Our Pastor

Nathan Lowe, PhD

Pastor Nathan Lowe was born in Leitchfield, KY, on June 14th, 1947.

After graduating from Eastern High School in Louisville, KY, in 1965, he continued his education at Eastern Kentucky University for two years.

He became a Christian during his 1966/67 school year, and began to lose interest in school as his interest in God escalated. He found himself spending 10 to 14 hours a day studying the Word of God. During that time, he outlined the entire New Testament, using the same procedure he had learned in high school English classes. It was this intense hunger for study that helped him acquire the foundation of truth upon which his life has been built.

In the 1970’s, while pastoring the Lake Drive Church (now known as The Church of Joy) in Leitchfield, he began feeling overwhelmed with the need for furthering his education. He returned to school and began taking correspondence classes from Liberty University. Also, he began taking classes at the Louisville Campus of Evangel University….out of Springfield, Mo.

After completing all the classes offered at the Evangel Campus, he began taking classes at Louisville Bible College, while preaching 4 times a week at the Lake Drive Church, and also traveling extensively, preaching across the United States.

In 1982, he completed the necessary requirements for the degree he was seeking. He was honored with a PhD in Theology from the Bible Theological Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

Growing up as a poor kid in Box Town (Leitchfield), he never had the slightest dream of meeting anyone higher in the social echelon than a store clerk, but he has been given the opportunity to meet and become friends with several Governors, and both state and federal political figures.

This question was recently asked of our pastor, “Why would you stay in a small town”? Pastor Lowe’s reply was this… “I believe I am where God wants me to be, and I am where I want to be. If I could have chosen any one place in the world that I wanted to live, I would have chosen this place. If I had the opportunity to relive my life, I would again choose to make my commitment to this church, in this town. And if God should give me many more years to live, I would want to live them right here, among the people I love. Long live the Church of Joy until Jesus Comes!”