Pastor Salley was born and raised in Chicago and has served as the Senior Pastor of NLCF since its inception in July of 2002. His involvement in ministry to the body of Christ began when he preached his first sermon at 17 years of age. Since that time, Pastor Salley has affiliated with various ministries including Challenge Ministries (Board Member and conference speaker), Circle Y Ranch Bible Camp (Camp Director) and Trinity Christian College (board of trustees). He also is one of the contributors to the Men of Color Study Bible.

God has gifted Pastor Salley with a powerful gift to preach and teach the Word of God and he has spoken at several churches and conferences around the country. He was ordained as a minister of the gospel in 1993 at Westlawn Gospel Chapel in Chicago and served as an Elder and Associate Pastor until he moved to Stamford, Connecticut in 1997. While in the New York area, he helped to establish the New York Covenant Church in 1998. Pastor Salley served as its Assistant Pastor alongside his longtime friend Pastor David R. Holder until God opened the door for him to return to the Chicago area. Shortly after his return, Pastor Salley began to move upon the vision that the Lord gave him to establish NLCF as a church that would target the needs and speak to the concerns of his generation.

Rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
—1 Timothy 4:7b-8 (NIV)

Pastor Salley has also maintained a successful business career and currently is a Managing Director at Auldbrass Partners, a private equity firm based in New York. He has a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania as well as an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Pastor Salley has also completed coursework at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Pastor Salley has been happily married to his lovely wife Kimberly since 1989. They have four beautiful children Kendall, Courtney, Christin and Kyle.