Carlisle Driggers, 88, Hartsville native and executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention from 1992 until his retirement in 2007, passed away May 18 at his residence in Georgia.
Driggers’ 16-year tenure is the second longest for an executive director in South Carolina.
“He (Driggers) led the convention into and through some of its most effective years of missions, education, and church revitalization,” said Tony Wolfe, current executive director-treasurer, in a statement posted on the convention’s website. “Among his many achievements were the development and implementation of his ‘Empowering Kingdom Growth’ (EKG) initiative, a surge of international missions sending, and innovative strategic gospel partnerships with Baptist groups across the state and nation.”
Wolfe described Driggers as a voice of encouragement and wisdom. “His influence among our SCBaptist people is deep and wide, having discipled, mentored, counseled, coached, and deployed many of the Baptist leaders who still serve across our state and nation today,” Wolfe added.
The goal of the “Empowering Kingdom Growth” initiative was to “enable, empower and strengthen churches in ministry,” according to an article titled “200 Years of South Carolina Baptist Leadership” archived on the convention’s website. The emphasis “encouraged each church to understand its unique contribution to the kingdom of God.”
The state convention’s EKG emphasis became the centerpiece of Driggers’ administration and gained national prominence when adopted as a strategy by the Southern Baptist Convention.
“In 2002 in St. Louis when the EKG proposal was made by the Executive Committee to the SBC, it was voted on unanimously. We knew at that point that it was going to take a while for it to really begin to take root across the SBC because it was quite a different concept,” Driggers, who chaired the SBC’s EKG task force from 2002-2005, told Baptist Press in 2010.
Previously, Southern Baptists in general had talked about the kingdom of God, but they hadn’t focused squarely on Jesus’ call to the kingdom in Matthew 6:32–33, Driggers said in the BP article.
“What began as an effort in reaching churches one by one has become a true national movement that continues to gain momentum and impact entire states,” said Morris Chapman, then president of the SBC Executive Committee. “Many Southern Baptists for the first time are learning what it is to be kingdom-minded.”
In the Nov. 7, 1991 edition of The Baptist Courier, Driggers explained, “Kingdom growth goes far beyond numbers. Kingdom growth also is measured by such indicators as spiritual enrichment through Bible study, prayer and worship, missions involvement, and stewardship development.”
Driggers served as executive assistant to South Carolina Baptist executive director-treasurer Ray Rust from 1990-1992 after returning to South Carolina from Conyers, Ga., where he had served on the staff of Northminster Baptist Church. Previously, he had worked at the former Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) for 13 years, first as associate director of the black church relations department from 1975-1978 and as regional coordinator for planning and budgeting for the eastern seaboard states from 1978-1988.
Driggers was a graduate of Mars Hill College (now University), Carson-Newman College (University), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He held honorary doctorates from North Greenville and Charleston Southern universities.
He served churches in South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia and Georgia.
When asked what he hoped his legacy would be, Driggers responded, “That I helped churches to catch a kingdom perspective as they grew to the glory of God” (The Courier, Feb. 22, 2016).
“May the weight of the moment remind us all that our message is urgent, our cooperative work is critical, and our time is short,” Wolfe concluded his statement. “Much has been done by our Baptist people in the way of Great Commission advance, but much is left to do.”
In addition to his wife, Jeanette, Driggers’ survivors include his daughter, Jana Driggers O’Kelley (Jimmy); son, B. Dave Driggers (Holly); grandchildren Jarris O’Kelley Etheridge (Mike), Kenneth Olin Driggers (Emily), Jacob Carlisle O’Kelley, Clara Ellen Driggers Taylor (John) and Joseph Benjamin Driggers, and three great-grandchildren. Survivors also include his sister, Linda Driggers Williams (Chick), nieces, nephew and cousins.
