Humble Beginnings
Dr. Leach was reared by a single mother on welfare, Mary Christina Hagan Patterson in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and has two older brothers and one younger sister.
 
Education
Dr. Leach has earned four degrees: Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems from Robert Morris College in Moon Township, PA, Master of Science in Exercise Science from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, Master of Divinity from Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC and Doctor of Ministry from Drew University in Madison, NJ.
 
Ministry Experience
Dr. Leach worked as the Assistant to the Director of Christian Education at Lewis Chapel Baptist Church, Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she was licensed to preach the gospel.  She was ordained by the Rowan Baptist Association and previously served as Dean and Director of Christian Education of the Congress of Christian Education for the Association.  She is a former Resident Chaplain in the CPE program at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem and served for two years.
 
Dr. Leach is currently an Associate Minister at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina where her husband, Reverend Dr. Dennis Leach, Sr. is the pastor.  She teaches classes for the Christian Development Course, teaches Sunday School, is a member of the Outreach Ministry, is Coordinator of the Health Promotion Ministry, and initiated the creation and coordinates the work of the Morning Star Community Garden.
 
Dr. Leach is a Big Sister through Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Forsyth County and reads with students at Forest Park Elementary through the Bookworms Program.  She formerly served as the secretary of the Ministers’ Conference of Winston Salem & Vicinity and currently serves as Chaplain.  She is a FaithHealthNC Connector through Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and is the president of Spirit, Body & Soul, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is “Building Healthy Communities One Person at a Time”.
 
Family and Passion
Dr. Leach and Dr. Dennis Leach have five adult children, and love seeing their two granddaughters and one grandson as much as possible.  She has a passion to promote and encourage steps toward improved overall health and to fight against systemic systems that lead to unhealthy lifestyles.  She knows of the need to live by John 15: 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing”.