LEEDS — After an 18-month search, the members of Leeds Community Church have found a new pastor and that pastor has found a new home that he thinks may be just right for him.

The Rev. Steve Allman, 43, led his first Sunday service at his new church on March 31 after spending the previous several days getting acquainted with the people and terrain of the Presbyterian parish.

“I’m excited to be here,” Allman said. “I’m glad to be back on the East Coast. I think this is a good church and a good community. I like the fact that the congregation is full of faith. I love their commitment to helping in the community.”

The search committee at the church began seeking a successor to Steve Hastings, the previous pastor, with a list of more than 30 names recommended by the Presbytery of Northern New England. They whittled that number down by considering the candidate’s written resumes and listening to sermons led by the candidates on the internet. The searchers also interviewed the finalists in two-way conversations over interactive TV before inviting the candidates to come to the church for face-to-face interviews.

The Leeds Community Church sits on a hill in a spread-out agricultural region of Androscoggin County.

Some pastoral candidates were scared off by the rural nature of the church, which has about 50 active members. Those candidates dropped out, deciding they wanted to serve in a more urban setting.

But the open countryside with farm fields and large farmhouses with attached barns appealed right away to Allman, who had spent the past three years ministering to two churches in South Dakota.

“It was very rural in South Dakota,” Allman said. “Here, they talk about the distance between churches. But in South Dakota, the nearest town was 30 miles away in any direction. Here you have some larger cities nearby — Lewiston-Auburn, Augusta, Portland.”

For his interview in January, Allman flew into Portland and rented a car to drive to Leeds for an overnight visit. After touring the area with parishioners, Allman settled down for the night amid a big blizzard.

“I had a general impression that the landscape here was beautiful,” he said. “It is beautiful here. I’m looking forward to the trees budding.”

Bill Flewelling, a member of the Leeds Community Church for 30 years and chairman of the pastoral search committee, said, “It’s something we’re very excited about. We expect him to renew our spiritual leadership.”

“There’s been a slow but steady decline in membership here, as has been the case for many small, rural churches.”

Flewelling said some small country churches have closed, while others have merged with neighboring churches to bolster membership. Church members are hoping that Allman can do something to attract more people to the church.

He said church members “really stepped up” to do some of the tasks normally done by the pastor during the search period.

The church runs a food bank and has a basketball court that’s open to the public in an all-purpose building attached to the main part of the church. The pastor normally conducts home visits and leads Bible study groups. The church cooperates with the Rural Community Action Ministry, a nearby social-service agency, on projects that benefit the whole community. The church also has ties to the DFD Russell Medical Center, which is just down Church Hill Road.

The church is governed by its deacons and a church council.

“We want to invite people into the church,” Allman said. “Our faith inspires us to help. Especially young people are welcome here.”

Allman, now a Monmouth resident, is single, but he says he wants to be married.

He grew up in eastern Pennsylvania where his father was a doctor and his mother was a nurse. He majored in English at Goucher College in Baltimore and then earned a master’s degree in English at Purdue University in Indiana.

Allman was picked to head the graduate chapter of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship while at Purdue.

Allman worked several years as a salesman and a part-time teacher of English at Delaware County Community College and Harcum College.

After deciding he wanted to be a minister, Allman enrolled at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary for three years until he earned a Master of Divinity degree and he was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church.

Besides South Dakota, Allman also was a pastor in Rochester, New York, and Arthurdale, West Virginia.

Allman has played the baritone saxophone since he was in his high school marching band. He belonged to a jazz group in South Dakota and he hopes to join a similar group in Maine. He enjoys many different kinds of music, including rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and classical. Allman also loves photography.

He is a fan of Philadelphia-area sports teams, including the 76ers in the NBA; the Philadelphia Eagles in football; the Phillies in baseball; and the Flyers in hockey. He also roots for teams from his home region, including the Villanova Wildcats and the Purdue University Boilermakers.

Sunday services at Leeds Community Church begin at 10:30 a.m.

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