OUR PASTORS @ NORTHMINSTER
Scott Dickison, Senior Pastor
Scott Dickison was called to serve as the Senior Pastor of Northminster in the summer of 2023 after nearly 11 years as the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia. He has also ministered to congregations in Texas, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. After earning his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University, Scott spent two years in AmeriCorps, working for a small Habitat for Humanity affiliate in the Mississippi Delta. He obtained his Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School in 2010, where he completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Recently, he completed his MFA in creative writing from Queen’s University in Charlotte, North Carolina, concentrating in poetry.
Scott is a regular contributor to the Reflections daily devotional series through Next Sunday Resources and has contributed to Eavesdropping on the Most Segregated Hour: A City’s Clergy Reflect on Racial Reconciliation and True Colors: Stories of Baptist Inclusion. He has held several leadership roles in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship on both the state and national levels, as well as steering committees and boards for a number of organizations, including the Christian Ethics Today, New Baptist Covenant, OneMacon 2.0, the Macon Action Plan, and the Clergy Council for Racial and Economic Justice through the office of the Macon-Bibb Mayor.
Scott enjoys running trails, Wake Forest athletics, Chicago Cubs baseball, and slow mornings. He is married to Audrey, an artist, and together they have three young sons, Billy, Sid, and Mac, and a bird dog named Moose, who is a good boy.
Lesley Ratcliff, Associate Pastor for Children and Adults
Lesley Ratcliff serves as Associate Pastor for Children and Adults, a role she transitioned to after serving seven years as Associate Pastor for Children. Before coming to Northminster in 2011, Lesley spent several years in Exile (also known as Texas) while completing her Masters of Divinity at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, before returning to her Mississippi roots. Before attending Truett Seminary, Lesley graduated from Mississippi College with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a minor in Secondary Education. When she is not at Northminster, Lesley can be found spending time with her husband, Brock, and their daughters, Marlow and Mary Alden, working algebra problems for fun, reading children’s literature, and trying to be a runner.
Email | Ext. 237
Marty Harper, Associate Pastor for Senior Adults
Marty Harper serves as the Associate Pastor for Senior Adults. She holds a master’s degree in counseling from Mississippi State University and a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Marty is also trained as an Alzheimer’s support group facilitator. Following seminary graduation, Marty became the editor of a small town newspaper. Interestingly, those seven years proved to be ideal training for ministerial life as she learned the importance of connecting to people by listening to their stories.
Prior to assuming her current role at Northminster, Marty spent 20 years as a board certified hospital chaplain and ministries manager for Baptist HealthSystems in Jackson. Her chaplaincy training included 1600 hours of Clinical Pastoral Education, but perhaps her most treasured insights about aging and the special needs of senior adults were those she gained when serving for six years as primary caregiver for her elderly parents. While Marty is known for being a good “cat mom” to her beloved felines, she also enjoys exploring craft fairs, sharing meals with friends, and spending quality time with her extended family.
Email | Ext. 239