Texoma Hero Program recently announced the recipient of the Texoma Hero Recognition Award for January 2022: Dr. Rev. Charles R. Leslie, Jr. He was honored on Jan. 28 at VFW Post 2772 in Sherman, Texas.  

The Texoma Hero Program was founded by Billy Teague and HOT 107.3 FM in 2015 to recognize local veterans for their continued service to the community after leaving the military. It is also a small way to say ‘thank you’ and pay tribute to all who have and are serving in the armed forces. Dr. Leslie is a veteran of the United States Air Force.

The Philadelphia native graduated from Germantown High School, then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1973. He was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1977. He then worked on the Alaskan pipeline. He was owner of a woodworking business, Leslie’s Custom Designs, when he decided to pursue education.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Christian Education and Pastoral Ministries from Alaska Bible College. He moved to Texas in 1986 and earned a Master’s Degree of Theology in Bible Exposition and Urban Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1992. He was awarded, Who's Who of Universities and College.

He began missionary work in Kenya in 1987. He earned a Doctorate of Ministry in Global Missions from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky in 2018.

For the last 35 years, Dr. Leslie’s passion for missionary work has led him to several African countries: Kenya, Cameroon and Burundi; and to Guyana in South America, and Puebla, Mexico.

He’s done mission work in Uganda for 19 years. Today, as CEO of Mission Global Fellowship, he leads mission teams to Uganda. His focus is to mobilize the body of Christ into missions, while teaching and training.

Dr. Leslie has pastored for 18 years and taught at Southern Bible Institute & College (Dallas) for 15 years. He led the first mission team from that school. He served on several local boards including Sherman School Board, Dr. Al Hambrick Basketball Foundation, and Sherman Education Foundation.

He worked for Grayson College in Denison, Texas, as an enrollment and academic advisor and retired after 12 years. He began the college’s outreach and recruitment of African American students along with the retention program (Men of Distinction) for all men at the college. He was responsible for the starting the Black History Program at Grayson College in 2013.

Dr. Leslie currently serves as the assistant pastor at New Birth Cathedral of Praise. He serves as VP of the Sherman Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance (SIMA) and serves on several boards, including Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education (TABPHE), CAPRO USA (as a mission mobilizer and a board of trustee member), Heart for Ghana Mission and the Grayson Crisis Center in Sherman.