Meet the Staff

Lead Pastor

Patrick Nath was born in Hawaii. He grew up in Des Moines, and graduated from high school in 1985. Pat served in the U.S. Navy for seven years, including service as a corpsman with Marine infantry during the Gulf War. Before entering full-time ministry, he coordinated OSHA and EPA compliance for a paint manufacturer. Pastor Pat was ordained at Southtown Baptist Church in Des Moines in 1995. He then left for 12 years of church planting in western Kansas, prior to returning to Southtown as pastor in 2008. With the merger of Southtown and Calvary Baptist in 2016, Pastor Pat became the lead pastor of the new Westwood Baptist Church. Pastor Pat holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Barclay College, and a master’s degree in Bible from Maranatha Baptist Seminary. Pastor and his wife Virginia have three daughters: Victoria, Vania, and Vivianna. In his free time, Pastor Pat enjoys running, hiking, and biking

Assistant Pastor

Jeremy Ward is Westwood’s assistant pastor. Pastor Jeremy grew up in California, and he has extensive experience in youth and music ministry. Jeremy graduated from Pacific Baptist College with a BA in pastoral studies, and is working toward an MA in biblical studies degree at Liberty University. Jeremy and his wife, Rebekah, have three daughters: Katie, Cara, and Chloe. In addition to church ministry, Pastor Jeremy enjoys woodworking and restoring his 1976 Volkswagen Beetle.