Spartanburg’s Ty Childers elected president of state Pastors’ Conference

A Spartanburg pastor who has a “vision in my heart to see younger and older pastors coming together to evangelize this generation” is the 2011 president of the South Carolina Baptist Pastor’s Conference.

Ty Childers

Ty Childers, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in North Spartan Association for the past three years and the current vice president of the Pastor’s Conference, was elected without opposition.

Brad Goodale, pastor of Philippi Baptist Church, Union, was selected as vice president, and Terry Pleasant, pastor of Little Mountain Baptist Church in Wellford, was chosen as treasurer during the afternoon business portion of the conference, which met Nov. 14 at Riverland Hills Baptist Church in Irmo. All were elected with no opposition.

The theme of the meeting was “He Is Able,” based on Ephesians 3:20. Brad Whitt, pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Simpsonville and current president, said the conference was planned as a “time of encouragement, exhortation and equipping” for pastors attending from throughout South Carolina.

The new president, who serves as evangelism director for North Spartan Association, is a graduate of Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute, attended Liberty University and served on the board of its Center for Ministerial Training for three years, and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Andersonville Seminary in Georgia.

He held pastorates at Oak Grove Baptist Church, Landrum, 1988-93; Zebulon Baptist Church, Toccoa, Ga., 1993-2002, where he was evangelism director for the association; and Chiquola Baptist Church, Honea Path, 2002-07.

He and his wife, the former Jan Jonas, are natives of Spartanburg, and have been married for 26 years. They are parents of a married son, Jonathan, and another son, Travis, 20. They have a daughter, Anna, 18.

Childers said he intends to enlist some of the older pastors as speakers for the 2011 Pastor’s Conference. “The older, seasoned pastors can provide some seasoning for the younger pastors,” he said.

The new president said he also will continue to offer at every opportunity refreshment for South Carolina Baptist pastors and others, saying, “I believe that God has given me a gift of encouragement.”

Emir Caner, president of Truett-McConnell College in Georgia, kicked off the day-long pastors’ conference declaring his “heartbeat for missions” while calling for Baptists and others to “awaken to the fact that we’re not reaching our own nation for Christ, much less the world.”

He urged the pastors not to be afraid of confrontation in spreading the gospel, to be confident in the Lord, but also compassionate. “Confidence without compassion is arrogance, and compassion without confidence is nothing more than emotion.”

He reminded his audience that “a life worth living is a life that shares Jesus,” adding, “and there’s no inappropriate place to share Jesus.”

Newly elected South Carolina Baptist Pastors Conference officers Ty Childers (left), president, and Terry Pleasant, treasurer. Not pictured: Brad Goodale, vice president.