Professor Leslie Callahan Installed as Pastor

     Rev. Dr. Leslie Callahan, professor of Modern Church History and African American Studies, was installed as St. Paul’s Baptist Church’s, in Philadelphia, on September 27. Dr. Callahan is the church’s first female pastor in its 119 year history. The keynote speaker was Rev. Felicia Thomas, herself the first female pastor of the First Baptist Church in Princeton in 1994. She is also a personal friend of Dr. Callahan.

     Dr. Callahan earned her doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Religion from Princeton University in 2002. She also spent six years as the Professor of Religious Studies at University of Pennsylvania and served as interim pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Jenkintown.

     A native of Gary, West Virginia, Dr. Callahan, earned her Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and Master’s Degree from Uhion theological Seminary in New York. She’s been preaching the gospel since she was 19 years old.