Leslie Petree sits at Blacknall’s nursery desk, where she’s spent hundreds of Sundays welcoming families since she began working at the church in April 2019.
When a burst pipe flooded Blacknall's nursery in June 2023, the church's youngest members never missed a Sunday of care. Each week, Leslie Petree and a crew of helpers wheeled baker's racks of toys and supplies into the Fellowship Hall and built a nursery from nothing. Then they broke it down and did it all again seven days later.
"There was something about still being able to provide that consistency in the middle of chaos that was delightful in some ways," she said.
After serving as Children’s Ministry Coordinator since April 2019, Leslie will step away from her work at the church next week with her time marked by resilience and rebuilding. She pivoted during COVID less than a year after she started, partnered with Beth Solie to manage the children’s ministry through a pastoral transition and staff retirements … and then came the flood. Through it all, the role felt uniquely tailored to her temperament, gifts, and desire to help families. God equipped Leslie in ways that allowed for a perfect fit.
“Of all the different circumstances we had over the span of seven years, it honestly fit my personality of having to roll with the punches and create organization from some chaos,” she said with a laugh. She took the job because of what Blacknall had given her in the years leading up to it. Raising two kids born 13 months apart, she found a multigenerational women's Bible study full of other moms "in the trenches" with her. She wanted to offer young families the same.
“There were other people that understood me, supported me, and spoke truth to me,” she said. “I thought that if I could work at a church that I loved, that felt pretty dreamy.”
Leslie stands in the nursery hall’s Fish Room, one of several spaces she helped update after a burst pipe caused a flood in 2023.
The job delivered plenty of ways to shape how Blacknall discipled kids, from creating children’s blessings videos during COVID, to increasing participation for nursery volunteers, and broadening childcare options for small groups and special events throughout the year. But Leslie was formed, too.
“When you’re working with kids, you’re reminded of how to look or listen to God in different ways that aren’t cloaked in years of experience or repetition,” she said. “When you come from a position of wondering with them, you’re hearing God afresh in a way.”
Among all the projects, logistical planning, and surprises over the years, it turned out the flooded nursery wasn’t a problem to dwell on, but an occasion to rise to. Even when things literally fell apart. When the session funded a full remodel, Leslie and her husband, Jason, were a part of the team that rebuilt the space from scratch: new storage and toys, carpet in place of tile, and Bible verses on the walls chosen by each room's teachers.
"What I know now is things fall apart and then there's an opportunity for rebuilding and growth,” Leslie said. “We see God do that in so many places, saying 'No, I'm making way for something new.'"
Leslie reading to kids during Camp Create.
This summer, the new thing was Camp Create, which blended the outdoors, science, faith and creativity for rising kindergarteners to third graders. The week-long camp brought unexpected joy. Watching kids wonder and experiment reminded her to slow down and be curious herself, especially for all the ways God is at work in her life she might not realize yet. After spending many of her seven years of work at Blacknall organizing around the unexpected, Leslie said there is still comfort that comes out of chaos.
“If there’s anything I’m just 100% sure of, it’s God’s faithfulness,” she said. “To me, to my family, to this church, to the way He enters people’s lives. It’s truer to me than ever seven years later.”