Leah Lyman Waldron

It is our joy to introduce The Reverend Leah Lyman Waldron as our next settled pastor. We believe that Lean demonstrates the qualities the members and friends of PACC want in a pastor: an excellent preacher, a caring and devoted minister to provide pastoral care, and a pastor who challenges us to care both for ourselves and for those beyond our walls. As she states in her ministerial profile, her priorities in ministry are pastoral care that helps people feel God’s loving presence, preaching that makes scripture come alive and illustrates how we might live out God’s call in our daily lives, and equipping the faith community she serves to discern how the Spirit is calling us to make God’s love tangible in this world.

Leah is a Midwesterner from Illinois who lived in the Boston area when she attended Wellesley College, graduating in 2006. She has lived in the South for the last ten years and currently lives in Atlanta with her family. She graduated from Candler School of Theology at Emory University with a Master of Divinity in 2012 and was ordained by the UCC in 2013.

Leah’s ministerial and vocational experiences are varied. After college, she worked for the UCC Partners in Ministry–Back Bay mission, helping organize short-term mission trips to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. She has served in an immigration clinic and women’s support group, and she created and ran a day program for people experiencing homelessness as a member of AmeriCorps in Mississippi. She was also a pediatric chaplain resident at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. In 2010, Leah and her husband, Chris Lyman Waldron, who is also an ordained UCC minister, founded Praxis UCC, a creative, welcoming worship community committed to service and justice. In 2015, Praxis UCC merged with Decatur UCC, where Leah and Chris continue to preach and provide pastoral care. She has been the executive administrator for the past four years at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

A lover of books and thrift shopping, Leah is also a runner and can’t wait to go running on the Minuteman Bikeway.

Leah’s husband Chris is a native New Englander and Red Sox fan. His current work is in information technology support for non-profits. He loves to play guitar and is hoping to brush up on his auto “do-it-yourself” skills in the pit in the parsonage garage. He is looking forward to living in the Boston area again and is excited to get to know PACC. Their daughter, Davie, named for a David in the family, is three years old. Leah tells us that Davie is curious, silly, smart, and spunky. She can be shy, but once she’s gotten to know you, she will talk your ear off. She thinks church is a place filled with fun people where she gets to eat leftover Communion bread. The whole family loves to hike and go on walks together.

Author: Mark Tuttle

Husband, father, web master