recipient of numerous commendations for her engagement in social and civic affairs, an itinerant minister, motivational speaker, and published author and editor with contributions to the anthology of sermons entitled, “These Sisters Can Say It,” and the newly released book, “If Pews Could Talk.”

Pastor Riley and the members of Agape Perfecting Praise & Worship were instrumental in assisting residents who were negatively impacted by Hurricane Ian in 2022.