Clint Pressley to be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention president
Clint Pressley, the lead pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, is set to be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the United States’ largest Protestant denomination.
Pastor Chris Justice of Lee Park Baptist Church in Monroe, North Carolina, announced on Sunday that he would nominate Pressley, according to the Biblical Recorder.
“Clint Pressley loves the Southern Baptist Convention and the mission that holds us together,” Justice stated. “I know him to be a man of conviction who is joyfully orthodox, devoted to the Great Commission, and committed to our cooperation as Southern Baptists.”
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Justice noted that Pressley “has led his church to plant and revitalize other churches, send missionaries, and sacrificially give to the Cooperative Program and Great Commission causes.”
Pressley is reportedly the first announced nominee for this year’s SBC presidential election, which will be decided in June at the SBC's Annual Meeting June 9-12 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
His church, Hickory Grove, had 69 baptisms and averaged 2,632 worship attendees last year, the Biblical Recorder added, with it giving over $244,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions and approximately $73,000 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions.
According to his official biography, Pressley has a Bachelor of Arts from Wofford College in South Carolina and a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
In addition to Hickory Grove, Pressley had led two churches in Mississippi, and Dauphin Way Baptist Church of Mobile, Alabama. He was made senior pastor of Hickory Grove in 2011.
Pressley also served as vice president of the SBC's Pastors' Conference in 2013, first vice president of the SBC in 2014-2015, a trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 2015, and a member of the North Carolina Baptist Board of Directors since last year.
Pressley has been involved in SBC politics from time to time. In 2022, he nominated Florida Pastor Willy Rice for SBC president; current SBC President Bart Barber won that election.
Pressley was also among the critics of former Vice President Mike Pence's speech before the SBC's Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas, in 2018, which some believed was too politically oriented.
“I love America. I like Mike Pence. I hate this,” tweeted Pressley at the time, receiving 491 likes for his post.
