Rev. Lesley Tanai Sanders White was elected Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in December 2024. Prior to her election, she served as an Associate Minister at the Metropolitan Baptist Church, in Largo, MD, under the leadership of Senior Servant Dr. George L. Parks, Jr. She served on the Christian Education Discipleship Council where she taught Bible Study and as former Director of the Rev. Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr. Reading Library. She was the Ministry Leader for the Kingdom Kids children’s church for several years and led a Marriage Enrichment Bible Study for over 5 years. Rev. White was born and raised in East Orange, NJ, where she attended public school until high school. Afterwards, she attended Kent Place School for girls in Summit, NJ, on an academic scholarship. She went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from Mount Holyoke College, where she studied the role of Black Churches in Economic and Community Development. She also has a Graduate Certificate from the University of Maryland- College Park School of Public Affairs in Affordable Housing Development. She was licensed in January 2012 at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, DC under Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr. and completed her Master of Divinity degree in November 2017 at the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, VA, where she received the Ella P. Mitchell Preaching Award. She was ordained in 2017at Metropolitan under Dr. Maurice Watson. Currently, she serves faithfully as the Chaplain of the Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and the Bowie-Mitchellville Kappa Silhouettes. She has also served in many capacities, including President and Chaplain of the Mitchellville Chapter of the National Drifters, Inc., a non-profit service-oriented women’s organization. She has worked in the Intelligence Community, nonprofit management, affordable housing, education, and Head Start Early Childcare arenas, where she has won several leadership awards. In 2007, she authored a book of poetry “Words with Intention and Other Truth Telling.” She is married to Jerome White and they have 3 children Makenna, Malachi, Kevin and Daughter-in-love Bayli, and a Rottweiler she loves dearly, Jersey Girl.
