Pastor Lee Barnhardt grew up in Asheville, North Carolina where his church home was the First Presbyterian Church of Asheville. He graduated in 1980 as a Morehead Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies.

After volunteering for fourteen months in Mexico, Colombia, and Honduras as a student missionary, Pastor Lee attended the Baptist General Conference school, Bethel Theological Seminary, in St. Paul, Minnesota. While in seminary, he was also a part-time Senior High youth pastor. He graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 1986.

In 2007, he completed a Doctor of Ministry degree in preaching from the American Baptist school, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Lombard, Illinois.

Pastor Lee was ordained into the ministry of the American Baptist Churches-USA in April of 1986 and has served congregations in Minnesota, Iowa, New York, and Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Annie, an internationally acclaimed calligrapher and professional teacher in lettering arts, have been ministering with First English Baptist Church since September 2000.

Organist/Pianist

Church Secretary