Meet the Pastor
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for taking the time to visit our website!
My name is Nathan Leslie. I'm a local boy, having grown up on a nearby dairy farm that has been in my family since 1815. After graduating from Mohawk High School, I attended both Grove City College and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. After completing all of that, I was also ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament by the Presbytery of Shenango in 2010. That gave me the title "Reverend" and so I've now earned the nickname "The Rev" around the church and community.
I say that my faith in Jesus started on my grandma’s knee, where she sang hymns to me, and taught me about him. My journey following God’s calling started at the age of 14 with a school career project, when the words “Have you ever thought what it would be like to work for God?” flicked on a divine lightbulb in my head. That moment has shaped the last twenty plus years of my life.
I first met the good people of Bessemer Presbyterian Church while in high school, and when they were unable to afford a full-time pastor in 2006, one of their members suggested that they pursue a student pastor - a preferably younger seminary student who could step into the role of pastor, and perhaps re-energize the church. They presented the idea to me one September day in 2006 when I came to preach for them. After some prayer, time and discussion with the Presbytery of Shenango, I started my duties as Student Pastor on July 1, 2007.
Bessemer recognized itself as a dying congregation, and was trying its best to reverse the tide. Through prayer, reflection on Scripture, assessing our gifts and the needs of the community, and listening for what the Spirit was leading us to be and to do, the result was a transformation: a transformation of lives, a transformation of the church body, and a transformation of our approach and understanding of the church. Suddenly, we became a body of believers on a mission in our community. We no longer saw ourselves as a dying church, but now as a church that embodied the heart of the Gospel, a resurrection hope; we were a church emerging from near death by the power of the Holy Spirit. From there, God did some pretty amazing things through the blessed saints who worked alongside me (very patiently) in that time, and I know they had as much influence on me as my professors in seminary.
The initial plan for this was a three-year arrangement; but things had been going so well, neither of us was ready to be finished. On June 13, 2010, I was unanimously called by the congregation as the next installed pastor, the position to which I was then ordained and installed on July 11 of that year.
The story of the next decade or so is one of new challenges and flourishing ministry. We became a multi-generational congregation, where children are welcome, loved and upheld as integral to our worship and communal life. In fact, this ministry to children and youth, though small by some scales, has been an essential piece of our ministry. But also, the church sees itself as a church “for the community;” we must go outside our walls ministering to the vast number of people who would never feel comfortable darkening the doors of a church.
In 2012, I partnered with two other pastors, and then with our three churches, we partnered with several others, to establish the Mohawk Coffee House (MoCo House) here in Bessemer. The purpose was to creating a safe-space to interact with our community, build relationships, and make Jesus known in word and deed. MoCo House finally opened in December 2014, and this experience has led me to encounter Jesus in so many ways in our community, and to make his presence known in the lives of so many. This place, and the people who are invested in it, have been a huge blessing to me. MoCo House sometimes serves as a "mobile office” and a meeting space. I’m there at least daily, talking with our volunteers and patrons. After all, this is how I see Jesus ministering in his world, and because ministry is, frankly, carrying on Jesus' ministry by the Holy Spirit, it's the best way to practice ministry. This has embodied my mode of ministry… being out among the people, taking the church to the world.
From this has come a deeper level of involvement from our community. Because of relationships built with our community members through their patronage of the coffee house, doors were opened to new avenues for ministry and community service. I served for a time as the chaplain of both the Bessemer Police Department and the Bessemer Volunteer Fire Department. In November of 2017, I was elected a member of the Bessemer Borough Council, and then selected by that board to serve as president of council. I continued in this role until there was a vacancy in the office of mayor, and in January of 2021, I was appointed to finish that term as mayor of Bessemer. I was then elected to my first full term as mayor in November 2021, and will continue in that role through at least December of 2025. These roles have all been challenging but rewarding, as I’ve both build relationships and has helped me to shaping public policy and provide for the common good of our community.
But God still isn’t done… in December of 2022, God opened the doors for something else that had been on my heart: shared ministry between congregations. Because of the challenges churches face, I have been convinced that creative arrangements between congregations sharing ministry are vital to the church’s future. After a neighboring interim pastor reached out to me, a conversation began which led to a shared pastoral relationship between Bessemer Presbyterian and Petersburg Presbyterian Church of Petersburg, OH. The two congregations are very similar in so many ways, and I began my duties as pastor there on July 1, 2023, 16 years to the day that I started at Bessemer Church.
Photo Credits: Tiffany wolfe PHotography
But don’t let the collar fool you about me. “Under the collar," I'm a normal guy. I like music (all kinds of music, you'll find... plus I play several instruments), I'm a tech-junkie, I love trains (both models and chasing real ones), history, doing yard and home repair work, watching football (especially the Philadelphia Eagles), and anything that allows me to be artistic and creative. I enjoy the outdoors, especially camping, hiking and swimming. And I love to laugh and enjoy life, especially with family and friends.
Most of all, I love being with my family. I love being a husband to my wife Mary Kay (a Bessemer native), and we are blessed to have two school-age sons: Carson and Grayson. The boys keep us busy, but they've also taught us so much about life and love. We spent five years as foster parents as well, and fostered 11 different children during that time. We became residents of the Borough of Bessemer in the spring of 2016, and have enjoyed making our home among the people to whom we feel called to minister.
Enough about me. In short, come check out our church. We're not about bells and whistles, and we're not perfect. We're a group of sinful people trying to figure out how to be faithful followers of Jesus, even though we all screw up sometimes. But we are about authentic ministry and mission in our community, about building relationships, about growing and making disciples of Jesus Christ, and sharing the hope that is ours in Him. If that's what you're looking for in a church, I highly recommend BPC!
In Christ's Love and Service,
Pastor Nathan (a.k.a. "The Rev")
P. S. If you'd like to listen to my sermons, you can check them out on our YouTube channel (July 2020 to present). Or check out the archives here (2018-2020) or here (pre-2018) page. Pardon the shameless self-promotion, but it's one way I can extend our ministry beyond the walls of the church. They are typically updated each week.