Pastors & Staff

Lewis was born and raised in Columbia, SC. He is a graduate of Davidson College and Union Presbyterian Seminary. He is married to Rev. Dr. Eleanor (Bunny) Alexander who is also a Union graduate, a PCUSA Pastor, and a Pastoral Counselor. Lewis served as Senior Pastor at Shandon Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC for fourteen years before being led to serve as Senior Pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. Lewis served Second Presbyterian for fourteen years before he and Bunny retired to Black Mountain, NC in July of 2018. Lewis currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Montreat Conference Center and has served on the boards of both Union Presbyterian Seminary and Davidson College. Lewis and Bunny are actively engaged at Black Mountain Presbyterian Church. Lewis is often a guest preacher and serves on the capital campaign committee and Bunny is actively involved in a prison ministry. They are the parents of three grown children and have two grandchildren.

The Reverend Craig Foster was ordained in 2004 and joined the staff of First Pres in 2009. His work is focused in the area of Adult Education and Discipleship, including Sunday School classes, study groups, retreats, and other seasonal events, as well as with the Communications ministries of the church. Prior to joining First Pres, Craig served for over five years as the Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Kingsport, TN, where he worked with education for children and adults, as well as missions and spiritual growth. A native of Greenville, SC, he holds a BA in Bible and Religion from King College, a Master of Divinity, a MA in Christian Education and a Master of Theology from Union-PSCE (now Union Presbyterian Seminary). He and his wife, Kellie, have three children, Jack, Sam and Robin.

In November of 2019, Susan Oldham was examined and approved to become a Commissioned Ruling Elder for our congregation. She was commissioned on Sunday, January 19, 2020.

Susan Oldham grew up in Greenwood, SC and graduated from Clemson in 1979 with a major in English and a minor in Communications. She worked at Duke Energy in Charlotte in a variety of areas such as Corporate Communications and Human Resources during the next 15 years. She served as project manager for Duke’s centralized call center which was created in 1991. As an independent consultant she worked in the areas of leadership, organization design, and customer loyalty.

In 2015, God called Susan to begin taking classes at Lay School at Presbyterian College which led to a journey of being commissioned as a Commissioned Ruling Elder in Foothills Presbytery.

She has taught Bible studies, Sunday School, church staff retreats, and women’s retreats, always the learner herself. Her love is connectional ministries, and she co-teaches an FPC women’s Bible study called Tickled Pink. She currently serves on the Committee of Ministry for Foothills Presbytery.

She and her husband Bill have lived in, NC, GA, VA, and SC, so Susan has always had a soft spot for "being the new person," and she is forever grateful to the church homes where she found family everywhere she lived. She loves making new friends and learning their stories, believing that it is in the sharing of our stories that God's greatest work happens.