Joyce Marie Tanksley Lester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended the first degree-granting Historically Black College or University (HBCU), Lincoln University.  Joyce graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Education and earned a Master’s degree in School Leadership from Wilmington University.

Joyce is a Bible expositor and a dynamic teacher whose conferences, classes and outreach have taken her internationally. She presently serves alongside her husband, Pastor Anthony Lester, as the co-founder and First Lady of Sanctuary Baptist Fellowship Church. Joyce sensed God’s calling to salvation and work for Him in 1975.  She has passionately and wholeheartedly dedicated her life to serving Jesus Christ. While attending Lincoln University, she served as president of the on-campus, Militants for Christ. After years of cultivating her spiritual gifts, and refining her ability to expound on God’s Word, she has emerged as a highly anointed, forceful, servant-leader. Joyce founded the Women of Standard Ministries in 2003 with the purpose of teaching women to know, love and serve Jesus Christ through the study of Scripture. 

Joyce loves God’s Word and aspires for the Body of Christ to rise to its greatest potential by practically applying the Scriptures to their daily lives. Her teaching brings a clear understanding of biblical truths with an emphasis on walking in victory in every circumstance of life.

Joyce is a loving wife, mother, and grandmother. As First Lady, she is a spiritual leader and mother to thousands of men, women, boys, and girls.