Dr. Lester J. Gillespie, Sr. is the Organizer and Pastor of the Greater Love Missionary Baptist Church, 1534 Peck Avenue, San Antonio, Texas. He has served as the Undershepherd of this beloved family and flock since 1985 and is presently leading Greater Love in a building expansion effort. He has preached for fifty-plus years throughout the length and breadth of our nation and worldwide.
Pastor Gillespie is a native of San Antonio, Texas. He is the son of the late Rev. W. G. Gillespie and the late Sis. Vernell Gillespie-Jones. He is married to his beautiful wife, the Honorable Kimberly S. Gillespie, and is the proud father to two sons and four daughters. He is honored to be the grandfather of thirteen and
blessed to be the great-grandfather of one.
Pastor Gillespie derives immense joy from serving the Lord through developing people. He is President Emeritus of the Ministers United for Ministerial Development (MUMD), having recently served for 25 years as National President. He is the former Vice-President of Boards of the National Missionary Baptist
Convention of America, Chairman of the Home Mission Board of the Missionary Baptist General Convention of Texas and is founder of the Rev. W. G. Gillespie and Vernell Gillespie-Jones Memorial
Institute Scholarship Fund.
He is the former Pastor of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Crystal City, Texas, the Second Vice-President of the Ministers’ Conference of the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, the Home Mission Board Chairman of the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, Moderator of United Fellowship Baptist District Association, Carver Cultural Center Board Member, Chaplain of the Frio County Jail Ministry in Pearsall, Texas and Karnes City Detention Center in Karnes City, Texas, and the Chairman of the Gang Intervention Committee of the Southern Baptist Association of San Antonio, Texas.
Since late 2021, Pastor Gillespie has served as  xecutive
Board Member and Outreach Chair for San Antonio’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission and March. He received the 1992 Pulpit Leadership Award from the San Antonio Register News and was the Outstanding Pastor of the Year in 1994. Pastor Gillespie received both Bachelor and Doctor of Divinity degrees from the Guadalupe Baptist Theological Seminary, a Doctor of Divinity from American International Theological and Seminary as well as an Honorary Doctor of Letters of Urban Ministries Degree, from Aspen Christian College & Theological Seminary.