Our Pastors

Harry Long

Senior Pastor

It has been a real delight to serve the Lord in one place since graduating from Seminary! In 1982 Mary and I came to a mission work that had been started by Al baker in 1980, named for Sycamore Square, the center of Midlothian, now a growing suburb of Richmond, VA. We bought property just down from Sycamore Square in 1983, organized as a church in 1984, met in Gordon Elementary School until 1989, began to develop staff in 1993, and most recently we have planted two daughter churches, Spring Run Presbyterian and Evergreen Community. Though we have stayed in one place, we have experienced a rich diversity of ministry stages over the years and have the benefit now of having raised our family and developing real roots in friendship and community here in Midlothian.

I am originally from Chattanooga, TN, where my father, George Long, was the pastor of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. I met my wife, Mary, at Wheaton College and we were married in 1976. After Mary’s graduation in 1977, I served as youth director at Central Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga for two years before we headed off to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with one child in tow, Davison, and one on the way, Margaret. Our third, James was born here in 1984. Now our oldest two are married, living nearby with a total of 4 grandchildren thus far. James is presently working in Chattanooga.

I actually find a straight forward, first person bio hard to write. Plain facts are boring, jokes somehow seem inappropriate, accomplishments seem like bragging, difficulties too complex to explain (and failures too painful), our best stories too long to tell, and the central character in a church is not the pastor, anyway, but rather God who makes things quite exciting in his own time and way.

I think you should just come give us a visit, see what God is doing, pull up a chair and study the Bible with us, make friends and be friends. Our greatest needs are not met by the church, but by the God whom we worship, in the Lord Jesus who gave himself for us, and by the Holy Spirit whose power changes us. I think I’d rather talk about him than me!

Philip Gelston

Assistant Pastor, Youth and Family Ministries

I was born in Athens, Ohio in 1974 and grew up in Crystal River, Florida - a beautiful place that not many people know about. My wife, Nora, is from the Rheinland in Germany. That too is a beautiful place. Nora and I met while she was in college in Pittsburgh, PA. Go Steelers! We were married in 2004 and moved to Virginia in June, 2005 to serve in the ministry at Sycamore. I am a graduate of Covenant College (1998) and Westminster Theological Seminary (2004).

God has been good to me. I became a Christian when I was 16 through the love and prayers of my church- Seven Rivers Presbyterian. I have had the greatest of spiritual upbringings and those influences continue to define me as a minister and as a man.

Nora and I have two boys- Paul Conrad and Thomas Rocco. They are a hoot and are only 15 months apart. We enjoy being outside. We used to like traveling but the kiddies have changed that. We also are into sports. Nora played tennis all through her youth and I ran cross country in high school and college. People say we’re competitive. I don’t know if that’s true but I did ace her once in tennis and she has never beaten me in a foot race.

My greatest passion is the Church of God. I am passionate about seeing her be what she was meant to be- full of people who love their Savior, each other and their neighbors- all because of what Jesus has done for them. It is my heart’s desire to see people come into a right relationship with God because of the prayers and labors of her members and also through the clear and heartfelt instruction of God’s word. To this end I labor.

Sycamore is a great church and a great place to serve. My family and I are blessed to be here.