About Pastor Welch

Rev. B. De Neice Welch was born in West Virginia and grew up in New Jersey. She received a BA in Business Administration from Robert Morris College and a BS in Community Ministry from Geneva College. She earned her Masters of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2004. Dr. Welch is a Bioethicist, earning her doctorate degree in Bioethics from Duquesne University in 2019. She was first ordained as a Presbyterian minister and installed as an Associate Pastor for Mission and Outreach for the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in 2005. She accepted a call and was installed as Pastor of Bidwell Presbyterian Church in May, 2007, where she continues to serve the congregation as a senior pastor.

Dr. Welch is the National Director for Ntosake (En- toe- sock-ee), a women’s leadership development training program for the Gamaliel Foundation. Ntosake is a South African term that means “She who walks with lions and carries her own things.” It is an annual training session that trains women for leadership in the public arena.

Dr. Welch serves as a board member of Federated Guardians, a non-profit organization serving the needs of patients in need of informed decisions making concerning quality of care and the management of resources to ensure the best possible healthy outcomes for individuals unable to make these decisions on their own. She is also the Vice President of the Pittsburgh Edna B. McKenzie Branch of ASALH, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Rev. De Neice has four children, Aja, Jordan, Christopher, and Ian and three grandchildren; Ayauna, Genesis, and Aiden, who are the joys in her life. She is married to the Rev. John C. Welch, Senior Pastor of the Sixth Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church.