Pastor Lee Swor was born in Montgomery, West Virginia in 1952. He graduated from Montgomery High School in 1969. He grew up in Montgomery Baptist Church and was saved at Camp Cowen in 1963. He attended Boomer Baptist Church during his teen years.

Pastor Swor felt God’s call to preach as a teenager while listening to Billy Graham crusade on TV. Through the advice of Pastor James Ford he went to Tennessee
Temple in Chattanooga, TN to prepare for the ministry. It was there that he met his wife Anita. She is from Glen Fork, West Virginia. They were married in 1972 and both graduated from Tennessee Temple University.

Pastor Lee has been in full time ministry since 1975. He pastored Bolt Fundamental Baptist Church from 1975 - 1981. He was pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Belva, W. Va. from 1981 - 1986. He is thankful for the people and experiences in these churches that prepared him for his current ministry. In 1986 he became pastor of Mt. Pleasant. He is grateful for the more than 20 years of ministry God has given him, and for the wonderful people at Mt. Pleasant.

Pastor Lee and Anita are the proud parents of five children. They are grateful for God’s blessings on their marriage and family. Their children are: Lisa Lawrence and her husband James; Michelle Evans and her husband Brian; David and his wife Alycen; Mary Beth Slabbert and her husband Johannes; and Sarah. Anita, in addition to being a wonderful mother, is an elementary school teacher. Pastor Swor and Anita are also the very proud grandparents of granddaughters Kaitlyn, Madelyn, Avery, Vivienne, Lindsey and Audrey, and grandsons J.D. and Hendrik.

Pastor Swor is grateful for the opportunity God has given him to serve as a pastor of Mt. Pleasant.

Assistant Pastor Dean Chambers was born in Winston-Salem, NC and grew up in the youth group at Gospel Light Baptist Church in nearby Walkertown, NC. Dean was saved at camp the age of 15 and graduated from Gospel Light Christian School in 1999. After high school, the Lord led Dean to Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, TN to study History and Political Science in hopes of becoming a lawyer. Fortunately, during his devotions the Lord used Romans 10:14 to lead him into ministry, surrendering to it during his junior year at Tennessee Temple.

After graduating from Tennessee Temple, The Lord led Dean back home to teach at Gospel Light Christian School for four years. During this time, Dean taught 7th, 9th, and 10th grade History and Bible. It was also during this time he met Stephanie who grew up here at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church and also graduated from Elk Valley Christian School. She graduated from West Virginia State University with a degree in Nuclear Medicine and married Dean on June 9, 2007.

During Dean’s last year teaching at Gospel Light, the Lord led him to Grace Baptist Temple in Winston-Salem where he started teaching a college/career Sunday school class. Eventually this class grew to become the BRICKHOUSE ministry on Wednesday nights. From 2007-2009, Dean served as Assistant Staff Minister at Grace.

Here at Mt. Pleasant Dean is serving as our Assistant Pastor, where he will focus on college and young adult ministries. Dean and Stephanie have a burden to reach this
age group and see them grow in Christ.

He holds a Master's degree in religion from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Dean also has a daily blog at www.proverb423.wordpress.com.

Youth Pastor Nathanael Messinger is a West Virginia native and has lived here his entire life. Raised in the upper end of the Kanawha Valley, his parents moved to
Elkview when he was fifteen. Shortly thereafter, his family joined Mt. Pleasant and
has been actively attending ever since.

After graduating from Herbert Hoover High School in 1997 Nathanael joined the West Virginia Air National Guard and began attending WV Tech in Montgomery. Nearly half way through his engineering degree he felt the Lord calling him into a Christian
vocation and transferred to Tennessee Temple University. Having already been dating Jennifer his girlfriend, she decided to go to Tennessee Temple as well, and it was around this time they decided to be married.

Jennifer, who is also originally from Mt. Pleasant and a graduate of Elk Valley Christian School, is a former teacher at Elk Valley. Both Jennifer and Nathanael feel truly blessed to be serving in their home church and are both looking forward to what the Lord has in store for the Youth Group at MPBC. Nathanael and Jennifer have three sons, Carter, Reuben, and Ivan.

On Sunday, January 20, 2008, Pastor Nathanael was ordained into the Ministry at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.

Church Secretary Sandy Copenhaver has attended Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church since 1997 and became a faithful member in August 1999. She has been blessed to work and support an amazing staff and group of volunteers since April 2004.

Sandy lives in Elkview with her husband Steve. They together have two daughters Carolyn & Karen. Carolyn, a full time LPN at South Charleston Pediatric and is married to Wayne Mullins. They have also provided Steve and Sandy with two beautiful grandchildren; Brandon and Syndey Mullins. Karen is currently a full time employee of National Travel.

Sandy and Steve are very active in the church and enjoy volunteering where their time is needed. They both enjoy helping in the Judgment House each year and are blessed to be apart of a powerful ministry to their community.
“..but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:16