MONROE, N.C. (BP) – Clint Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) during this summer’s SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In a news release emailed to the Biblical Recorder on Sunday, Jan. 21, Chris Justice, senior pastor of Lee Park Baptist Church in Monroe, N.C., said he plans to make the nomination when Southern Baptists gather for the annual meeting June 11-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis.
“Clint Pressley loves the Southern Baptist Convention and the mission that holds us together,” Justice said in the release. “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.”
Pressley has served as senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church since 2010 where “he has led his church to plant and revitalize other churches, send missionaries, and sacrificially give to the Cooperative Program and Great Commission causes,” Justice said.
According to Annual Church Profile and Baptist State Convention of North Carolina records, Hickory Grove reported 69 baptisms and averaged 2,632 in worship attendance in 2023. The church reported $9,680,234 in total undesignated receipts in 2023, with $232,089 (2.4%) given through the Cooperative Program. Hickory Grove also gave $244,664 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions and $73,026 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions.
In addition to serving at Hickory Grove, Pressley has previously pastored churches in Mississippi and Alabama. He has also served in a variety of leadership roles in Southern Baptist life, which include vice president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2013, first vice president of the SBC from 2014-15, and as a trustee for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 2015, which included a stint as chairman.
Pressley currently serves on the board of directors for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
“Clint has always served when called upon,” Justice said.
Pressley holds a bachelor’s degree from Wofford College, a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
A Charlotte native, Pressley attended Hickory Grove as a teenager and later joined the church’s staff in 1999 as senior associate pastor of preaching after he had pastored two churches in Mississippi.
In 2004, Pressley was called as senior pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, before returning to Hickory Grove in 2010.
Pressley’s wife, Connie, is the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor, and the couple has two sons.
Pressley is the first announced presidential nominee for this year’s SBC annual meeting.
During a pastors’ gathering held in conjunction with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s annual meeting in Greensboro last November, Pressley said at that time he would be open to allowing his name to be put forward as SBC president.
In a follow-up interview, Pressley said he was in discussions with people interested in nominating him and that a formal announcement would happen at some point in the future.
Other announced candidates for SBC president include Mike Keahbone, Jared Moore, David Allen and Bruce Frank.
